Preview: ASU at UCLA

After dropping the first leg of its L.A. road trip, Arizona State (7-10 overall, 4-7 in conference) hopes to bounce back and earn a split in a Saturday night matchup against UCLA.

ASU is coming off a hard-fought 89-71 loss to No. 17 USC in a game that was much closer than the final score indicated.

The short-handed Sun Devils—who had only seven scholarship players available for the second straight game—hung with the first-place Trojans for most of the contest, but a late 11-0 run from USC put the game away.

The Sun Devils’ offense was firing on all cylinders in the first half of Wednesday’s loss, erupting for 44 points on 56 percent shooting from the floor. Against one of the nation’s top defenses, ASU’s offense arguably played its best 20 minutes of basketball this season.

Unfortunately, the Sun Devils cooled off considerably in the second stanza, scoring only 27 points on 32 percent shooting.

Despite the loss, ASU got another brilliant performance from Remy Martin, who scored a game-high 30 points. The senior guard has been on a tear in recent weeks, averaging 24.8 points over the last six games.

Martin’s performance, however, could not offset the production of the Mobley brothers—Evan and Isaiah—who combined for 42 points (on 18-of-26 shooting), 21 rebounds, and 9 assists.

After the game, Bobby Hurley gushed about the performance of the brothers. Hurley admitted ASU had to pay extra attention to them, which in turn created scoring opportunities for the rest of the USC players.

The other Trojans did their part as well, regularly connecting on their 3-point attempts. As a team, USC shot 11-of-20 from beyond the arc, which prompted a bold statement from Hurley after the game.

He said he hadn’t seen a Pac-12 team this season “that really has a chance to beat USC,” especially when the Trojans shoot like they did on Wednesday.

ASU, however, has no time to dwell on its recent loss. They are hoping to salvage the road trip with a win against a tough UCLA squad.

However, as of Saturday morning, the status of two key players—Marcus Bagley (ankle) and Josh Christopher (lower back)—was still unknown. Earlier in the week, Bobby Hurley indicated that one—or even both—could see game action this week.

“It would be nice if we did get healthy, (but) there are no guarantees on that,” Hurley explained after Wednesday’s game.

“We just need to try to lock in on each opportunity… We just need to keep competing, keep battling, and we will see what happens each night.”

-------------------------------------------

UCLA (15-5 overall, 11-3 conference) enters Saturday’s contest on the heels of an impressive 74-60 win over Arizona on Thursday night. It was the second-straight victory for the Bruins, who currently sit in second place in the Pac-12 standings (behind USC).

After a red-hot start in league play, UCLA has cooled off a bit in recent weeks. The Bruins opened conference play with eight straight wins but have gone 3-3 since then.

Nonetheless, UCLA is firmly in position to capture the program’s first Pac-12 regular-season title since the 2012-13 season.

Behind a well-balanced scoring attack—all five starters average at least nine points—and an uber-efficient offense, which ranks in the top-30 nationally according to KenPom, the Bruins have dominated Pac-12 opponents.

The team’s offense is predicated on controlling the tempo (they prefer to keep it a half-court game), limiting turnovers (they average a league-low 10.9 per game), and capitalizing on high-percentage looks (they shoot 46 percent in league play).

UCLA’s defense isn’t too shabby, either.

The Bruins have kicked it up a notch in Pac-12 play, limiting opponents to 66 points per game on 43 percent shooting.

Much like ASU, they are not a very big group. However, like most Mick Cronin-led teams, they are scrappy on the glass. In fact, the Bruins’ rebounding margin (+4 per game) ranks third in the conference, only behind USC and Arizona.

The team’s success is even more impressive, considering they’ve played most of the season without senior Chris Smith. The all-conference forward has been out since early January, when he suffered a season-ending ACL injury.

In Smith’s absence, UCLA has leaned heavily on a trio of sophomores—Tyger Campbell, Jaime Jaquez, and Johnny Juzang—to lead the way.

Campbell sets the tone for the Bruins on both ends of the floor. The fiery point guard is a dogged on-ball defender, but his greatest value is on offense, where he orchestrates UCLA’s attack with near precision. Campbell leads the Pac-12 in assists (5.7 per game) and ranks top-20 nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.97).

Jaquez, a 6-foot-6 wing, is arguably one of the best all-around players in the conference, if not the entire country. Aside from being the team’s second-leading scorer (12.2 per game), he ranks among the league’s top-15 in rebounding, field goal percentage, three-point percentage, steals and blocks.

Juzang, a transfer from Kentucky, has been fantastic during his first season in Westwood. The 6-foot-6 wing leads the team in scoring (13.2 per game) and recently exploded for a career-high 32 points at Washington. Juzang is averaging 22 points and 6.7 rebounds over the last three games.

Rounding out the starting five for UCLA is a pair of juniors -- Cody Riley and Jules Bernard. Both were solid reserve players early in their careers but have flourished as full-time starters this season.

Riley, a burly 6-foot-9 forward, anchors the frontcourt with his low-post scoring and rebounding. He had a career night against ASU in the first of meeting of the season (on Jan. 6), when he tallied 22 points and 13 rebounds, both career-highs.

Bernard, a smooth 6-foot-6 guard, adds athleticism and versatility to UCLA’s backcourt. Not only is he a capable scorer and good ball handler (for his size), but he’s also an underrated defender.

The Bruins have a deep and talented second unit. Cronin typically goes nine-deep into the rotation, with a bulk of the bench minutes going to forward Jalen Hill (6.1 PPG, 5.5 RPG) and guard David Singleton (4.5 PPG, 44.3% 3PT). Wing players Jake Kyman and Jaylen Clark round out the rotation.

Probable Starters:

ASU

G Remy Martin, 6-0, Sr. (19.9 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 3.9 APG)

G Alonzo Verge, 6-3, Sr. (12.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.3 APG)

F Marcus Bagley, 6-8, Fr. (11.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.2 APG)

F Kimani Lawrence, 6-8, Sr. (5.3 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 0.4 APG)

F Jalen Graham, 6-9, Jr. (8.5 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 1.6 BPG)

UCLA

G Tyger Campbell, 5-11, R-So. (11.2 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 5.7 APG)

G Jules Bernard, 6-6, Jr. (9 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 1.2 APG

G Johnny Juzang, 6-6, So. (13.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 1.8 APG)

F Jaime Jaquez, 6-6, So. (12.2 PPG, 6 RPG, 39% 3PT)

F Cody Riley, 6-9, R-Jr. (9.9 PPG, 5.5 RPG, 1.3 APG)

Key Stat: UCLA is 9-0 this season when they score at least 74 points. When they fail to reach that mark; they only have a 6-5 record.

X-Factor: Can Jalen Graham stay out of foul trouble? With the Sun Devils being so short-handed in recent weeks, especially in the frontcourt, they need the sophomore forward on the court as much as possible.

Graham has had foul issues throughout the season, including on Wednesday night, when he picked up five fouls in only 18 minutes. If ASU has any chance of pulling off the upset against UCLA, they’ll need big minutes (and production) from Graham.

Prediction: ASU 75, UCLA 73

Game Info:

When: 8:00 pm MST

Where: Pauley Pavilion – Los Angeles, Calif.

TV/Radio: ESPN2 / 620 AM