Technology

Preview: KU heads to Arizona State for road finale

Suhas2 months ago08 mins

AP Photo/Rick Scuteri

Kansas guard Melvin Council Jr. drives previous Arizona guard Anthony Dell’Orso through the first half of an NCAA faculty basketball recreation Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in Tucson, Ariz.

TEMPE, Ariz. — After Kansas misplaced to Arizona on Saturday, in a recreation that verged on a blowout early earlier than KU got here again solely to get blown out once more, KU guard Melvin Council Jr. stated the most important space by which the Jayhawks want to enhance is their toughness.
“We can’t back down from nobody,” stated Council, who had 13 factors and 4 assists within the loss. “We can’t take shortcuts when we got the lead, when we cut the lead down. We got to keep playing.”
The Jayhawks could not fairly handle that in the course of Saturday’s matchup, after they labored extremely laborious simply to get their deficit to two factors earlier than a 3-pointer by Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenkov broke the sport again open.
“That would be a ridiculously hard game regardless, but we certainly made it harder on ourselves,” head coach Bill Self stated, “because we didn’t do the things that I felt like we did the first time we played them and competed at the same level.”
Now they will want to reveal a distinct kind of toughness and renewed focus that not many groups have mustered this yr as they continue to be in Arizona and journey northwest to tackle Arizona State on Tuesday night time.
“It’s actually been a pretty good trip if you take away from about 2 pm to about 4 pm Saturday,” Self advised a small group of reporters on the crew lodge in Tempe on Monday, “but I thought our guys’ attitudes and everything was really good today.”
Teams which have simply confronted Arizona have gone 4-11 of their following video games this yr. In giant half due to the way in which the Big 12 schedules these road journeys, 4 of these 11 ensuing losses — losses by Cincinnati, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech — have come in opposition to ASU.
In different phrases, 4 of the Sun Devils’ six league wins this season have come in opposition to groups which have most just lately performed in opposition to the Wildcats. (The different two are in opposition to Utah, which is presently final within the Big 12.)
ASU didn’t begin league play properly in what actually seems to be its closing season below head coach Bobby Hurley — his contract is up on the finish of the yr — however the Sun Devils are on a little bit of an uptick with 4 wins of their final six video games and didn’t lose at Desert Financial Arena within the month of February. They accomplished the season sweep in opposition to Utah on Saturday with a 73-60 dwelling win by which they fell behind 14-5 early and proceeded to outscore the Utes 29-10 for the rest of the primary half. Moe Odum scored 15 factors with three 3s, freshman heart Massamba Diop added 14 with a pair 3s of his personal, Anthony “Pig” Johnson posted 13 off the bench and Santiago Trouet had a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
That has in some methods been the formulation for the Sun Devils, though Diop has solely tried 16 3-pointers this yr. He does have a strong capturing contact and unusual fluidity for a 7-footer, even when he’s extra usually a lob finisher and rim protector.
“You know, he’s pretty good in the short roll, he’s pretty good facing the basket,” Self stated. “He can make a shot, I think he’s only made four on the year, 3s, but he’s really good in that 15- to 17-foot range, and he’s so long. He almost plays like a four-man that’s playing the five, as far as away from the basket.”
ASU’s high general scorer is Odum, at 17.9 factors and 40.5% capturing from deep in league play. Johnson, an unlikely addition from the University of the Cumberlands, is a powerful driver who often serves because the sixth man. That’s partly as a result of the Sun Devils have been enjoying an enormous lineup with Trouet and Andrija Grbović, each 6-foot-11, alongside Diop, and one guard with Odum within the backcourt.
“They score the ball pretty easy,” Self stated. “They got a point guard that can really score. They’ve got some size. What is (Diop), 7-1 standing height? Their personnel’s good, and if I’m not mistaken, (they) won five of the last six at home… and they played Arizona tough in the game they didn’t win. They’ve definitely played well at home and beat some good teams.”
Self stated that when Arizona put Saturday’s recreation out of hand his focus shifted to resting gamers forward of Tuesday. The Jayhawks will hope these further minutes off profit the likes of Council and Darryn Peterson, who performed considered one of their most full video games in opposition to the Wildcats, however they will additionally want a a lot harder efficiency from their put up gamers to ship a road win on Tuesday night time.
ARIZONA STATE SUN DEVILS (15-14, 6-10 BIG 12) VS. NO. 14 KANSAS JAYHAWKS (21-8, 11-5 BIG 12)
• Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, Arizona, 8 pm Central time
• Broadcast: FS1
• Radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KKSW FM 105.9 / KMXN FM 92.9)
KEEP AN EYE OUT
Frontcourt fouls: The Arizona loss revealed how weak KU is to foul bother within the put up (and emphasised simply how important it has been all year long that Flory Bidunga has turn out to be much less susceptible to fouling). When freshman Bryson Tiller dedicated two fouls in simply over two minutes of motion, he pressured the Jayhawks to play small in opposition to a crew completely suited to deal with that kind of lineup, which had quite a bit to do with the Wildcats’ ensuing 19-0 run. When KU tried to add some dimension off the bench with Paul Mbiya, the freshman had just a few strong moments but additionally demonstrated how uncooked he nonetheless is at this stage of his profession. ASU could not have the expertise of Motiejus Krivas or Koa Peat in its personal frontcourt, nevertheless it actually has the dimensions with Diop, Grbović and Trouet to punish the Jayhawks accordingly if something related occurs once more. Self stated on Monday that he sees Mbiya having a task going ahead in opposition to greater groups, so he may have one other likelihood to show his price on Tuesday.
Battle on the glass: Despite all its dimension, ASU has inexplicably ranked among the many worst rebounding groups within the league. Their numbers are a bit higher in Big 12 play, however the Sun Devils are nonetheless thirteenth of 16 groups with a mean rebounding margin of minus-3.8. The 12.3 rebounds per recreation that ASU will get from Diop and Trouet are 37% of the crew’s complete. Considering the extent to which Bidunga and Tiller received outmatched on the boards on Saturday — Arizona outrebounded KU by 22 — this might be a possibility for them to get again on monitor in that realm.
Bench bonanza: Elmarko Jackson and Jamari McDowell proceed to function Self’s typical high decisions off the bench, serving to to create a rotation that has labored properly in loads of large wins for the Jayhawks this yr. But neither completed a lot on Saturday and Jackson’s shot choice was poor at occasions as he went 1-for-7, and Jayden Dawson and Kohl Rosario received seven minutes every. KU continues to get little when it comes to offensive output from its bench. Will Self do any further tinkering? He stated he needs to get to 9 usable gamers — “I think that would be a pretty good number for us” — which might require both Dawson or Rosario to emerge behind Jackson and McDowell.
OFF-KILTER OBSERVATION
Former KU signee Marcus Adams Jr. is a member of the Sun Devils, after an extended road that took him by means of Gonzaga, BYU and Cal State Northridge, however he has not performed since Jan. 3 and was averaging 3.6 factors and a pair of.4 rebounds earlier than then.