Arizona baseball had won five of its last seven games, which included three road wins, entering Friday evening’s matchup with Kansas State.
Arizona
Arizona State basketball upsets No. 21 Washington State
TEMPE — Arizona State men’s basketball pulled off a much-needed upset over No. 21 Washington State 73-61 on Saturday, defeating a ranked opponent for the first time this season.
The Sun Devils (14-14, 8-9) were dominant defensively. After defeating No. 5 Arizona only two days prior, the Cougars (21-7, 12-5) shot 17% from three, compared to 33% against the Wildcats. They only dropped three of their 18 attempts beyond the arc.
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley called this defensive performance one of the Sun Devils’ best this season.
“Our defense was up to the challenge tonight,” Hurley said. “I thought we stepped up in that regard, holding them to 3-of-18 from the three and making shots for Isaac Jones as difficult as possible.”
On offense, Bryant Selebangue and Alonzo Gaffney dominated the paint for the Sun Devils. The two combined for 20 points with all 11 of Gaffney’s points coming in the second half.
Frankie Collins (14) and Adam Miller (12) both reached double digits, with Miller knocking down two clutch threes in the last five minutes of the game.
Jose Perez stuffed up the stat sheet with a team-leading 16 points, his fifth-straight game reaching double digits. Perez referred to himself as a “good egg,” and said the rest of the team were also “good eggs” today.
“I feel like if I have a one-on-one matchup, it’s a nightmare,” Perez said.
A good start has been hard to come by for the Sun Devils as of late, but this game showed differently.
Collins and Jamiya Neal combined for 18 points in the first half to put the Sun Devils up seven points going into the break. Selebangue made his presence known down low early, finishing the first 20 minutes with six points and four rebounds.
This was the first time Arizona State held a lead after the first half since their 71-62 loss to Stanford on Feb. 1.
“We were talking about that a lot, making sure we come out early and coming out with energy,” Selebangue said. “That’s something that we’ve been capitalizing on more. Certain lineups work for certain rotations. This is something we’ve been figuring out over time and time, and it’s paying off right now.”
Selebangue continued to be a menace in the paint for the rest of the game, totaling seven rebounds including four on the offensive end of the floor.
Washington State came out flat. The Cougars turned the ball over nine times in the first half and had trouble finding their rhythm from three.
Despite the Cougars’ mishaps, they were within two inside of seven minutes remaining. The Sun Devils responded with a 9-0 run to stretch their lead to 11, putting the game out of reach.
Cougars forward Jaylen Wells, who is shooting over 45% from three on the season, was held to zero points in the second half.
“I think if we’re going to have success the rest of the way, we’re not going to do it with one guy,” Hurley said. “Any time that we seem to win, there’s four or five guys that are in double figures. We need that type of production in the box score– It really gets us energized.”
A rematch with No. 5 Arizona awaits on Wednesday in Tempe, the last time the Sun Devils play at home this season.
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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