(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
Arizona State Men’s Basketball’s (6-13, 2-7 Pac-12 Conference) gauntlet of ranked opponents will continue on Saturday night when it faces off against the No. 3 ranked UCLA Bruins (16-3, 8-2 Pac-12).
UCLA head coach Mick Cronin and his squad will look to bounce back after losing to No. 7 Arizona Wildcats (18-2, 8-1 Pac-12). The Bruins had a slow start to the game, but battled back. The deficit would ultimately be too much to handle as the Wildcats handed the Bruins their third loss of the season.
The loss down south was only UCLA’s third loss of the year. If ASU can pull off the upset in Tempe, it would be the Bruins’ first back-to-back loss of the season.
Junior guard Johnny Juzang is the star of Cronin’s team. The Tarzana, Calif. native is averaging 17.7 points and 4.9 rebounds per game. Juzang is also an efficient player, shooting 45.2 percent from the field and 83.7 percent from the free throw line. Limiting Juzang’s production will likely be a key for ASU on Saturday.
Facilitating the UCLA offense is redshirt junior guard Tyger Campbell. Campbell is averaging 4.5 assists per game in 2021-22, but the more impressive stat is his assist-turnover ratio. The 5-foot-11 guard has 3.74 assists for every turnover he commits, which ranks No. 1 in the nation.
On the other side of the floor, the Sun Devils are looking to bounce back after a disappointing loss to No. 19 USC (19-3, 9-3). ASU had multiple opportunities to pull away in Thursday’s loss, but let USC hang around. A loss on Saturday would extend ASU’s losing streak to five games.
Leading the Sun Devils into the match will be junior forward Jalen Graham. Graham has been on a hot streak as of late, setting a new career-high with 19 points. The Phoenix-native has scored double-digit points in five of the last six games.
ASU will have their hands full against the Bruins, but is optimistic about the rest of the season.
“We still got a chance to do some special just said a lot of season left,” senior forward Kimani Lawrence said on Thursday. “You know, college basketball is a tournament game. We have a lot of time to make something out of the season.”
