ASU DEFENSE VS. ARIZONA OFFENSE
Without shot-blocking whiz Jordan Bachynski, Sendek hasn’t quite reverted to his old matchup zone defense, though it would hardly be a surprise if he flashes it today against the Wildcats. But the Sun Devils’ man-to-man defense has a much different look than it did without Bachynski. ASU is last in shot-blocking percentage in Pac-12 games, according to kenpom.com and — perhaps in part because they don’t have the big guy cleaning up mistakes when guys are beaten off the dribble — the Sun Devils are also dead last in field goal percentage defense (47.6 percent in Pac-12 games). ASU’s best bet will be to play with maximum energy, hope the Wildcats have a poor shooting night and that the “Curtain of Distraction” of goofy student stunts behind the basket somehow affects Arizona’s conference-best free-throw shooting.
