Utah vs. Arizona State Preview
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 08:30 PM MST
Jon M. Huntsman Center - Salt Lake City, UT
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700
Line: Utah -12
After dropping the second of their two game road swing through Oregon, The Utes now return home to the friendly confines of the Huntsman Center to play host to the Sun Devils of Arizona State. Utah is 15-0 at home this season and they havent lost at the JMHC since dropping a 63-67 game in overtime against then #4 Arizona on February 19th, 2014. The last time these two teams met the Utes held ASU to 39% shooting enroute to a 76-59 drubbing. Delon Wright scored 21 points and handed out 6 assists while Brandon Taylor and Jordan Loveridge each added 13 and 14 points respectively in the victory. Since then however, ASU is 7-3 with a couple of big wins against some conference foes. The biggest one coming against their rival, Arizona (81-78) on February 7th but they immediately followed that up by losing a road contest to Wazzu 74-71. They now sit at 7-7 in conference and 15-12 overall on the season entering tonight's matchup.
A large reason for the Sun Devils recent success is the improved play of freshmen point guard Tra Holder. He's been averaging 11 points and 5 assists during the 10 game span that preceded their loss to Utah in Tempe. He was previously splitting the minutes at point with Kodi Justice, also a freshmen, who broke his foot against Stanford on January 25th. Another player who has recently stepped up for the Sun Devils is Savon Goodman. The talented 6'6" forward has seen his role increase down the stretch of the season after missing the first 8 games due to NCAA transfer issues. They are led in scoring by Gerry Blakes (11.3 ppg) but they spread things out on offense and usually have someone different step up every night. Eric Jacobsen is a good presence in the paint and Shaquielle McKissic is probably their other best scorer.
ASU is decent squad and they are well coached by Herb Sendek. They've played a pretty tough schedule (#48 ranked SOS) and they have some impressive wins. At times they can get sloppy with the ball but they're not a bad rebounding team. In fact they get more offensive rebounds with a smaller front court than Utah does. (Paint play has been a stinger for the Utes this season. Last in PAC12 9.1 ORPG) They can score the ball in bunches and get streaky on shooting. When they heat up it's tough to stop them. Most of the time those instances have come at Wells Fargo Arena. Not on the Road. Utah should win this game going away but they need to get someone other than Chap and Delon to play with some energy and aggression.
Thu, Feb 26 2015, 08:30 PM MST
Jon M. Huntsman Center - Salt Lake City, UT
TV: FS1
Radio: ESPN 700
Line: Utah -12
After dropping the second of their two game road swing through Oregon, The Utes now return home to the friendly confines of the Huntsman Center to play host to the Sun Devils of Arizona State. Utah is 15-0 at home this season and they havent lost at the JMHC since dropping a 63-67 game in overtime against then #4 Arizona on February 19th, 2014. The last time these two teams met the Utes held ASU to 39% shooting enroute to a 76-59 drubbing. Delon Wright scored 21 points and handed out 6 assists while Brandon Taylor and Jordan Loveridge each added 13 and 14 points respectively in the victory. Since then however, ASU is 7-3 with a couple of big wins against some conference foes. The biggest one coming against their rival, Arizona (81-78) on February 7th but they immediately followed that up by losing a road contest to Wazzu 74-71. They now sit at 7-7 in conference and 15-12 overall on the season entering tonight's matchup.
A large reason for the Sun Devils recent success is the improved play of freshmen point guard Tra Holder. He's been averaging 11 points and 5 assists during the 10 game span that preceded their loss to Utah in Tempe. He was previously splitting the minutes at point with Kodi Justice, also a freshmen, who broke his foot against Stanford on January 25th. Another player who has recently stepped up for the Sun Devils is Savon Goodman. The talented 6'6" forward has seen his role increase down the stretch of the season after missing the first 8 games due to NCAA transfer issues. They are led in scoring by Gerry Blakes (11.3 ppg) but they spread things out on offense and usually have someone different step up every night. Eric Jacobsen is a good presence in the paint and Shaquielle McKissic is probably their other best scorer.
ASU is decent squad and they are well coached by Herb Sendek. They've played a pretty tough schedule (#48 ranked SOS) and they have some impressive wins. At times they can get sloppy with the ball but they're not a bad rebounding team. In fact they get more offensive rebounds with a smaller front court than Utah does. (Paint play has been a stinger for the Utes this season. Last in PAC12 9.1 ORPG) They can score the ball in bunches and get streaky on shooting. When they heat up it's tough to stop them. Most of the time those instances have come at Wells Fargo Arena. Not on the Road. Utah should win this game going away but they need to get someone other than Chap and Delon to play with some energy and aggression.
