Arizona men's basketball scouting report: ASU at No. 5 Wildcats, 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Probable starters

ASU

G Frankie Collins (6-1 junior)

G Adam Miller (6-3 junior)

F Jamiya Neal (6-6 junior)

F Alonzo Gaffney (6-9 senior)

C Shawn Phillips (7-0 soph.)

ARIZONA

G Kylan Boswell (6-2 soph.)

G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)

F Pelle Larsson (6-6 senior)

F Keshad Johnson (6-7 senior)

C Oumar Ballo (7-0 senior)

How they match up

The series: Arizona leads its instate rival 159-86 overall and leads 35-11 at McKale during the Pac-10/12 era while also winning six of the last seven games overall. But the Wildcats’ lone loss in that span came at McKale in Arizona’s home finale last season when Desmond Cambridge sunk a game-winning 60-foot buzzer-beater to give ASU an 89-88 victory. Arizona held a 10-point lead with 6:30 remaining but had four turnovers in the final four minutes.

ASU overview: After losing nine players to the transfer portal after last season, the Sun Devils rebuilt around three key returners: point guard Frankie Collins, wing Jamiya Neal and big man Alonzo Gaffney. Those three remain the core of a team that sits in the middle of the Pac-12 race after snapping a five-game losing streak by winning at Utah last Saturday and returning home to beat Oregon State 79-61 on Wednesday by outscoring the Beavers by 18 in the second half.

Despite all the transition, the Sun Devils managed to stay old and experienced. That’s in large part due to 25-year-old wing Jose Perez, who opted to make ASU his fifth school last fall, arriving after sitting out (and graduating) from West Virginia last season. Although Perez didn’t play for the Mountaineers, he has played for Manhattan, Marquette and Gardner-Webb already, then suited up and started consistently for ASU this season, becoming the Sun Devils’ second-leading scorer.

ASU went after Perez in part because the Sun Devils didn’t expect two-time transfer Adam Miller would become eligible but a legal ruling paved the way for all transfers to play immediately this season, and Miller began playing in mid-December, becoming ASU’s fourth-leading scorer. Perez has become ASU’s second-leading scorer (12.9) and a careful 3-point threat, hitting 16 of 35 from long range (45.7%).

Leading the Sun Devils along with Perez, Collins leads ASU in scoring (13.7 points) and assists (3.4), but he’s turnover-prone (2.7) and shoots just 59.55 from the field and 29.0% from 3-point range.

ASU rotates Miller, Perez and Neal into their two starting wing spots while Perez often winds up playing at power forward in a smaller lineup. Neal came off the bench against OSU but wound up playing 32 minutes; similarly, Miller did not start against Utah but played 31 minutes.

Inside, the Sun Devils have started former LSU and Glendale Dream City center Shawn Phillips, who missed eight nonconference games with a foot injury, while Gaffney plays either post.

As a team, ASU is strongest defensively, leading the Pac-12 in defensive steal percentage (12.1) and ranking fourth in block percentage (10.8) and 3-point percentage defense (34.6) in conference games. But the Sun Devils allow Pac-12 opponents to shoot 54.5 inside the arc against them, the worst two-point percentage defense in the conference.

Offensively the Sun Devils are mediocre at best. They rank ninth in the Pac-12 in overall offensive efficiency and are last in 3-point shooting percentage (31.7), and fifth in two-point percentage (50.9) in conference games. They do take care of the ball, however, posting the lowest turnover percentage in Pac-12 games (13.9).

He said it: “They're very disruptive. In the first half (on Wednesday), Oregon State had zero turnovers and then in the second half, they were a mess. It's one of the things Arizona State does to you.

"It's been their staple for years. They're a very active team defensively. Very, very disruptive. They want to create steals and want to put you in uncomfortable situation. So you've gotta play with poise.

"(Perez) is one of those really old seniors. He's been around the block, scored at a high level for years. He's a man and he knows what he's looking for. He knows his strength. He knows his weaknesses. Adam Miller was a very talented player who got injuries and moved around and he found a home now at Arizona State. We know Bobby gets his players to play with a lot of freedom and a lot of confidence. Those guys are benefiting from that.

"I think Phillips gives them size and rim protection. A lot of their losses this year were when they didn't have Phillips, so he's a big piece of what they do.

"(Collins) and Perez are the leaders, emotionally and technically. Collins is very disruptive and he's the head of the snake defensively. He's playing with high confidence, he's comfortable in their system.

"(Last year's game at McKale) was one of the craziest afternoons since I've been here and now we gotta come see how dangerous they are and how good they are. They went and beat Utah, and we know how hard that is.

"Maybe it the numbers say they were a little better team last year. In my eyes, they are very similar. Their approach to the game is going to be the same. Arizona State is definitely not a team that you can just show up and beat. You have to go and take it."

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

Key players

ASU — Frankie Collins

The Sun Devils’ offensive floor leader is also the key to their aggressive, disruptive defense on the other side of the court. Collins leads the Pac-12 in steals per conference game (2.86), and he has the seventh-best steal percentage nationally, swiping the ball away on 5.1% of opponents’ possessions in all games this season.

ARIZONA — Oumar Ballo

While ASU is much the same sort of scrappy, aggressive team coach Bobby Hurley is known for developing, they are without the experienced, 7-foot rim protector they had last season in Warren Washington. That could be an advantage for UA’s 7-footer, who is riding a streak of four straight double-doubles.

Sidelines

Little help from friends

The Pac-12’s unique travel partner system has always allowed for one team to help its geographical partner out in a number of ways during a two-game weekend, often by either sapping one team mentally or physically before that team has to play the travel partner.

So when Arizona outlasted Utah 105-99 in triple-overtime on Feb. 8 — and ASU beat the Utes 85-77 two days later — ASU’s Bobby Hurley felt compelled to send UA’s Tommy Lloyd a message.

“He texted me and thanked me for wearing Utah down,” Lloyd said on his weekly radio show. “True story.”

Lloyd and Hurley are known to be friendly, despite the intensity they may show on the floor, and UA assistant coach Riccardo Fois said that’s often the case.

“I think we have a great relationship with all the coaches in the league,” Fois said. “Especially in this last year of the Pac-12, there’s a camaraderie going through the season. People only see when we compete, and obviously this league has incredibly competitive coaches. But there is also a side of `Hey, we're all kind of owning this, we all go through the same struggle and everything.’ So there is always time for a smile or supporting each other.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s just Bobby. We respect how hard those other teams play and the struggles they go through. But, I mean, once the ball goes up, you just think about kicking somebody's ass and I'm sure there's nothing else Bobby's been thinking since after they beat Oregon State” on Wednesday.

Last run, or no?

One simplistic view of Oumar Ballo’s improved production might be the common push many seniors feel as the final weeks of their college careers flip by.

“It’s time,” Ballo said, saying he was quoting Lloyd. “I guess it’s time.”

Except it’s not exactly clear if these are Ballo’s final weeks as a Wildcat or not, thanks to the COVID exception year.

Of UA’s four senior starters, only Keshad Johnson is in his fifth season as a player, meaning Ballo, Caleb Love and Pelle Larsson all have another season to play if they want it because those who participated in the 2020-21 “COVID” year can play five (and NIL cash is keeping fifth-year seniors around all over college basketball.)

But Ballo indicated he isn’t looking that far ahead.

“I don’t know,” Ballo said. “I’m just trying to play a game every day, come out and have fun with my teammates. My future, I have no idea what’s going to happen. This is the year. I’ve got to focus on this year and enjoy the time with my teammates.”

Revolving doors

Even by today’s fluid standards of college basketball roster-building, the fact that ASU lost nine transfers after last season stands out. Especially because the Sun Devils reached the NCAA Tournament and kept a coach they played notably hard for, factors that usually make guys want to stick around.

But, of course, there is a third factor these days that always lurks behind the scenes.

“I think in some cases NIL might have factored into retainment,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley told Blue Ribbon Yearbook before the season. “But I don’t want to make excuses. I just want to put my head down and work. The players we were able to bring in, I’m excited about.”

The retooled Sun Devils are 13-12 overall and tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 at 7-7 after having won their past two games, at Utah and against Oregon State at home on Wednesday.

Arizona, meanwhile, is 19-5 despite having seven of its 11 active scholarship players in their first season with the Wildcats.

“I only have enough bandwidth to coach one program, and that's Arizona,” Lloyd said when asked about ASU’s roster transition. “I don't have enough bandwidth to be worrying about what other people are doing. Obviously it's a tough business. I just know Saturday, no matter how we slice and dice it, it's gonna be a hard game.”

Numbers game

8.57: ASU’s average steals in Pac-12 games, most in the conference

21.0: Caleb Love’s scoring average in Pac-12 games, second-highest in the conference behind only Washington’s Keion Brooks (21.7)

48.4: Arizona’s overall field goal percentage in Pac-12 games, the best in the conference.

46.8: ASU’s overall field goal percentage defense in Pac-12 games, the worst in the conference.