Arizona State Game Preview and Open Thread

Date: Thursday, 2/16/17

Tip-Off Time: 8:00pm PST

TV: FS1

Radio: Komo 1000

Arizona State Statistics:

Record: 12-14 (5-8)

Points For per Game: 79.5 ppg (41st)

Points Against per Game: 81.5 ppg (331st)

Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 111.8 (54th)

Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 108.6 (254th)

Arizona State Key Players:

For a more in-depth description of the Sun Devils, check out what I wrote about them before the 1st matchup here.

F- Obinna Oleka, Sr. 6-8, 225: 12.3ppg, 10.1rpg, 1.3apg, 41.8% FG, 69.8% FT, 23.1 % 3pt

G- Torian Graham, Sr. 6-5, 195: 18.1ppg, 4.1rpg, 1.2apg, 44.8% FG, 82.2% FT, 37.9% 3pt

G- Kodi Justice, Jr. 6-5, 190: 8.1ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.3apg, 42% FG, 68.2% FT, 41.5% 3pt

G- Tra Holder, Jr. 6-1, 180: 17.3ppg, 3.7rpg, 3.2apg, 45.6% FG, 78% FT, 37.3% 3pt

G- Shannon Evans, Jr. 6-1, 160: 15.7ppg, 3.3rpg, 4.2apg, 41.9% FG, 84.8% FT, 36.6% 3pt

The Outlook

The status of Markelle Fultz has not been released at the time of this printing but I am making the assumption that he will play in tonight's game.

Since their last meeting with the Huskies, the Sun Devils have been very up and down. They're 2-3 in those 5 games but perhaps their most impressive effort came in one of the losses, at Oregon by only a single point. While that certainly goes down as impressive, Arizona State ultimately is 5-1 against the teams ranked even with or below them in the conference and 0-7 against everyone else. They seem to have pretty clearly established themselves as the 8th or 9th best team in the conference.

The Sun Devils adjusted defensive efficiency is actually slightly worse than Washington's which will come as a shock to anyone who has seen the Huskies play this year. They really don't have any bright spots on that side of the ball. Meanwhile, on offense Arizona State refuses to beat themselves as they are 5th in the nation in turnover percentage. UW stayed in the game for 10 minutes against Utah because they were able to get steals and create opportunities in transition. That won't be there against Arizona State.

The difference in the first game came down to fouls. ASU had 34 free throw attempts compared to just 13 for UW. That number will have to equalize for the Dawgs to win and hopefully they will get a home court advantage on the whistles. Once again, UW just simply won't beat anyone without Markelle Fultz playing so he has to back and healthy to see the Dawgs escape with a victory. This and the road trip to Wazzu are the last 2 games that UW can reasonably hope to win and this team needs to desperately stop the bleeding. With a healthy Fultz in Hec-Ed this game should be a coin flip and I'm going to call it to go the Dawgs' way because this fan base needs it badly.

Prediction

Washington Huskies- 82, Arizona State Sun Devils- 80