No. 24 Arizona State Facing Five Questions at Pac-10's Halfway Point

Round one of the Pac-10 Conference schedule is over, and it's proved to be a wild one.

The conference leaders (Washington and UCLA) are sitting pretty at 7-2, but there are six other teams within just three games of the lead.

No. 24 Arizona State (16-5, 5-4 Pac-10) was picked to finish second in the conference but currently sits in fourth place.

Last season, the Sun Devils were left on the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble looking in. So what do they have to do to reach the Big Dance for the first time under third-year coach Herb Sendek?

Here are a few things to look out for in the coming weeks.

Can they put the ball in the basket?

Just one week ago, ASU was coming off back-to-back wins at UCLA and at Arizona and was 5-2 in the conference. Even better, it was set to host the Washington schools for its first home games in nearly a month.

After a 65-55 loss to Washington State and an 84-71 meltdown against UW, the Sun Devils are hurting.

They shot a combined 43-of-110 (39.1 percent) from the field for the weekend, something very uncharacteristic of this year's team.

Dating back to their Jan. 21 contest against UA, the Sun Devils have shot the ball poorly in three consecutive games.

Sendek's complex motion offense was really humming for most of the season until recently, and was among the nation's best in field goal percentage.

So what gives?

During Tuesday's press conference, Sendek said the offense is still producing open shots and may even be improving right now. He suggested that shots simply aren't falling right now.

Can Kuksiks remain a consistent third scoring option?

Sophomore forward Rihards Kuksiks is one of the nation's best from three-point range. Junior guard Derek Glasser said Kuksiks once nailed 88 of 100 shots from behind the arc as a freshman in practice.

Behind sophomore guard James Harden and senior forward Jeff Pendergraph, Kuksiks (10.5 ppg) has been the team's best scorer.

Kuksiks has been slumping (five for his last 23 from three-point range) the past three games, but really spreads out the floor when he's on point.

Can Abbott snap out of his Pac-10 funk?

The numbers only tell part of the story.

Since conference play has started, Ty Abbott is only averaging 2.4 points and 2.7 rebounds per game. Granted, he has been hampered by a left thumb injury he incurred against Oregon State on Jan. 8.

However, Abbott doesn't look confident with the ball on the offensive end of the floor. In 12 non-conference games, he had eight games of scoring at least 12 points.

A productive Abbott would do wonders for the ASU offense. With he and Kuksiks on the perimeter, Harden being Harden, Pendergraph staying consistent, and Glasser at the point, ASU would have a very tough starting five to guard.

Defensively, though, Abbott is still as effective as ever. It's perhaps the only part of his game that hasn't appeared to be affected by his injury.

Can Pendergraph stay out of foul trouble?

Pendergraph is as emotional as they come. He's only fouled out twice this season, but has a history of taking himself out of games.

He's averaged nearly 38 minutes a game in the past four, though, something almost unheard of. The Sun Devils need Pendergraph's presence down low to compete with the elite.

Backup Eric Boateng has definitely improved this season, but the drop-off in offensive production would be hard to make up.

Can they defend home court?

The Sun Devils were swept by two quality teams in WSU and UW, but they can't let it happen again for the rest of the season.

ASU hasn't won three Pac-10 road games in a row since 1995-96 and have just one weekend sweep in the past six seasons (Bay Area schools in 2005).