Asu -men’s basketball chasing quality wind against Arizona

On By Littum

game

Arizona State Men’s Basketball Team has got off to a tough start in the BIG 12. It is the toughest conference in the country and Sun Devils Compete in it for the first time.

Most projections have ASU (12-8, 3-6) on the outside of the March Madness field. The Big 12 Play gives Sun Devils more opportunities to chop quality gains and work back in the picture.

One of them comes at. 11 Saturday, when rival Arizona Wildcats (14-6, 8-1) visits Desert Financial Arena in a game broadcast at CBS.

“We will try to climb out of a hole we dug for ourselves,” said Asu coach Bobby Hurley after the team’s victory over Colorado earlier this week. “We’ve treated a lot of things with injuries and we still have to do with it.”

“We had the No. 3 strength of the schedule in Kenpom, so we’ve been in many hard places already played a lot of tough games on the road and in Big 12 and in non -conference, neutral places. These guys are learning to fight together and we need to clean up some things.

The biggest question about ASU will be the availability of staff. Hurley has been addicted to an eight-man rotation, but he was down to six players in Tuesday’s 70-68 victory at Colorado because beginner Big Jayden painting (10.3 ppg, 8.5 RPG) was out with an ankle injury , which was maintained in practice, while the leading scores BJ Freeman (12.5 ppg, 4.1 RPG) went out with a deep thigh bruises early in the first half and did not return.

In their absence, others stepped up, especially senior guard Adam Miller and Junior Center Shawn Phillips. Miller scored 18 points, including a 4-for-5 bet from long range, with Phillips adding 13 points, nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Miller (10.1 ppg) and colleague -guard Alston Mason (11.6 ppg) played every 39 minutes in this game.

Hurley said after the game that Freeman took a knee to the thigh, “one of these basketball plays that is happening all the time” and that he was already going better after the game.

Quaintance, which has six double-double, is still questioning. He did not take the trip to Colorado and stayed in Tempe so he could get treatment with the hope of playing against Arizona. He leads the conference in blocked shots and is fourth in rebounding.

Joson Sanon (11.8 ppg) missed five matches with a sprained ankle and has not yet shooted back the touch he had before he was injured.

“The guys have risen,” Miller said. “We did it ourselves against West Virginia. We’ve gone through it, guys need to be ready. When the opportunity comes up, you won’t make every shot, just be ready.”

Meanwhile, Arizona comes in and has turned her fortunes around in conference games. Wildcats were only 6-5 through the non-conference slate and don’t boast a win over a Power Conference program.

In Big 12 Play, they sit number two, just behind No. 6 Houston (17-3, 9-0), and have sent four wins over national-ranked teams, with the most notable is No. 3 Iowa State. Wildcats won this game in overtime after veteran Caleb Love threw a 3-point from three-quarters court on the buzzer to force overtime.

Arizona has won three straight matches since his Lone Big 12-loss, which came on No. 22 Texas Tech 70-54 on January 18. The average 85 point a game in the three competitions since it. Wildcats have won 10 of their last 11 back to the final part of their non -conference plan.

Love (15.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG) is the team’s leading goal scorer, ranking sixth in Big 12 in the scoring. Junior Guard Jaden Bradley (11.3 PPG, 4 A PG) and other guard kj Lewis (10.3 ppg) also average double double. Love has led the recent wave with 59 points, eight stealing and nine assists in the last three games.

Support Local Journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.