College Sports

At an opening press conference introducing Kenny Dillingham as Arizona State’s new football coach, Dillingham made an emotional and passionate plea to Sun Devil faithful across the Valley and sent a message to his new team and an entire community: “I’m home. I mean, this is literally home.”

The Yavapai College men’s basketball team headed south on Friday and took on the College of Southern Nevada Coyotes in the Thanksgiving Basketball Classic hosted by Arizona Western College.

Kenny Dillingham’s rapid rise through the coaching ranks took him from the Southwest through the South, into Florida and up to Oregon.

Michigan moved up to No. 2 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday, with TCU at No. 3 and Southern California at No. 4 behind top-ranked Georgia after four top-10 teams lost on the final day of regular-season games.

Some teams would been content with a season-defining win over top-10 Tennessee. Not South Carolina and certainly not Gamecocks quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Arizona State was finalizing a deal Saturday night to make Oregon offensive coordinator Kenny Dillingham the youngest head football coach in a Power Five conference.

Jedd Fisch began his rebuild with enthusiasm and a vision for the future, pushing Arizona through a difficult first season.

Oumar Ballo dominated inside with 30 points and 13 rebounds for No. 14 Arizona, which held off No. 10 Creighton 81-79 on Wednesday to win the Maui Invitational for the third time.

Courtney Ramey and Kerr Kriisa scored 21 points apiece and No. 14 Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat 17th-ranked San Diego State 87-70 on Tuesday night in the semifinals of the Maui Invitational.

Azuolas Tubelis and Oumar Ballo finished with double-doubles and No. 14 Arizona shot nearly 80% in the second half to beat Cincinnati 101-93 on Monday night, closing out the first day of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational.

College Football Playoff contenders lived on the edge in Week 12, with the top four teams all teetering to varying degrees and at various points. Then No. 5 Tennessee went down with a thud. For No. 4 TCU, it was just another Saturday.

With Saturday's business taken care of, Oregon State can finally talk about next week's rivalry game against Oregon.

Nakia Watson scored two touchdowns and Washington State intercepted former quarterback Jayden de Laura four times in a 31-20 Pac-12 road victory over Arizona on Saturday.

Kerr Kriisa scored a career-high 24 points and No. 14 Arizona steamrolled a third straight opponent to open the season, setting a school record for free throw shooting Thursday night in a 104-77 victory over Utah Tech.

Desmond Cambridge Jr. scored 20 points and Arizona State never trailed in blowing out No. 20 Michigan 87-62 on Thursday night to win the Legends Classic at Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Frankie Collins scored 15 points and Arizona State erased an 11-point deficit as VCU went cold and the Sun Devils won 63-59 on Wednesday night in the Legends Classic at Barclays Center.

No. 25 Oregon State is back in the rankings and bowl eligible in consecutive seasons for the first time in nine years.

They were three college football players working through changes in their sports careers. Off the field, they were funny, sweet and ambitious.

Benjamin Ley-Shipley is like thousands of other teenagers across the United States.

Jayden de Laura accounted for three touchdowns and had his fifth 300-yard passing game of the season as Arizona upset ninth-ranked UCLA 34-28 Saturday night, snapping an eight-game road losing streak against ranked teams.

Scoring 10 points in less than three minutes early in the fourth quarter, the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks regained control of a game they led for much of the first half.

Nakia Watson ran for 116 yards and three touchdowns as Washington State beat Arizona State 28-18 on Saturday to qualify for a bowl game for the seventh time in the past eight seasons.

Kerr Kriisa had 14 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists for his second career triple-double, leading No. 17 Arizona to a 95-78 win over Southern on Friday night in a game that featured 57 fouls, including three technicals.

Here are some things to watch this week in the Pac-12 Conference.

Ja'Quinden Jackson ran for a career-high 97 yards and a touchdown and No. 12 Utah had a season-high 306 yards rushing in a 45-20 win over Arizona on Saturday night.