Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs head down to Tempe, Arizona, for some warmer weather and a date with Bobby Hurley and the Arizona State Sun Devils, with tip-off slated for 8:00 PM PT at Desert Financial Arena.
Gonzaga (3-0) will face their first road test of the season in Arizona State (2-0) and the only true road game on the non-conference schedule.
The Sun Devils picked up comfortable wins over a pair of mid-major teams in Southern Utah and Utah Tech to begin the season, and will look to avenge last year’s narrow 88-80 loss to Gonzaga in Spokane. It will also be a return to Tempe for guard Adam Miller, who spent two years playing for Hurley at ASU before transferring to Gonzaga for his final season.
Arizona State has an almost entirely new roster, and so far has shown they are a strong outside shooting team with excellent guard play, headlined by former Pacific and Pepperdine guard Moe Odum.
Below are five things Gonzaga will need to do well on Friday night to pick up a nice road win over a Big 12 school heading into the weekend:
Through two games, the Sun Devils are shooting 38.3% (18-47) from beyond the arc. Neither of ASU’s previous opponents is ranked inside the top 250 at KenPom, but Gonzaga needs to be diligent about contesting outside shots – particularly from Odum (5-11, 45.5%) and Bryce Ford (5-10, 50%).
Speaking of Odum…
Odum was a great three-year guard in the WCC, culminating with one of the better – and underappreciated – seasons in all of college basketball last year when he averaged 7.5 assists for the Waves, the fourth best mark in the country.
He’s already established himself as ASU’s go-to guy offensively, both as a scorer and distributor, and he has been a thorn in Gonzaga’s side many times, including last year’s 24-point, eight-assist performance in a near-stunning upset by Pepperdine.
Arizona State Sun Devils Moe Odum (5). / Diannie Chavez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Gonzaga finally slowed Odum down in that game by putting Emmanuel Innocenti on him – and now that Innocenti is an established part of the rotation, expect to see a lot more of that matchup on Friday, potentially with swiss army knife Jalen Warley in the mix as well.
Arizona State is not a great rebounding team, which is a significant issue when facing this Gonzaga group. The Sun Devils were outrebounded by Southern Utah in the season opener, 40-39, and gave up a whopping 16 offensive rebounds. While they did outrebound Utah Tech, 41-36, it wasn’t exactly pretty, and they still gave up too many second chances.
Gonzaga looks like one of the best rebounding teams in the country, and has already faced teams with the kind of size and physicality Arizona State possesses. 7’1 freshman Massamba Diop has been very good so far for the Sun Devils, but can he keep it up against Graham Ike and Braden Huff?
The most notable area Gonzaga has struggled to start the season is from beyond the arc. The Zags are now shooting just 31% on the year after going 9-27 on Tuesday against Creighton, six of which came from the duo of Ike and Mario Saint-Supery.
Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Graham Ike (15). / Photo by Erik Smith
Meanwhile, Arizona State is holding opponents – again, two teams outside the top 250 at KenPom – to just 22.2% from deep. Will that translate against Gonzaga? Or can Miller – who missed all his threes against Creighton – find his stroke in a familiar gym? Gonzaga is also waiting for Steele Venters to find his form after a slow start to the season, and will hope for a bounce-back from Tyon Grant-Foster, who shot 1-6 from three on Tuesday.
Gonzaga has had issues in the first true road game of the season in the past, often with younger, less experienced players struggling. It is hard to imagine that will be the case on Friday, simply because Gonzaga doesn’t have many young players in the rotation.
Saint-Supery is the only freshman playing legit rotation minutes right now, and he comes from a high-level professional league in Europe, which should make the transition to college crowds more manageable.
He and Braeden Smith – who didn’t see crowds of 14,000 very often in the Patriot League – will need to avoid getting sped up by the noise for Gonzaga to operate effectively. The team’s veteran leaders, Ike, Miller, Grant-Foster, Warley, Huff, and Venters, will have a hand in making sure that doesn’t happen.
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