Arizona Basketball: Preview of the Wildcats taking on the Sun Devils in Tempe

The Arizona Wildcats will travel up to Tempe to take on in-state rivals the Arizona State Sun Devils. There will be much to gain and lose for each team.

“UofA, UofA, UofA” That is what you’ll hear when you step inside Wells Fargo arena Thursday night. Arizona Wildcat fans will make their voice be heard loud and proud as their team takes  on the Arizona State Sun Devils, in a highly anticipated and nationally televised game between rivals. With so much on the line, both teams will look to feed off the energy from the crowd and come away with the win.

In their first meeting of the season, the Wildcats were victorious 84-78 over the then previously unbeaten and No. 3 ranked Sun Devils. The visitors from up North were feeling quite confident heading into McKale Center after having the best start to their season ever, which included a come from behind win at Kansas.

As many opponents have experienced before, the Sun Devils too, were unable to handle the hostile environment, losing their first game of the season.

Relive some of the highlights of the first meeting between these two teams:

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DeAndre “Dre” Ayton was too much for the Sun Devils to handle, as he completely dominated in the inside due to their lack of size. He finished the game with 23 points and 19 rebounds.

The Wildcats will look to take advantage of their size again, forcing the Sun Devils to double team Ayton down low. Sounds like a great plan? Not really. The big man’s ability to pass out of the double-team or even triple team is on another level, giving his teammates open looks from outside.

As it has been the key all season long, the Wildcats will need to knock down their shots, including their three pointers. The Sun Devils will likely focus their attention on the two big men down low. One of them happens to be a finalist for the Karl Malone Award for the best power forward in college basketball.

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The No. 17 Wildcats currently sit atop the conference 20-6 (10-3) overall, and hold a two game lead over UCLA and USC. The Sun Devils however, sit three games back at 19-6 (7-6) in the Pac-12. With less than a month of conference basketball to be played, every game from here on out is critical for post-season placement.

Heading into Thursday nights game, the Sun Devils will be rolling with confidence after beating UCLA and USC at home last week, riding a three-game winning streak. They will look to continue that momentum against the Wildcats, and we are sure it will be battle in Tempe!

Keys to the game (and a regular season sweep of the Sun Devils)

• The Wildcats will need to remain 100% focus on the defensive end as the Sun Devils are the No. 1 offensive scoring team in the Pac-12, averaging 85.0 points per game on the season.
• Energy. The Wildcats have been Jekyll and Hyde this season. The have the talent to be absolutely dominant, and other times they have looked less than stellar. Come out with energy and focus, and the Wildcats will be tough to beat.
• Get off to a great start! Playing from behind on the road will be a difficult challenge, especially against a raucous crowd.
• Don’t let the crowd get into the game.
• Guard the three! Everyone knows the Sun Devils love to shoot the three pointer. For the season, they have attempted 612 and have converted on 226 of them (36.9 percent).
• Force the Sun Devils top four scores:, Tra Holder, Shannon Evans, Kodi Justice and Romello White to take tough shots. Also, limit Remy Martin from easy looks to the basket.
• Wildcat’s big men, Ayton and Dusan Ristic MUST dominate the glass on both ends of the floor and score buckets too!
• Allonzo Trier, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Rawle Alkins need to limit the turnovers when handling the ball. All three will need to take high percentage shots and not force shots when they aren’t falling.
• Bench play will be HUGE, as well as a added bonus for the Wildcats in a game like this.

When asked about his thoughts on the match up against the Sun Devils, Rawle had this to say during the press conference, “It’s going to be a great game, great atmosphere, sold out game, great environment, and I think we are just going to have to bring our A game.”

Coach Sean Miller’s thoughts on his team’s challenge against the Sun Devils, “Defending the three point shot and playing 40 minutes without fouling. We are after growth in both of those areas. We will be challenged on Thursday in both of those areas for sure.”

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The stage is set! The Wildcats will face off against the Sun Devils in Tempe, Thursday night, 7:00pm MST on ESPN. Emotions will be high, both on the floor and in the stands. At Zona Zealots, we can not wait for this game to take place. This is what college basketball is all about. Bear Down Arizona!