Arizona State men’s basketball’s non-conference schedule is in the books and head coach Bobby Hurley’s crew will start conference play with a challenging slate, to say the least.
On Saturday, the Sun Devils (9-4, 0-0 Pac-12) head to Tucson for a rivalry matchup against No. 25 Arizona (10-3, 0-0 Pac-12) before traveling to the Pacific Northwest for matchups with Oregon State on Jan. 9 and No. 4 Oregon on Jan. 11.
Hurley was pleased with the tough schedule to start conference play.
“I’m happy about,” Hurley said. “I like it. It’s fun. It’s why we compete. It’s why you play at this level to be in games like at Arizona and that environment. And as a competitor, you want to be in those spots and see how you respond. And I liked our schedule overall, I hope it set us up to be able to respond to games like this. But yeah, us playing at San Francisco and at Princeton, it’s hard to simulate what the guys are going to get on Saturday. It’s a little bit comforting to know that a number of them have played in a couple of these games. So, they know what to expect.”
The big question for the Sun Devils heading into Saturday’s game is the status of Romello White. The redshirt-junior forward went down with an ankle injury early in ASU’s win over Texas Southern this past Saturday.
Hurley said he does not know much about the availability of White for Saturday’s contest and discussed what not having him would do to his team.
“He’s been limited,” Hurley stated. “Limited this week so we’re hoping that he could do a little more each day. Right now I’m still not sure…He’s such a big part of what we do, especially just his presence in the paint, especially with the size and the productivity of Arizona’s frontcourt. It’s that he all the ice possible, between now and Saturday, and…hope that he continues to progress.”
On the other hand, Hurley said freshman forward Jalen Graham, who missed the past two games with a concussion, has been cleared and will play on Saturday. With white’s uncertain status this was a significant piece of positive news.
Hurley looked ahead to his opponent Saturday and praised Arizona’s talented roster and head coach Sean Miller.
“They’re a very good basketball team,” Hurley said. “Very well-coached. Very good defensively, positionally, being in the right sports. Really like what (Zeke) Nnaji is doing down low for them. His touches, his scoring and his offensive rebounding is as good as anybody we have in the conference and their point guard (Nico Mannion) is pretty special as well and they’ve been in a lot of big games so they played some really good competition…We’ve had a good week of practice and been pleased with the signs that I’m getting from our team so that’s kind of what I’m focusing on.”
The Texas Southern game last Saturday was an offensive explosion for the Sun Devils. ASU shot a whopping 57.1 percent from the field including 48 percent from three-point land and scored 98 points.
ASU had Remy Martin, Alonzo Verge Jr. and Jaelen House all score at least 20 points. It was a breakout performance for most of the players on the team. However, ASU starting guard Rob Edwards continued to struggle in the game scoring just one point on 0-4 shooting and missed all three of his three-point attempts.
Edwards’ struggles against Texas Southern were part of a four-game shooting slump the redshirt-senior has been in. He has made just three of his last 27 field goal attempts. The last time he scored in double figures was Dec. 11 against Prairie View A&M.
Despite Edwards’ slump, Hurley was confident in his ability to pull out of it.
“I'm not going to lose faith in Rob because I've seen him put up some really big numbers in big games for us last year and even early in the year shooting well,” Hurley explained. He's going through a bad stretch on offense and we'll keep working with him and talking to him about things that we might see to help him get through it and I have a feeling that he'll breakthrough at some point here soon.”
Martin was also confident in his Edwards’ ability to move past his struggles.
“…I know that dude put in so much work,” Martin stated. “He’s gone through a lot with his injuries and he’s consistently hitting the gym pretty hard. And in basketball, we all go through these things. And we all have slumps. And he's going through one right now. And it's shown, but it's going to turn for him because he put in so much work that once it turns for him it’s going to be scary for other teams.”
A player who struggled early on this season but seemed to find his rhythm in the Texas Southern game was forward Kimani Lawrence, scoring 11 points in 17 minutes of action.
Hurley was pleased with what he saw out of Lawrence in the game and practice this week. He said Lawrence might be a guy he could “count on” on Saturday.
“I liked what I saw from him and more importantly, just this week, he's been good on the practice floor as well,” Hurley said. “..He's played a lot of big games for me as well. And I know that there was a time this year that he was really struggling. And again, I'm happy with his play in our last game.”
With White’s injury, Hurley had to rely on senior Mickey Mitchell to play an extended role against Texas Southern. Mitchell has been back for just under a month from a back injury that kept him out over a year.
Mitchell’s 25 minutes, while not eye-popping, were energy filled and Hurley said he has responded well physically to the extended minutes.
“Mickey looks really good, moving well. He looks fit, his game is getting better and better as he gets more reps,” Hurley said. And so yeah, I'm pleased with what I've seen from Mickey this week.”
The Arizona game will be the first time for the Sun Devils’ freshmen and transfers to get a taste of what it is like playing in a Territorial Cup matchup at the McKale Center.
One of those freshmen is House, whose father, Eddie, played in the rivalry numerous times during his illustrious career.
House said he “can’t wait” to play in his first rivalry game, a game where he will play his childhood buddy, Arizona freshman phenom Nico Mannion. And while friends off the court, House said the friendship will not factor into how he plays against Mannion on Saturday/
“It’s just an on-court thing,” House explained. “Obviously we’re cool off the court. I’ve got a lot of love for him but when we step in between the lines, it’s no friends. I don’t care who you are if you’re my brother or not.”
House said the guards for ASU will need to “pressure” Mannion the entire game on Saturday to “make him tired.”
House had his best shooting performance of the season on Saturday against Texas Southern, going 5-7 from three in the game.
“…I’ve just been in the gym…24/7 just getting shots up,” House said. “…Trying to get my mojo back. I really (haven’t) had it. After the last game, I’ve seen my work…paying off.”
The game Saturday is a chance for ASU to defeat U of A two years in a row on their home floor.
Martin reflected on winning in Tucson last season.
“It’s a fun atmosphere and…to get the win in Tucson or somewhere else…it’s always great…a little bit sweeter,” Martin said.
Martin also spoke about what the rivalry is like for the first-year players.
“It’s totally different,” Martin explained. You forget about everything…The energy is so amazing.”
