Scouting report: Arizona Wildcats vs. ASU Sun Devils

The Star's Bruce Pascoe previews game day essentials, from projected starting lineups to storylines and series history, ahead of the Arizona Wildcats' game against Arizona State on Thursday. 

Game info

Who: Arizona (10-3, 4-3) at Arizona State (4-6, 1-3) 

Where: Desert Financial Arena, Tempe

When: Thursday, 7 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Social media: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Pregame podcast

Probable starters: Arizona

G James Akinjo (6-0 junior)

G Terrell Brown (6-1 senior)

F Bennedict Mathurin (6-6 freshman)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-10 freshman)

C Christian Koloko (7-0 sophomore)

Probable starters: Arizona State

G Remy Martin (6-0 senior)

G Alonzo Verge (6-2 senior)

F Josh Christopher (6-5 freshman)

F Marcus Bagley (6-8 freshman)

C Chris Osten (6-9 junior)

How they match up

The series: Arizona leads the all-time series 153-85 and is 15-7 in the Sean Miller era, but the Sun Devils have won three of the past four games. Both teams held serve last season: Arizona won 75-47 at McKale Center on Jan. 4, when Zeke Nnaji had 17 points and 11 rebounds, while ASU won 66-65 in Tempe on Jan. 25, when Remy Martin engineered the Sun Devils’ comeback from a 22-point deficit with 24 points.

This season: The Wildcats and Sun Devils were initially scheduled to meet on March 6 in the regular-season finale at McKale Center, but that game was moved up to Monday at 9 p.m. in order to keep the final week open for rescheduled games. The Sun Devils have already had four Pac-12 games postponed, while UA couldn’t play Oregon last Saturday because of the Ducks’ COVID-19 issues.

ASU overview: The Sun Devils haven’t exactly lived up to the Pac-12’s official preseason poll, which picked them to finish second, but they have plenty of excuses. ASU has not played a single one of its 10 games with a full roster and has had five games postponed because of COVID-19 issues. The team went from Dec. 16 to Jan. 7 without a game. Star guard Remy Martin missed the first two games back from the break to attend his grandfather’s funeral, meaning he has played only once in the past 35 days. Center Jalen Graham has been out with mononucleosis while forward Taeshon Cherry has been missing for personal reasons.

The Sun Devils generated their preseason hype based on a perimeter of Martin, Alonzo Verge and five-star freshman wing Josh Christopher — while highly regarded freshman forward Marcus Bagley has essentially been a fourth starting wing — and those four have become their four top scorers. ASU relies on drives to the basket and drawing fouls, taking the 66th-most free throws compared with field goals in Division I and all four leading scorers are among the nation’s top 500 players in fouls drawn per 40 minutes, led by Verge (6.0). But they aren’t big 3-point threats, with Christopher shooting just 24.3% from 3 and Martin 21.6%, though Verge has made 38.9% of his 3s and Bagley 38.8%. Off the bench, Portland State transfer Holland Woods provides scoring and a 2-1 assist-turnover ratio.

Inside, the Sun Devils have struggled to maintain a presence without center Romello White, who transferred to Mississippi, and lately also without Graham. ASU is one of the nation’s worst offensive rebounding teams and is also mediocre in defensive rebounding. In place of Graham, ASU coach Bobby Hurley has started 6-foot-9-inch juco transfer Chris Osten. However, Hurley said Wednesday that Graham has returned to practice and could be available Thursday.

What the scout says

“They’re still putting it together because they haven’t had their full team. They’re slowly getting some of those guys back. They’re a downhill attacking, perimeter oriented offensive team. You have Remy Martin, Josh Christopher, Alonzo Verge, Holland Woods — those guys are getting downhill and putting pressure on the defense constantly. They get fouled a lot, so we have to defend without fouling and really try to take away their driving lanes.

“(Martin) is a career 36% 3-point shooter and he’s had big games against us in the past, and certainly a lot of big games over the course of his career. He’s more than capable. We certainly know what type of player Remy Martin is.

“Verge is one of the better guards in the conference. I think the Pac-12 has some of the best point guards in the country, and you could make the argument that they have two of them (Martin and Verge). Bagley’s a stretch-four. He’s a really good shooter. He’s another one of the freshmen in the league that’s outstanding and he might not be there very long.

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“Christopher is very good. He’s a strong guard. Great athlete. He can drive from the perimeter. Three-level scorer. Can finish at the rim. Can pull up, and I know his 3-point percentage hasn’t been great, but he’s more than capable. Very good offensive player.

“(Woods) is another facilitator who will run the ball and when they play him off the ball, he’s a capable catch-and-shoot 3-point shooter. His past is similar to Terrell Brown’s – he was a high scorer at Portland State who got a lot of shots. He’s taken a different role at Arizona State but he’s very capable when needed to go get a bucket.”

“(Inside, Osten) is a rim-runner, a finisher around the rim. The guards do a good job of finding him. He’ll get lob dunks, back cuts, he’s kind of a cutter away from the ball. He can hurt you because he’s a very good finisher.

“(Defensively) they’re gonna try to turn you over. They do a good job of getting steals. They rely on having their defense create some offense for them in transition.” — UA associate head coach Jack Murphy

Key player (ASU): Remy Martin

Sure, the face of the Sun Devils went 0 for 8 from 3 at Oregon State in his first game back from a long layoff. But Martin still had eight assists to no turnovers against the Beavers and history suggests the Wildcats still have reason to be worried about his offense. Martin almost singlehandedly woke them up from a 22-point halftime deficit at Tempe last season.

Key player (Arizona): Bennedict Mathurin

The Wildcats’ breakout star of late may be needed more on the defensive side more than anything against the Sun Devils, who love to drive inside and pick up fouls — the way USC and UCLA did almost at will in wins over the Wildcats two weeks ago.

Sidelines

Tough luck continues for Kriisa

Turns out, Arizona freshman guard Kerr Kriisa suffered a concussion on top of his broken nose in practice on Jan. 13, adding more doubt over whether he’ll be able to play once his eligibility is restored on Feb. 6.

UA coach Sean Miller said Wednesday that Kriisa will now have to recover from both injuries. The Estonian guard has been ineligible because of arrangements that had been made for him to play with a Lithuanian club; the NCAA cleared him to play starting Feb. 6 at Colorado.

“Sometimes the concussion symptoms don’t show up exactly when the break happens,” Miller said. “He’s not been able to practice ... and we don’t have a timetable on when or if he’s going to be able to return.”

UA faced a similar situation last season, when forward Stone Gettings suffered a concussion in the Wooden Legacy. Miller said Gettings’ symptoms did not fully develop until the next day or two. Gettings wound up missing a month. 

Asked Wednesday if Kriisa’s concussion was comparable to Gettings’, Miller said he didn’t know.

“These days, (if) you get hit in the head, you get a concussion, it’s obviously very serious,” Miller said. “We want to make sure we are protecting our players in all that we do but it’s a lengthy return. It’s kind of like a stress fracture — it’s not two days, five days. It’s weeks, sometimes more than a month.”

Getting their rest in

Without a game to play last weekend because of Oregon’s COVID-19 issues, the Wildcats took off both Friday and Saturday before returning to practice.

They may not have such a luxury again for a while. Because the Pac-12 asked them to move their March 6 home game against ASU to next Monday, the Wildcats on Thursday will be starting a string of seven games over a 16-day period through Feb. 6 at Colorado.

Guard Terrell Brown said since returning to practice Sunday “we’ve been locked in,” and no doubt Miller is hoping they can keep the focus with all the games ahead.

“I hope this week has come at a good time for us because we haven’t played a lot of games here over the last two weeks,” Miller said. “We’re really about to enter a gauntlet of the Pac-12 season in that we play Thursday, Monday, Thursday, Saturday and (the following Thursday and Saturday) to infinity, you know? So let’s hope we’re healthy.”

High stakes for Sun Devils

Not only is ASU trying to get its once-promising season back on track this weekend with a nearly complete roster suddenly available but the Sun Devils seniors Martin and forward Kimani Lawrence are playing for a chance to join a club of only five previous Sun Devils to finish their four-year careers with winning records against Arizona. So far, they are both 3-3 against the Wildcats.

“I think there’s a lot on the line for those guys and their legacy at Arizona State,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said Wednesday. “So there’s a lot to play for. I’ve been saying this, said it (last week) before Oregon State, our season is at kind of a critical juncture, and it’s no different right now. There’s so much to play for” Thursday.

Numbers game

1

Arizona’s Pac-12 rank in scoring (80.0), offensive rebounds per game (13.3) and assists (205).

3

Arizona players who have scored 31 points or more in a game this season after Bennedict Mathurin joined Jemarl Baker and Azuolas Tubelis in doing so last week at Oregon State. The Wildcats are the only team in the country with three players who have done so.

7

ASU’s national rank in turnover percentage, getting the ball back via turnover on 14.1% of opponents’ possessions.