(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
On Saturday morning, The conference logo on the hardwood floor will be just a little different. The unmistakable crest reading “Pac-12” has been abolished in favor of the Roman numerals “XII” in a curved logo signaling the Big 12 conference. The logo has changed, the conference has changed and the players have changed.
But the hatred and dissent for each other that fuels the Territorial Cup rivalry between Arizona State and Arizona Basketball?
That hasn’t changed at all.
Since 1899, the two schools have been locked in a bitter rivalry for statewide supremacy. Saturday will be another chapter in the history of the Cup. Arizona enters hot off an upset overtime win over No. 3 Iowa State Monday night, a game that required a near full-court shot by senior guard Caleb Love to force overtime in the first place.
The Wildcats have been one of the hottest teams in the country. After sputtering out of the gates and losing five of their first nine games, they have won 10 of their last 11 games dating back to mid-December.
Love, the 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year in its final season, leads the Wildcats in scoring, averaging 15.7 points per game, good for sixth in the conference. He’s the heaviest contributor to the Wildcats’ 24th-ranked offense in the nation. The offense is built on speed as it is the 29th-ranked fast-break attack in the country.
Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd is in his fourth year at the helm of one of the nation’s premier programs. His first three seasons yielded two first-place Pac-12 finishes and two Sweet 16 appearances while appearing in the NCAA Tournament every year. After transitioning to the hypercompetitive Big 12, early returns have been much of the same for his team. Nine conference games in and the Wildcats are ranked second in the Big 12 behind the Cyclones, who they just beat, while also being its second-highest scoring team.
Love is a big part of that explosive offense that is coming into Desert Financial Arena attempting to take advantage of the Sun Devils’ lack of effective scoring defense, which ranks 13th out of the 16 teams in the conference.
Junior guard Jaden Bradley and sophomore guard KJ Lewis represent the rest of Arizona’s backcourt-heavy offensive game, and it’ll put stress on ASU’s front court to defend the perimeter.
Contradictory to Arizona’s potent backcourt offense, its frontcourt has seen a notable regression from 2023-24, which favors ASU’s strong shot-blocking defense down low. The Sun Devils rank second in the conference in blocked shots and will be welcoming in a Wildcat frontcourt that lost its biggest contributor from the year prior.
Former Wildcat center Oumar Ballo was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2023-24 along with Love. He averaged just under 13 points and 10.1 rebounds a contest. Arizona’s leading big man, junior forward Tobe Awaka, posts seven points and eight rebounds a contest in comparison.
It should be noted that while ASU’s paint defense is relatively more sturdy, much of that has to do with shot-blocking extraordinaire freshman center Jayden Quaintance. The former five-star ranks in the top five in the country in the category but did sit out ASU’s last contest—a 70-68 win against Colorado—with an injury, and it is unclear whether he will play against the Wildcats.
On the other end of the floor, the Wildcats are less stellar, posting only the 10th-best defense in the conference. Conversely to the Wildcats only having three players averaging double figures, ASU boasts six players averaging 10 or more points a game. ASU’s leading scorer—senior wing BJ Freeman—is scoring just about three points less a night than Love. It may not be as fruitful, but the Sun Devils sport a more diversified attack that can put a strain on the Wildcats’ defense.
Limiting Love and finding ways to take advantage of Arizona’s light contingent of dominant big men could potentially be an avenue toward success for the Sun Devils. Despite the difference in the record between the two, the fire represented in this desert rivalry—which is one of collegiate athletics’ most contentious—can spark an explosive game at any moment whichever conference they are playing in.
