The change in vibes around the Arizona State men’s basketball team was far, far more favorable the last time they faced off with the Colorado Buffaloes. Upsetting a tournament-caliber squad 76-73 in Tempe on Jan. 6, the Sun Devils have since dropped six of their last seven contests to plummet from the top of the Pac-12 standings to the bottom half of the league.
Meanwhile, Colorado also stumbled through their January slate, going just 4-5 and ending the month on a two-game skid in road losses to Washington State and Utah. As seen when they played in Desert Financial Arena a month ago, CU has simply been a different team away from Boulder, as the Buffs are 3-7 on courts away from Boulder and just 1-6 in true road games. Going up against one of the 50 toughest schedules in the nation (KenPom), CU has underperformed when the lights are brightest, going 6-7 in Quad 1 and Quad 2 contests this winter, including a porous 1-4 mark in the Quad 1 section.
Despite their struggles against top competition, the Buffs still possess a legitimate case for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament at this time. Boasting a top-40 offense and defense on KenPom, combining as a top-25 team by overall efficiency in the nation, advanced metrics have boosted the team on Bracket Matrix (a national composite bracketology of major media outlets) as an 11-seed, Colorado is right on the cutline of the Dance. It would surely like to avenge its loss to ASU in an attempt to scrub one of its worst campaign defeats while maintaining its undefeated record at CU Event Center.
“No doubt they’re an NCAA Tournament team,” head coach Bobby Hurley said of his opponent. “With what they’ve done, and what their record is right now, the players that they have, and the coaching that they get. We played an NCAA Tournament-caliber game against them the first time around. You move on after something and get ready for the next thing, but take the time to appreciate how well we had played in that game. So you know that the guys are capable of doing it, you just hope that it sinks in that ‘we have to do it this way all the time, every time we step out on the floor.’”
“It’s not going to be a friendly environment,” Hurley added about the Buffs home court. “Got to be prepared for that. They’re going to be ready to play. We’ll have to play extremely well.”
As ASU fans have seen for multiple years now, KJ Simpson and Tristan Da Silva lead the stampede for the Buffs, as the pair of upperclassmen are the two top scorers of the squad. Playing at an All-American level on the perimeter, Simpson’s 19-point-per-game average ranks in the top five of the conference, supported by a lethal shooting touch that places him in the top 30 nationally for three-point percentage at 46. What allows Simpson to be so dangerous from beyond the arc is the threat he poses to get downhill, forcing defenders to play on their heels and give him more space from beyond the arc. Standing at a slender six-foot-two, Simpson naturally maneuvers the court with speed, using his quickness to get ahead of fastbreaks on defense and crash the glass, but primarily to beat defenders off the dribble, which contributes to him being the team’s top assister with over four per game. Having taken a torch to the Sun Devil defense last month, dropping 23 points in defeat, Simpson will be a focal point for ASU to contain if it hopes to snap its four-game losing streak.
“Simpson’s terrific,” Hurley said.
While Simpson gives any defense a handful, senior forward Tristan Da Silva only makes things worse with 15 points and five and a half rebounds per game on efficient shooting numbers. Like Simpson, Da Silva excels at driving to the basket, using every inch of an agile six-foot-nine frame to blow past perimeter defenders while possessing the length needed to have relatively unbothered looks in close. Da Silva’s length comes into play on the defensive end as well, often taking on the opposition’s top-scoring threat (depending on their position) while getting active down low with 5.5 rebounds per game while grabbing a steal a night as well. With a high IQ on both ends of the floor as an elite athlete, Da Silva is as complete of a player in the Pac-12, and his history of performing in the clutch (see last year’s game against ASU in Tempe) makes scheming against him, and a fast Buffs offense, a nightmare.
“Colorado likes to run,” Hurley noted. “Our transition defense will be tested. We have to be prepared for that…They check a lot of boxes on the offensive end. Points, three-point shooting, rebounding, you have to make sure you understand your opponent’s strengths.”
Another key piece of this Colorado group that ASU hasn’t seen before is star freshman Cody Williams. An Arizona product out of Gilbert and Perry High School, Williams was a consensus five-star prospect out of the preps and chose the Buffs over ASU and several national powers in Arizona, Tennessee, UCLA, Texas, and USC. Thus far, in the collegiate ranks, Williams contributes almost 15 points a night on his own, shooting over 50 percent from three and the field overall. Projected to go early in this year’s NBA Draft, Williams makes up for a slim frame with elite ability to move the ball as a dribbler and passer, molding him into an elite shot creator. Having not played in the first meeting between the Buffs and Devils earlier this year, Williams will be a new and complicated problem to solve for Hurley.
“We played a very good basketball game,” Hurley said of the prior matchup. “Colorado played pretty well, too. I know they didn’t have Cody Williams."
Outside their big three, the Buffs are thin but have a few specialist-type players who fill their roles in winning ways. TCU transfer Eddie Lampkin Jr. holds down the paint, ripping down over seven boards a night while putting in double-digits on the scoring side. Two-guard J’Vonne Hadley and depth piece Julian Hammond III add offense as outside sharpshooters. With limited options off the bench, Colorado has been caught in away games against prolific opponents, losing to No. 8 Arizona, Colorado State, Utah, and Washington State, in addition to trap-game defeats to ASU and Cal. Playing with limited depth is playing with fire, but Colorado’s stars can compete with anyone. The Sun Devils will have to put on an exceptional defensive performance, one they haven’t had in a while, to climb the victory summit.
“Got to start playing better defense,” Hurley emphasized. “Hopefully, we’ve done a few things in practice this week to help scheme and give some different looks. We’ll probably try and do some different things on that end of the floor this coming week. It doesn’t look like a group of people that doesn’t want to be here. Seems like a group of guys that are still energized. Trying to get better. We’ve proven that when we play the right way, and we play together, we have good enough players to win games.”
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