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ASU set for game against internet-star laden UCF

Photo courtesy of UCF Athletics

Only three days removed from a war against Baylor on Saturday, a game that featured a 15-point comeback and eventual overtime loss, Arizona State men’s basketball (10-5, 1-3 Big 12) will realign their scopes for UCF (11-4, 2-2 Big 12). The Knights come stumbling into Tempe after a hard-fought eight-point loss themselves to Arizona on Saturday. As ASU continues its initial foray into the Big 12 landscape they will welcome in the Knights for the first-ever clash between the two schools.

Comparatively to the Sun Devils’ 189th-ranked offense, the Knights have found a more free-flowing attack, averaging 78 points per game, good for 96th in the country. Their scoring contingent is a three-pronged effort led by junior forward Keyshawn Hall, senior guard Darius Johnson, and fifth-year guard Jordan Ivy-Curry, who are averaging 16.1, 14.9, and 14.7 points per game, respectively. All three average more than ASU’s leading scorer, senior forward Basheer Jihad, who is producing 12.9 points per game.

The Knights deploy an experienced starting lineup, featuring the three leading scorers and senior guard Dallan Coleman. The only underclassman in the starting five is the domineering 7-foot-2-inch Senegalese freshman center, Moustapha Thiam.

UCF’s offense mirrors the style of its collegiate Hall of Fame coach, Johnny Dawkins. The former Duke Blue Devil was a two-time All-American and the Naismith Player of the Year in 1986 before enjoying an 11-year NBA career. In college, Dawkins was one of the most devastating volume-scoring guards of his era, averaging nearly 20 points a game over his four-year career for the Blue Devils.

His team is molded in his image: free-scoring, but not in a hyper-efficient manner. Their game is predicated on getting shots up—and a lot of them. Make or miss. While the Knights are in the top half of the conference in scoring, they rank dead last in team field-goal percentage, hitting just 41.7 percent of their shots. Despite the abysmal shooting accuracy, only two teams in the conference average more shot attempts per game than the team from Central Florida, evidence of a free-shooting style of play.

ASU allows the fourth-most points of any team in the conference and will likely need to find ways to force UCF to essentially shoot itself out of the game by not allowing high-efficiency shots down low. While the ASU defense hasn’t exactly set standards, three teams have surrendered more points per game than the Sun Devils’ 71.2. While Kansas State (71.8) and Oklahoma State (73.3) are within striking distance of ASU, only one team in the conference has played significantly porous defense, allowing a resounding 77.2 points per game, UCF.

Along with the shaky defenses and inefficient offenses, the primary allure of this matchup will be the litany of formerly extremely talented, highly touted, and, in some cases, internet-famous underclassmen talent on display.

The aforementioned freshman, Thiam, has been an imposing rim protector for the Knights, recording 2.5 blocks per game. It’s the second-most in the conference, behind only the 17-year-old who will be battling him on the blocks in Tempe: ASU’s freshman center and former five-star recruit Jayden Quaintance. If Thiam has been an imposing shot blocker, Quaintance has been a transcendent rim protector, sending away just under three shots per contest—44 total in 15 games played—which leads all Power Five players.

Off the bench for UCF is a trio of uber-talented freshmen and former internet sensations. Most prominent among them is freshman guard Mikey Williams. The San Diego native first garnered major social media attention after starring alongside Lakers guard and son of Lakers forward LeBron James, Bronny James, in AAU basketball. His fame skyrocketed to the point of getting his own reality show, following his high school career from his freshman season all the way to his senior year. His 3.3 million followers on Instagram is the second-most of any college athlete, behind only LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne (5.4 million).

The former four-star recruit has sat out the majority of the season with a left foot injury but has been brought back into the lineup, most recently playing a season-high 18 minutes against the Wildcats, scoring 9 points.

Alongside him in the second unit is redshirt sophomore guard Dior Johnson, who also played alongside Bronny in AAU. The former ESPN four-star recruit was the No. 35 overall player coming out of high school in 2022, initially committing to Pittsburgh before having to spend a year at Clarendon College in junior college due to legal reasons. At Clarendon, Johnson proved his level, averaging 29.1 points per game, including six 40-point outbursts and two 50-point performances, before committing to resume his Division I college career at UCF. 

The third notable underclassman off the bench for the Knights is sophomore forward JJ Taylor, a former 247 and ESPN four-star recruit in 2023, who gained notoriety in high school for starring on Kanye West’s viral prep school, Donda Academy, in 2021-22. After the school shut down, Taylor spent his senior year at San Ysidro High School alongside Williams before playing sparingly in his freshman season at Memphis.

UCF will bring the fireworks both in personnel and playstyle with its free-flowing, high-volume offense and famous young scorers. ASU, now on a two-game slide, will have to put up a sturdy defensive front and find steady offense from the likes of Jihaad and senior forward BJ Freeman on the perimeter to avoid dropping three straight.




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Devon Henderson

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