Scouting report: No. 7 Arizona Wildcats vs. Arizona State Sun Devils

ASU

G Frankie Collins (6-1 sophomore)

G DJ Horne (6-1 junior)

F Desmond Cambridge (6-4 senior)

F Devan Cambridge (6-6 senior)

C Warren Washington (7-0 senior)

ARIZONA

G Kerr Kriisa (6-3 junior)

G Courtney Ramey (6-3 senior)

F Cedric Henderson (6-6 senior)

F Azuolas Tubelis (6-11 junior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 junior)

How they match up

The last time: After building a 45-28 halftime lead at ASU on Dec. 31, Arizona made just 2 of 11 shots to begin the second half while ASU went on a 19-4 run to pull within two points. But Arizona never trailed the Sun Devils and hung on for a 69-60 win. Azuolas Tubelis led Arizona with 21 points and nine rebounds, while Oumar Ballo had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats ultimately won the game at the free-throw line, taking 16 more trips than ASU did and making 22 of 26 free throws. ASU was 7 for 10.

Last time at McKale Center: Still wobbly after a three-game road trip that ended in a 16-point loss at UCLA, Arizona shot just 32.8% in a 67-56 win over ASU on Jan. 29, 2022, at McKale Center. The Wildcats won the game by holding ASU to just 32.5% shooting and outrebounding the Sun Devils 46-41, collecting 17 offensive rebounds on their 40 missed shots. Christian Koloko led UA with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Bennedict Mathurin had to work hard for his 14 points, going 0 for 8 from 3-point range and 5 of 16 overall from the field.

Series history: Arizona has won its last five games with ASU and hasn’t lost to the Sun Devils at McKale Center since March 9, 2019, when ASU punctuated Arizona’s worst conference season in a decade by beating the Wildcats 72-64 in the regular-season finale. The Sun Devils shot 49% and scored 23 points off 17 Arizona turnovers in that game. Overall, Arizona leads the 109-year-old intrastate rivalry 157-85.

What’s new with the Sun Devils

ASU initially brushed off its Dec. 31 loss to Arizona with four straight wins, including a 90-73 victory at Oregon, which beat Arizona by 19 points two days later. But then the Sun Devils lost five of their next six, with Oregon beating them 75-70 at Desert Financial Arena on Feb. 4.

Since then, ASU has re-entered the competition for an NCAA Tournament berth and top-four seed in the Pac-12 Tournament by sweeping Stanford and Cal in the Bay area and beating Utah at home on Feb. 18. However, ASU lost 67-59 to Colorado at home on Feb. 16, when the Sun Devils shot just 36.9% from the field and were outrebounded 42-34. The Buffs limited ASU center Warren Washington to just six points, though Washington returned to score 18 on Utah.

The Sun Devils rank 33rd nationally in defensive efficiency, and they’re especially effective inside the arc, ranking third in 2-point percentage defense (42.6) and 13th in defensive block percentage (14.0). A lot of that is due to Washington, who ranks 40th nationally in block percentage by swatting away 8.3% of opponents’ shots when he’s on the floor.

In conference play, ASU has the fourth-rated defense, allowing 97.5 points per 100 possessions to Pac-12 opponents, and the Sun Devils are the second-best team in 2-point percentage defense, limiting conference teams to just 44.3% shooting inside the arc. ASU also ranks first in defensive block percentage in conference play, swatting away Pac-12 opponents’ shots 13.7% of the time.

ASU’s starting lineup has remained consistent, though coach Bobby Hurley started senior Luther Muhammed over sophomore Frankie Collins on Feb. 18 against Utah, which was the Sun Devils’ final home game of the season.

He said it

“They’re a good team. They went through a tough stretch of games they could have won, so now they’re a desperate team. A desperate team is always a dangerous team. When I watch their games, they look like one of the top four teams in the conference, which is what they are.

“Arizona State is one of the top 30 defenses in the country, and that’s been their identity since Hurley’s been there. So we have to be strong with the ball. At their place, we started really good and then we had a rough stretch in the second half. We have to learn from our mistakes there.”

“They made some great plays defensively. We probably relaxed. And that’s what they do defensively. They try to turn you over to create advantages for them, and they were able to do it a high level.

“Washington is a big part of (the defense). He’s a really good player, one of the best big guys in the conference. Their defense is predicated on being very aggressive, keep you off the paint. They have athletes, they have quick guys, so I’m not very I’m not very surprised by (their defensive success). They’re always trying to be that way.”

— UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois, who scouted the Sun Devils

Key playersASU — Desmond Cambridge

One of the reasons Arizona survived a second-half scare at ASU on New Year’s Eve day was that Cambridge was just 1 for 7 from 3-point range and fouled out after 22 minutes. Chances are, he won’t be bashful about making up for that game. While Cambridge is not a high-efficiency shooter (33.0% from 3), he’s a high-volume shooter who can get hot. Defensively, he ranks third in steals during Pac-12 games (1.88).

ARIZONA — Azuolas Tubelis

Arizona’s junior forward was so consistently productive for the first 25 games of Arizona’s season that it magnified the foul trouble and other issues that have slowed him down in the past three. But there’s no doubt he’ll be motivated to fix things against ASU, against whom he’s averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds in the past two matchups.

Sidelines

Zig-Zag grad

When walk-on guard Matt Lang graduated from Gonzaga last spring and considered using his extra “COVID year” of eligibility at Arizona, Coach Tommy Lloyd paused. Lloyd spent 22 seasons on the Gonzaga staff and remains close with Zags coach Mark Few.

“I told Matt I wasn’t going to recruit him to come down here and talk him into leaving Gonzaga, when he reached out to me,” Lloyd said. “But I said if he wanted to come, he had a spot and we would value him.”

As it turned out, Arizona’s Eller College of Management did some recruiting anyway. Lang said he picked UA over NYU and Notre Dame because he could get a top accounting degree at UA while also knowing there would be familiarity on the court.

“It was because of Tommy. I knew he brought a lot of coaches with him from Gonzaga, so I knew how the program was going to operate and work,” Lang said. “When you choose a different D1 school, you have no idea what the program will be like. So I just knew that I would be in a good environment with good people.”

Lang has made seven brief appearances in games, but he’s also one of only three walk-ons who travel for Pac-12 road trips, usually mimicking the point guard of opposing teams during scout-team work. He said he’s particularly enjoyed acting as Oregon’s Will Richardson, since both are left-handed.

“And he can shoot pretty much any shot he wants, so he’s pretty fun to be in practice,” Lang said.

Had he gone elsewhere, Lang might have been playing himself.

“He’s a Division I basketball player who’s chosen to be a walk-on for high-level programs, so his opportunities to play have been limited,” Lloyd said.

“He could have gone a lot of places and played this last year. You guys (media) don’t get to watch practice enough. But every day, he’s making great plays.”

Lang will be honored before Saturday’s game in a Senior Day ceremony that will also include Jordan Mains, Cedric Henderson and Courtney Ramey. along with managers Anderson Mort and Xavier Farhang.

Bubble troublesOn the outside of the NCAA Tournament bubble at 19-9 and with a NET of 66, ASU nevertheless has a perfect opportunity to fix that problem. Not only will the Sun Devils face Arizona at McKale Center on Saturday, but they’ll also play at UCLA and USC next week, giving them three Quad 1 opportunities before the Pac-12 Tournament.

“If we’re going to do it, there’s no better time than now with these next three opponents on our schedule,” ASU guard DJ Horne said Thursday.

Added Hurley, “If you’re going to win anything meaningful, it’s going to go through Tucson and L.A., whether that’s now or the Pac-12 Tournament, and even the NCAA Tournament. Those are all NCAA Tournament teams. So if we want to prove that we belong in that event, or if we want to prove to ourselves so we could go to Vegas and win that event, we have to start winning games now.”

But Hurley also indicated the Sun Devils shouldn’t have to be in this position in the first place.

“We’re having a good season. If we were in any other league, we wouldn’t even be really talking about this,” Hurley said. “But unfortunately, our league was not rated great in the nonconference and we’re sitting at 19-9.”

Whistle blowersDuring ASU’s media interviews Thursday in Tempe, Horne recalled a pretty tough atmosphere when Arizona beat ASU 67-56 last season at McKale.

“They have a crazy fanbase. It’s going to be loud,” Horne said. “I remember last year, we couldn’t even hear the commands coming from Coach Hurley. Barely could hear each other out there.”

Horne said the Sun Devils need to stick together through those moments this time, and Hurley said he’s talked to them about it too.

“We’ve discussed the crowd and the implications of that,” Hurley said. “We’ve played a lot of road games this year, but nothing will resemble or simulate what the crowd will be like there. We haven’t played anybody that comes close to that.”

There was another aspect Hurley said he prepared the Sun Devils for.

“We had the whistles out this week, and we were calling a ton of fouls,” Hurley said. “We know that’s going to be something that we have to work through as well. The adversity of not only the crowd and our opponent, but the possibility that we may not get the friendliest whistle. That’s just the reality of going into an environment like Arizona.

Numbers game2.59 — 3-pointers made by ASU’s Desmond Cambridge in conference games, second most in the Pac-12 (Cambridge hits them at a 32.8% rate).

2.71 — 3-pointers made by Arizona’s Courtney Ramey in conference games, most in the Pac-12 (Ramey hits them at a 39% rate that ranks ninth in the conference).

6 — Players in Pac-12 history who have led the conference in both scoring and rebounding during league games, the last being Cal’s Leon Powe in 2005-06. Tubelis currently leads in scoring (19.64) and rebounding (9.11), but he’s only .07 rebounds ahead of teammate Oumar Ballo (9.04).