Arizona State (15-3, 6-1) will take on No. 5 UCLA (16-2, 7-0) at Desert Financial Arena in one of the most highly-anticipated matchups of the week in college basketball. All eyes in the sport will be on Tempe tonight as the Sun Devils take center stage in a marquee national showdown.
FIRST PLACE ON THE LINE
When the Sun Devils and Bruins meet on Thursday, January 19th at 8:30 PM MST, first place in the Pac-12 Conference will be on the line. UCLA currently leads the league with a 7-0 record, with Arizona State sitting in sole possession of second place at 6-1.
HOW TO FOLLOW
The Sun Devil Men's Basketball game against No. 5 UCLA will be broadcasted on FS1 on Thursday, Jan. 19 at 8:30 PM MST. Aaron Goldsmith (pxp) and Casey Jacobsen (analyst) are on the call. All 31 of Arizona State's games this season will be televised, with Coach Hurley's squad making appearances on ESPN, FOX, CBS, and Pac-12 Network in addition to several major network affiliates. Listen to Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd on ESPN 620 KTAR-AM. The action can also be tracked via live stats accessed here.
GET TICKETS
Want to see one of the nation's best defensive teams in action? Have an itch to watch some high-flying dunks? How about a team building momentum? Well you are in luck! The remainder of tickets for Sun Devil Men's Basketball home games are now on sale. You can have an impact on our home-court advantage. Group ticket packages are a great option for parties of 15 or more. Get more information on all of our different packages by calling the Ticket Sales and Service team at 480-965-5812 or sundeviltickets@asu.edu.
TOP 5 UPSETS
ASU has three victories over opponents ranked in the AP Top 5 at the time of the meeting in the eight seasons under Bobby Hurley. The program had three total over the previous 35 seasons prior to his arrival. One of those victories came last season over a highly-ranked UCLA team, with the Sun Devils defeating the third-ranked Bruins in triple overtime.
SUN DEVIL WINS VS. AP TOP FIVE TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY (3)
ASU 87, #3 UCLA 84 3 OT (Feb. 5, 2022)
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
#16 ASU 95, at #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
2X PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Desmond Cambridge Jr. was named Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday. He was instrumental in Arizona State's sweep of Oregon and Oregon State, winning Pac-12 Player of the Week for the second time this season. It is the seventh Player of the Week honor in his illustrious career (Ivy 4x, Pac-12 2x, Mountain West 1x).
Cambridge Jr. is the first Sun Devil to win Pac-12 Player of the Week twice in the same season since Remy Martin did it back in 2019. Cambridge Jr. joins Colorado guard KJ Simpson as the only two individuals to be named the conference's top player multiple times in 2022-23. Arizona State now has a total of three Pac-12 Player of the Week recipients so far this season, with Austin Nunez earning Freshman of the Week honors back in November. It is the 13th time a Sun Devil has won a Pac-12 Player of the Week award under Bobby Hurley.
SEASON SNAPSHOTThe Arizona State men's basketball team is off to a 15-3 start and has put themselves in prime contention for a postseason berth and mid-season ranking. Head Coach Bobby Hurley has already taken Arizona State to the NCAA Tournament twice and has constructed a schedule that has already and will continue to test his team. Because of this, Arizona State already boasts one of the most impressive resumes through the first two months of the 2022-23 season.
RECORD: 15-3 (best start since 2008-09)
CONFERENCE RECORD: 6-1 (2nd - first 6-1 start in league play since 1980-81)
BEST WINS: #20 Michigan (neutral site), VCU (neutral site), at Colorado, Creighton (neutral site), at Oregon
ROAD WINS (4): at Colorado (12/1), at SMU (12/7), at Oregon, at Oregon State
DOUBLE-DIGIT WINS (7): vs. NAU, #20 Michigan (neutral site), vs. Grambling State, vs. Alcorn State, at SMU, vs. San Diego, at Oregon
AP/COACHES POLL RANKING (As of 1/19): #25 (Dec. 19/AP), Receiving Votes (Dec. 19/Coaches; 9 votes) Receiving Votes (Jan. 16)
NET: 39
REAL-TIME RPI: 38
KEN-POM: 51
STRENGTH OF RECORD: 21
UPCOMING GAMES TO WATCH: vs. No. 5 UCLA (Jan. 19), vs. USC (Jan. 21)
BRACKETOLOGY
Several bracket experts nationwide have Arizona State projected in the NCAA tournament. Take a look at where the most prominent national names have the Sun Devils seeded in their latest projections.
Andy Katz (NCAA): 16th in the Power 36
Jerry Palm (CBS): 7 seed
Bracket Matrix: 10 seed
Michael DeCoury (Fox Sports): 11 seed (Last Four In)
Joe Lunardi (ESPN): 9
SB Nation: 10 seed
COMFORTABLE WHEN IT'S CLOSE
Coach Hurley's team has played in a two-possession game in eight of its first 18 contests, boasting a 7-1 record. The Sun Devils are 31-14 in two possession games over the last four seasons, tied wtih Wisconsin for the most wins in the Division I during that span.
1. Arizona State 31
Wisconsin 31
3. Providence 29
Kansas 29
4. Western Kentucky 28
Miami (FL) 28
OREGON TRIP
The Sun Devils swept the Oregon Schools on the road for the first time since the 2009-10 season last week. ASU has won seven of their last eight in the series against Oregon State and three of the last four in Corvallis. ASU's 90 points in Eugene were the most scored in a home loss under Dana Altman (since 2010-11) and the 17-point margin of victory is tied for the second largest under Altman.
Arizona State was unofficially ranked 28th by the AP, receiving 79 votes on Jan. 16. Of teams ranked between 8th and 27th, only two have more true road wins than Arizona States' four. Of teams ranked between 10-27, only three have more Quad 1 and 2 wins than the Sun Devils' six. Only six teams in the nation have more wins over teams in the Top-100 of the NET wins than Arizona State (7). A pair of AP Top-25 teams, Charleston (#18) and FAU (#24), have a combined 6 top 100 NET wins compared to the Sun Devils seven.
PAC-12 PLAY
The Sun Devils are 6-1 in Pac-12 play for the first time since the 1980-81 season and just the third time in the Pac-10/12 era. Additionally, ASU is 3-0 on the road in league play for the first time since the 1980-81 season. They currently sit in second place in the league, trailing Thursday's opponent UCLA by one game.
ROAD WARRIORS
Sun Devils are one of just two teams in the league to have four road wins (UCLA). Arizona State's road wins this season have come in hostile environments and difficult places to play (Colorado, SMU, Oregon). Over six seasons from 2016-17 – 2021-22, those three teams combined to go 241-50 (82.8%) at home. This includes five individual seasons of undefeated home records.
LOCKING IT DOWN
Arizona State has been one of the best defensive teams in the country through 18 games, making it difficult on opponents to score. The Sun Devils rank 8th in the nation holding opponents to just 37.7% shooting from the field.
COMEBACK KINGS
The Sun Devils now have 37 halftime comebacks under Bobby Hurley including 18 on the road. In fact, the Sun Devils now have four halftime comebacks this year and three on the road (OSU, Colorado and SMU). All four comebacks have come away from home, with the other one being a neutral site contest against VCU at the Legends Classic held in Brooklyn, NY. In both of ASU's road Pac-12 comeback wins (Colorado, Oregon State), the opposition has combined to shoot 14-48 (29.1%) from the field including 7-26 (26.9%) from three in the second half. 18 of the 37 halftime comebacks under Coach Hurley have been in Pac-12 play. The Sun Devils trailed by as many as 16 against Oregon State, making it the largest comeback since they overcame a 22-point deficit against Arizona on February 25, 2020. The win was also ASU's largest road comeback since trailing by 18 at Georgia on December 15, 2018.
WILL-GUARD U
Opposing guards only made six shots from the floor against the ASU defense and committed seven turnovers in the win at Oregon State. Through 18 games this season, opposing guards are shooting 36.5% against ASU in conference play and 34.6% for the season against the Sun Devil perimeter defense.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
After not sweeping a Pac-12 road trip from 2010-11 until 2019-20, ASU's has swept three in the past four seasons, matched for the third-best in the league. ASU swept Oregon this year, won at Colorado and Utah in 2022 and swept the Bay Area in 2020. In the past four seasons Arizona has five road sweeps, UCLA has four and ASU/Oregon have three. Arizona State has swept back-to-back Pac-12 series during their current four-game winning streak.
HOME COOKING
Arizona State has won 11 of its last 12 games at Desert Financial Arena. It is the best 12-game mark since ASU won 14 straight in 2014-15.
DIME DISHIN'
The Sun Devils have had five games with at least 20 assists in its first 17 games this season. It's the most games with 20+ assists in the first 18 games of the season since at least 2009-10. The Sun Devils have had four such games through 17 games of the season since the 2018-19 season. They had 20 against Oregon.
COLLINS IS BALLIN'
Transfer point guard Frankie Collins has added a different dimension to the Sun Devils offense. Not only can he score at a high level, he has emerged one of the best passers in the conference. He has tied or outright paced ASU's assist category in 14 of the 17 games he's played in this season. Collins' 5.1 assists per game rank 33rd in the nation and third in the Pac-12. He is one of only two players in the conference averaging at least 10 points, five assists, and four rebounds. Collins boasts those averages in 28.1 minutes per game compared to Peterson's 35.6.
MILESTONE MOMENT
Fifth-year guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. reahed a significant milestone in a win over Washington earlier in the season. He surpassed 2,000 career points, becoming the 10th active player in the NCAA to reach the mark. His 2,043 points per game rank 10th among active NCAA players and his 335 threes rank fifth among active players. He is one of five active players with over 2,000 points and 550 rebounds in his career.
BALANCED SCORING
A signature of the Arizona State offense has been the different individuals stepping up at the offensive end. The Maroon & Gold are averaging 73.3 points per game (4th in the Pac-12) and four different Sun Devils are averaging at least 10.9 points per game or more (D.J. Horne, Frankie Collins, Desmond Cambridge Jr., Devan Cambridge). No one on the team averages over 30 minutes, with 10 players averaging at least 10.0 minutes per game. Arizona State has had three players - Desmond Cambridge Jr., Frankie Collins and DJ Horne - score at least 20 points twice. 11 different Sun Devils have scored 10 or more points in at least one game this season.
PROTECTING THE PAINT
Arizona State continues to find themselves near the top of the national rankings in blocks and rebounds per game. 12 players have recorded at least one block this season, led by Warren Washington's 36. Washington 2.0 blocks per game put him at 30th in the country and 3rd in the Pac-12. ASU ranks 20th nationally in blocks per game as a team. Arizona State also ranks 30th nationally in rebounds, averaging nearly 40 per game. The Maroon & Gold have outscored their opponent in the paint 16 times in 18 games this season, including a 28-22 margin against the Beavers. In fact, the Sun Devils are 7-0 in the paint in Pac-12 games, outscoring opponents by 45 points in the paint in league play. ASU has scored 41.8% of their points this season from inside the paint (552/1,319).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Desmond Cambridge Jr. is +54 in seven league play games this season after a +4 tally against Oregon State. He scored 21 points, his second contest in a row with at least 20.
- ASU has also scored more fast-break points than opponents in 12 out of 18 games and eight of the last nine. The Sun Devils are outscoring opponents by a +58 margin on the fast break this season, including a 17-5 advantage over Oregon State.
- Arizona State is +17 in steals in conference games this season.
- Arizona State is 11-0 this season when scoring at least 70 points. The Sun Devils are also 10-0 when out-rebounding their opponent.
Since February 12, 2022, Arizona State has been one of the best teams in the nation. They have a 22-5 (81.5%) record over their past 27 games dating back to last year, the eighth-best winning percentage in the nation during that span.
| 1 | Kansas | 35 | 31 | 4 | .885 |
| 2 | Houston | 34 | 30 | 4 | .882 |
| 3 | Arizona | 32 | 27 | 5 | .843 |
| 4 | Purdue | 30 | 25 | 5 | .833 |
| T5 | Gonzaga | 29 | 24 | 5 | .828 |
| T5 | Tennessee | 30 | 25 | 5 | .828 |
| 7 | Kent State | 28 | 23 | 5 | .821 |
| 8 | Arizona State | 27 | 22 | 5 | .815 |
| 9 | UCLA | 32 | 26 | 6 | .813 |
BEST SUN DEVIL 18-GAME RECORDS
1980-81 (16-2)
1974-75 (16-2)
1962-63 (16-2)
2022-23 (15-3)
2008-09 (15-3)
1961-62 (15-3)
942 CREW GIVEAWAY
Two big ?? games coming ????
— 942 Crew (@942Crew) January 18, 2023
TOMORROW at 8:30pm #5 UCLA
?? NEON NIGHT ??????
?? Students, take your pick between 3 Neon Ts plus wear any Neon you already own??
SATURDAY at 8:00pm vs USC
?? Welcome to Lob U ????
?? Lob U T shirt
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW & PACK DFA ?? pic.twitter.com/G9sZ3aZUaH
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