After a sixth straight loss on Tuesday, this time to the No. 5 Houston Cougars, the Sun Devils' tournament hopes have reached the realm of near impossibility.
What looked like a promising start to the season turned sour when Big 12 play began. ASU now holds a 12-14 overall record with a 3-12 conference record and sits at 15th out of 16 teams in the Big 12.
READ MORE: Same old Sun Devils: Men's basketball loses seventh straight home game
The root causes have been a struggling offense and the team's inability to close games, as was the case against Houston. However, the Cougars have one of the most dominant defenses in the nation.
Staring down a record below .500 with only five regular season games to go puts the Sun Devils in a difficult position. Even though three of those are Quadrant 1 games, the Sun Devils have dropped so far from the tournament bubble that winning all five is necessary for any chance at an at-large bid. Even winning out in the regular season might not be enough.
JBR Bracketology, a member of the Bracket Matrix, eliminated ASU from at-large contention after the Houston loss.
The Sun Devils' future competition includes Kansas State, BYU and Utah — all teams on a roll making a push to the better side of the bubble. Then, ASU has to go on the road to face No. 19 UA before returning home to face No. 9 Texas Tech. ASU will have to muster up a lot of lost motivation and confidence if they want any chance at running the table.
Motivation was a strong subject postgame with senior guard Alston Mason chiming in on how difficult it is to keep morale up after losing so many tight games.
"The ones where we're right there and we don't win, it definitely hurts the morale of the team," Mason said after a personal season-high 26 point outing. "So, when we're giving up games at home like that, it lingers a little more than when you lose on the road."
To reach the NCAA Tournament, the Sun Devils will likely have to win the Big 12 Tournament to lock up an automatic bid. With a low seed, this would require ASU to win five games in five days against some of the best teams in college basketball, an arguably even harder task than winning out the regular season.
"There's no guarantees in this thing," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "We had our chances, we didn't cash in. I don't know where it's going."
Edited by Jack Barron, Sophia Braccio and Katrina Michalak.
Reach the reporter at jkmccar2@asu.edu and follow @jackmccarthyasu on X.
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Jack is a junior studying sports journalism with a minor in business. This is his first semester with The State Press. He has also worked at his high school paper.
