Arizona State men's basketball coach Bobby Hurley has a bit of a dilemma.

His Sun Devils haven't fared well when it has to rely on a half-court offense. They're at their best when they are pushing the pace, playing a smothering defense and forcing turnovers that lead to easy transition points. Players have repeatedly said defense is their best offense.

But the Sun Devils enter a crucial stretch unable to play the way they need to play to be successful. ASU (11-9, 5-4) has lost four of its last five games after a 4-0 start in Pac-12 play. They return home from a disastrous Oregon road trip to host Stanford (10-9, 5-4) at 7 p.m. Thursday and California (8-12, 4-5) at 1 p.m. Saturday at Desert Financial Arena.

Counting the two losses in Oregon, ASU has now lost four of its last five games after a 4-0 start in Pac-12 play.

The Sun Devils swept both those opponents on the road in the first week of conference play but both those foes are playing better now than they were when they last met. There are 11 games left, but after the recent setbacks, the Sun Devils are likely going to have to win the conference tournament if they are to advance to the NCAA tournament for the fourth time in the last six chances under Hurley's watch.

Unlike most seasons, there really isn't a breather on the schedule. Hurley has stressed to his team that despite the recent issues, they're just a game out of first place.

But, back to ASU's strength. ASU leads the Pac-12 in turnover margin and stands 20th out of 351 NCAA teams in turnover margin. It is second in the conference and 17th overall in fast break points, a category in which generating turnovers is a major component.

ASU averages 69.4 points, 11th in the Pac-12 and 290th overall, so it has to win defensive games.

"We didn't get the necessary stops," Hurley said ."We're allowing teams to shoot to high percentages against us. I think our ability to create turnovers is fine and our activity at that end of the floor is fine but we're not sitting down and just getting stops and making people miss. That's got to get better if we're going to win games."

But playing that smothering, press defense comes at a cost. It takes a lot of energy and, while Hurley has always stressed being in good physical shape, it is impossible for players to maintain that level of intensity for 40 minutes and the Sun Devils have limited personnel.

Hurley has basically relied on eight players, seven taking into consideration that 7-footer Shawn Phillips is on a minutes restriction after working his way back from a foot injury that sidelined him for eight games.

Hurley has his normal starting five of guards Frankie Collins, Jamiya Neal, Jose Perez, Adam Miller and forward Alonzo Gaffney. Then he's used Phillips, Kamari Lands and Bryant Selebangue coming off the bench.

Collins has served as the catalyst on both sides of the ball. He is second in the nation in steals, with his 64 putting him just 12 away from the school's single-season record set by Lafayette "Fat" Lever in 1982.

True freshman Braelon Green and Akil Watson only see a handful of minutes right now. Community college transfer Malachi Davis came in with a reputation of being a high-scoring athlete with the potential to impact the game much like Alonzo Verge did when he came to Tempe a few years back. But Davis has been a non-factor, relegated to cameo appearances in seven games.

Then two injuries have factored into the short-handed situation. Zane Meeks, a 6-foot-9 forward, last played on Nov. 24 due to a lingering foot issue that also slowed him last season when he played at San Francisco. Brycen Long, perhaps the team's best 3-point shooter, has been out since Dec. 20 with an undisclosed medical issue.

Hurley said there is no timetable for the return of either.

"You do the best you can with the hand you're dealt," he said. "Certainly, we tilt more to the quick twitch, athletic side, our activity, flying around the court. If we're playing good defense it should just feel like there's six guys out there and I just don't think we were energetic enough particularly in the Oregon State game. We have to do a better job and we have to be more desperate at that end of the floor. We can't allow our inability to make shots bleed into our defense and I think that was some of the case. I think we were so bad at shooting it impacted our ability to get stops at the other ends."

Not only does ASU's style of play wear on a team physically but it runs the risk of foul trouble because of how tight they need to defend.

"It's tough. It all depends on how hard we play. If we're not playing hard enough it's going to be tough to get our offense going," Collins said. "But you can't press all the time so you just got to be able to guard in the half-court too and lock in."

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State basketball must win defensive games to stay relevant