Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
3 Winners From ASU’s Overtime Win Over Arizona
TEMPE — The Arizona State Sun Devils moved to 21-6 and 8-6 in the Big 12 on Saturday afternoon following a dramatic 75-69 win over Arizona that was won in a five-minute overtime period.
The Sun Devils faced adversity going into the game, as starting guard Last-Tear Poa was ruled out on Friday night’s player availability report – although the squad pulled through to secure another key win.
Arizona State on SI names three major winners from the contest in Tucson below.
Arizona State Stars
Arizona State’s season has been highlighted by a balanced, well-coached roster that plays well together.
Ultimately, the team knows where the ball is going in crunch time despite the interconnected nature of the main rotation – McKinna Brackens and Gabby Elliott delivered in incredible fashion.
Brackens knocked down a pull-up mid-range jump shot with just 3.3 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter that sent the game to overtime, while Elliott knocked down a three-point look on the wing off of a Brackens assist to put Arizona State up 70-67 at the 2:18 mark of overtime.
Elliott finished with 22 points that was rooted in an efficient 4-8 mark from behind the arc, while Brackens paced the team with 24 points – also grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out four assists.
Molly Miller
The first year of the new era under Miller’s leadership continues to be a resounding success.
The win over Arizona not only marked the first time the program’s bitter rival had been swept since the 2017-18 season, it also meant Miller became the most successful first-year coach in the history of the program – winning 21 games and counting to this point.
Miller’s hard-nosed philosophy, intentional roster building, and curation of a battle-tested staff have translated to the Sun Devils becoming a serious competitor in the Big 12 instantly – after years of struggles that were previously endured.
Arizona State’s Tournament Chances
The Sun Devils came into the weekend firmly on the tournament bubble, with ESPN’s Charlie Creme placing them in “last four in” territory.
A loss would have been disastrous for the Sun Devils’ tournament profile, as they already lost to Cincinnati going into the matchup. Avoiding this loss continued to add to their lofty win total, while also steadying the overall metrics that measure whether or not they are a tournament-level squad.
Arizona State returns to action on Wednesday night against Audi Crooks and Iowa State in what will be another opportunity to pick up a massive win.
Read more on the bold strategy that head coach Bobby Hurley employed with comments on 1/21 here, and on why Arizona State may have saved the season with the win over Cincinnati on Saturday here..
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
In the first game of the series, Arizona (14-23, 5-11 Big 12) battled in a low-scoring affair but fell short in a 2-1 loss to Kansas State (24-12, 8-8 Big 12). The Wildcats from Tucson held the Wildcats from Manhattan at bay for a good majority of the night.
Given that Kansas State leads the Big 12 in conference play in batting, on-base percentage, and slugging, Arizona had a rather good performance, but it was not enough.
Owen Kramkowski pitched seven scoreless innings before allowing the first Kansas State run in the top of the eight. He finished with six strikeouts and kept the high octane Wildcats at bay.
“I thought the defense played well behind him too,” said head coach Chip Hale. “There’s a lot of ground balls, and we made plays where we were positioned in good places, and he was pitching in the eighth inning. That’s unbelievable.”
Garrett Hicks (3-1) came in to try and stop the bleeding for the Wildcats and did so by not allowing Kansas State to take the lead in the eighth. It was in the ninth when the lead was surrendered.
It took until the sixth inning but the first run was scored by Arizona. Andrew Cain singled to left field and after Maddox Mihalakis flew out, it was Beau Sylvester bringing Cain home with a triple through right center field.
Sylvester extended his hitting streak to eight games and it proved to be not enough to get Arizona to the finish line.
Kansas State tied the game at the top of the eight when back to back singles got runners on at first and third. Then a passed ball allowed the third base runner to come home.
Arizona had a chance to retake the lead in the bottom of the ninth after Cain singled to deep right field. With Sylvester back at the plate, it seemed like it was a perfect set up.
A wild pitch nearly got past Kansas State and Cain tried to take advantage of it and steal home. However, Kansas State was able to corral the pitch and get Cain out at home.
AJ Evasco started the ninth inning with a double for Kansas State and back to back fly outs eventually got him home to give Kansas State the lead and the win.
With eight players being left on base, Arizona will need to bring those runners in more often than not if they want to tie the series Saturday afternoon.
As a young team, the Wildcats have had to walk a very tight line between disappointment and dejection and will need to continue handling these losses with grace if it wants to turn a corner.
“It’s the way it goes, it’s baseball,” said Hale. “If we don’t handle it, we will come out tomorrow and won’t be ready to go, so hopefully they handle it.”
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