(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
The Arizona State Sun Devils (11-5, 2-2 Pac-12) had an underwhelming start to conference play, despite three of their four opponents having a .500 or worse overall win percentage at the time of competition.
Now, the Oregon State Beavers (11-4, 3-0) and the Oregon Ducks (10-6, 1-2) come into Tempe Thursday and Saturday, respectively. This starts a five-game stretch to finish the month for ASU that includes four matchups against teams currently three or more games over .500 overall.
Coach Bobby Hurley candidly addressed the disappointing turn the team’s season has taken- losing three of five games to beatable competition since a program-defining win over then No. 1 Kansas.
“We just have to find, like pinpoint an area that I can lock in on that we need to get better at,” Hurley said. “It seems like we’ve been a little bit all over the place with different things that are breaking down and we just have to be a little more consistent.”
“Some nights it’s been shot selection, at Stanford it was turnovers and free-throw shooting, against Utah it was transition defense. So, there’ve been different things, you know, Princeton was shooting percentage and a lot of missed layups. So, some of the losses we’ve hurt ourselves.”
The Beavers have won four straight and have matched their 2015-16 start to the season, after which they experienced a downward spiral- something the Sun Devils certainly hope they can spark again Thursday night.
However, Oregon State brings a similar challenge as Stanford, with some of the Pac-12’s best big men and some scrappy guards to complement them.
First and foremost, Beavers redshirt junior Tres Tinkle is one of the conference’s premier all-around players. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound forward averages 20 points (second in Pac-12), 8.4 rebounds (fifth) and 4.3 assists per game (seventh).
“Whoever is assigned to that matchup is going to have to take it personal being that he’s a really complete player, he can score at different levels and impact the game in many ways,” senior forward Zylan Cheatham said. “But it has to be a team effort, it has to be five guys locked in for 40 minutes, and all have similar mentalities to get the win by any means.”
In addition to Tinkle, junior Beavers forward Kylor Kelley presents a matchup nightmare. Kelley averages 8.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and leads the Pac-12 by a landslide with 4.2 blocks per game. For comparison, the next closest player is Washington’s Matisse Thybulle at 2.3 blocks per game.
“(The Beavers) have won some good games and they’re playing really confident,” Cheatham said. “Their guard play, their bigs’ play, they’re playing really well as a team.”
To Cheatham’s point, OSU presents a dynamic duo in the backcourt with the Thompson brothers.
Stephen Jr, a senior, and Ethan, a sophomore, are second and third on the team in scoring with 15.7 and 12.7 points per game, respectively. Additionally, Stephen Jr averages 1.7 steals per game, only 0.1 ahead of Tinkle for third in the conference.
“It’s going to come down to decision making and execution for this team, and you know taking care of the ball and getting a good shot every time,” Hurley said. “That’ll help our defense a lot, I still think that that is- despite giving up a lot more points than we have been giving up at Stanford- a strength of our team.”
ASU will look to Luguentz Dort, their leading scorer, to continue his four-game streak of scoring at least 13 points while minimizing his mistakes in the form of turnovers and fouls, as he’s fouled out twice during that points streak.
In addition to consistent production from sophomore guard Remy Martin, junior guard Rob Edwards and Cheatham, who’s had double digit points or rebounds in 10 of the last 11 games, the Sun Devils would benefit from their more inconsistent players stepping up this weekend.
Sophomore big man Romello White, senior big man De’Quon Lake, sophomore forward Kimani Lawrence and freshman forward Taeshon Cherry all fall in that category.
For a team that’s had six different players lead the team in scoring for at least one game throughout the season, the importance of a balanced attack can’t be overstated.
Although OSU is the big matchup of the weekend, a Ducks team that is fresh off a 21-point victory over USC can’t be overlooked. Oregon has been up and down all season though, which didn’t seem to get better or worse when leading scorer Bol Bol went down for the season about a month ago.
In his absence, freshman forward Louis King and senior forward Paul White have both stepped up, averaging 11 and 10.4 points per game respectively.
The Ducks also have some sneaky good role players. Senior guard Ehab Amin is second in the conference with 1.8 steals per game, even though he averages just over 20 minutes per contest. Sophomore forward Kenny Wooten averages 4.9 rebounds per game, second on the team amongst active players, and is sixth in the conference with 1.6 blocks per game.
Thursday night’s game tips off at 8 p.m. and will be televised nationally on FS1. Saturday’s game versus the Ducks tips at 7:30 and will be televised on Pac-12 Networks.
“Our winning percentage in the non-conference was so low that it puts more pressure on you to have a really good conference regular season,” Hurley said. “So far we’re behind in that regard and we have to do better.”
