Game info

Who: Arizona State (20-9, 11-6) at Arizona (17-13, 8-9)

Where: McKale Center

When: 2 p.m. Saturday

Watch: Ch. 13

Listen: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM

Follow: @TheWildcaster on Twitter / TheWildcaster on Facebook

Probable starters: Arizona

G Justin Coleman (5-10 senior)

G Brandon Randolph (6-6 sophomore)

F Dylan Smith (6-5 junior)

F Ryan Luther (6-9 senior)

C Chase Jeter (6-10 junior)

Probable starters: ASU

G Remy Martin (6-0 sophomore)

F Rob Edwards (6-4 junior)

F Luguentz Dort (6-4 freshman)

F Zylan Cheatham (6-8 senior)

C Romello White (6-8 sophomore)

How they match up

The last time

Remy Martin had 31 points, eight assists and one turnover while forward Zylan Cheatham had 22 rebounds to lead ASU to a 95-88 overtime win over the Wildcats on Jan. 31 in Tempe despite 14 Arizona 3-pointers on 28 attempts. The Wildcats were playing for the first time without guard Brandon Williams, whose previously injured right knee flared up the previous weekend in Los Angeles, while center Chase Jeter was only of limited effectiveness in returning from a back injury that cost him two previous games.

The last time in McKale Center

No. 3-ranked Arizona State entered the game unbeaten, but left with its first loss when No. 17 UA topped the Sun Devils 84-78 on Dec. 30, 2017, in each team’s Pac-12 opener last season. Deandre Ayton had 23 points and 19 rebounds for the Wildcats, who shot 55.6 percent in the second half. ASU was the last remaining perfect team in the country entering the contest.

Series history

The Sun Devils’ win on Jan. 31 was their first after six straight losses to the Wildcats since Hurley took over in 2015-16. UA leads its in-state rivals 14-5 during the Sean Miller era and is 150-83 overall against ASU.

What’s new with the Sun Devils

ASU dropped a head-scratcher after beating UA on Jan. 31, losing 91-70 at home to Washington State, but has won four of its past five games after beating Oregon State 74-71 on Sunday in Corvallis.

Forward Zylan Cheatham has made a push for all conference honors, with 12 double-doubles this season. Forward Taeshon Cherry missed three games with a concussion, playing only briefly against Arizona after the sitting out the first, and he remains questionable Saturday after being kicked in the face at OSU. After slowing down in midseason, collecting 15 points on 5 for 12 shooting against UA last month, wing Luguentz Dort has scored more than 20 points in four of his past eight games, hitting four 3-pointers and taking 12 trips to the free-throw line against OSU last Sunday. Center Romello White hasn’t scored in double figures in his past five games, while the Sun Devils have also turned to Virgin Islands senior De’Quon Lake for help inside.

In the first game with ASU, "we had a lot of good opportunities from 3 and we were able to take advantage of that," Sean Miller said. "That hasn’t been something we’ve been good at. So we don’t want to be relying on that. We need to do a better job defensively against ASU, especially (in stopping) big rebounds, second shots.

“I think they have four players that are among the best in our conference. Remy Martin had 31 against us and he’s done nothing but get better from the day he stepped on their campus. I think he’s been a real big part of their success. He plays the game with a lot of fire and energy and plays it hard. I’m a big fan of his.

“Dort is one of the best freshman in our conference. He’s physical, strong does a lot of things and he takes big shots. Zylan Cheatham — I mean, what can I say about a player that gets 20 or more rebounds multiple times in a season? And he defends guards, bigs, he’s a terrific defender, with energy, handles the ball well. He’s really a unique player and a winner. And I think sometimes the most understated player on their team is Rob Edwards. He’s a deadly 3-point shooter, he’s older seems to have a just an unselfish nature to him, takes what the what the defense gives."

He said it

“They play, they rebound, they play in transition. They are in the passing lanes, play with a lot of energy on defense, and they make big shots so that’s why they’re in second place and why they have a bye and why they have a chance to be in this year’s NCAA Tournament.”

— UA coach Sean Miller

Key player: Remy Martin

ASU

Zylan Cheatham’s athleticism, size and strength make him a force inside, while Luguentz Dort can be a truck heading to the basket, but Martin’s style, energy and playmaking set the Pac-12’s second-fastest tempo. Against Arizona on Jan. 31, Martin was 8 for 14 from the field, dished eight assists and took 12 trips to the free-throw line.

Key player: Brandon Williams

ARIZONA

The freshman guard sat out for the first time in six games against the Sun Devils earlier this season and his presence wasn’t just felt on the offensive end but also on defense, when the Wildcats’ short perimeter rotation ran out of steam and allowed ASU to shoot 67.8 percent after halftime.

No incentive for Wildcats

No matter what the Wildcats do Saturday against ASU, they will play a first-round Pac-12 Tournament game receiving between a No. 6 and No. 9 seed. But they’ll most likely be in the No. 8 vs No. 9 game at noon Wednesday. What’s more, their likely opponent is USC, which beat UA by 23 points on Jan. 24.

Four Pac-12 teams remain tied for fourth place at 9-8 entering the end of the regular season Saturday at 9-8 but Arizona is a game back at 8-9 and doesn’t own many tiebreakers even if the Wildcats jumped into a 9-9 logjam.

As of the standings entering Saturday, UA would hold the No. 9 seed and play No. 8 USC in that first game. If UA beats ASU and favorites win elsewhere (Utah beats UCLA, Colorado beats USC, Washington beats Oregon, OSU beats WSU), Arizona would be the No. 8 seed and USC would be the No. 9.

Even in one unlikely scenario that would appear to favor the Wildcats — because Oregon State is included in the tiebreaker — Arizona still can’t move out of the 8-9 game: If UA beats ASU, Oregon beats Washington, Oregon State beats WSU, Utah beats UCLA and USC beats Colorado, UA would be in a five-way tie for fifth but would get the No. 9 seed (However, UA would likely face UCLA in that scenario instead of USC).

And if UA loses to ASU, the Wildcats would be the No. 9 seed regardless of whether they tie with just Stanford at 8-10 or Stanford and USC.

Hurley’s madness

Maybe the secret to ASU’s Jan. 31 win over UA was simple lunacy.

Before that game, Hurley had his team read off the scoring margin for each of the six games they had lost to the Wildcats since he was hired in 2015, then Hurley ran a total of 92 windsprints to represent all of those combined points.

“He’s a lunatic,” forward Zylan Cheatham said. “He’s crazy.”

Cheatham also repeated that contention a week later when Hurley prevented the Sun Devils from taking any shots in practice a day after they hit just 5 of 33 3-pointers in a home loss to Washington State.

But when asked if Hurley did anything this time to create an edge, Cheatham said a team would be in “deeper trouble” if it couldn’t find an edge on its own at this time of the season. When Hurley was asked what he did, he said he told the team it is simply time to string together multiple wins.

Cheatham also carefully answered a question about what Hurley is like in the locker room before games.

“I don’t want to quote myself again,” Cheatham said, smiling. “He’s a fierce competitor. It takes it takes a competitor to understand his tactics, his way of getting guys motivated, his way of going about his days. I mean, he’s really intense. He rides a bike 15 miles and stuff on game day so he does all kinds of crazy things.

“But he gets us to play hard, he gets us to respect him and we want to go the extra mile for him.”

Go ahead, heckle him

During road games, of course, Hurley tends to also motivate fans via his expressive sideline antics.

Maybe none more so than those at McKale Center, where fans and UA students have routinely heckled Hurley over his three previous appearances.

“Absolutely they are” the most vocal, Hurley said. “I’ll hear things, you know. I can’t remember a specific example but there’s some venom in there.”

While Hurley said some players and coaches use a hostile environment to motivate them, he said he mostly blocks it out.

“Everyone handles it differently,” Hurley said. “I know when I played or coached, I hear it but I don’t really hear it because you’re so kind of dialed into what you’re doing.”

Cheatham hears it, and says he actively listens, too.

“If you don’t like playing in hostile loud crowds, this really isn’t the sport for you,” Cheatham said. “I really, I really like it. I like when opposing teams are trash talking and their fans are into it, like the whole city, country is pretty much watching you.”

Numbers game

8

Straight times Arizona has beaten ASU at McKale Center.

8 of 9

Senior Day games Arizona has won in the Sean Miller era.

10

ASU wins out of 15 Quadrant 1 and 2 games this year.