Short-handed ASU men face USC in LA
The Arizona State Sun Devils have faced a lot of formidable tasks this season but this weekend’s Pac-12 road trip could be perhaps the most daunting thus far.
The Sun Devils (7-9, 4-6) trek to Southern California with momentum after winning three of their last four contests. But coach Bobby Hurley’s squad was dealt a significant blow when it came to the scheduling as ASU just played Sunday, rather than the usual Saturday. And it will be facing the first-place USC Trojans (17-3, 11-2) at the Galen Center on Wednesday, a day before earlier than is typical.
ASU is the only school in the Pac-12 to deal with that short a turnaround and it was scheduled that way, not the result of a game being rescheduled.
The Sun Devils have done little live practicing. Working in ASU’s favor is that the Sun Devils have already played both USC and UCLA, so they have game experience to rely upon.
“It does help as far as the familiarity of the opponent,” Hurley told the local media on Zoom before departing. “We couldn’t do a lot of live work. (Monday), we watched film but we didn’t practice. Guys logged heavy minutes and guys were pretty sore (Monday), but we bounced back today, had a good practice this morning and again, avoided a lot of live opportunities. Usually, we would do more live work the day before the game but just can’t risk anything right now because of how shorthanded we still are.”
The Sun Devils aren’t in a much different situation than they were last week against the Oregon schools when it comes to personnel.
Forward Marcus Bagley (ankle) and guard Josh Christopher (back), who were part of ASU’s strongest freshman class in the modern recruiting era, did not play in Sunday’s 75-73 home victory over Oregon State and they have not practiced this week.
Hurley said they will make the trip with the team and he is hopeful one or both will be available, if not for the first game, then for the Saturday game at UCLA (14-5, 10-3), the preseason conference favorite.
Junior forward Chris Osten played on Saturday despite a severely sprained ankle, which occurred in the same practice last week in which Bagley and Christopher were first injured.
Hurley did say junior forward Taeshon Cherry (personnel issues) and freshman forward Pavlo Dzibua (COVID-19) will not make the trip, guaranteeing that for the seventh time ASU will go into a game missing at least two players. A total of 11 players have missed a combined 32 games. Senior guard Holland Woods is the lone scholarship athlete to play in every game.
When the Sun Devils lost at home to USC and UCLA in early January they were without four players, including leading scorer Remy Martin who was out to attend his grandfather’s funeral. Despite those absences ASU only lost in overtime to UCLA 81-75 and to USC 7364, with that game closer than that scored indicates.
Hurley knows the Sun Devils have not matched the hype that surrounded the season with the Sun Devils entering the campaign ranked in most national polls. The multiple shutdowns due to coronavirus issues and the myriad of injuries complicating matters.
But he is pleased with the effort put forth by his players.
“I get it that people could be disappointed with me, that I haven’t been able to get more wins in the win column, or that we are not a top-25 team right now. But there’s no like true inner disappointment for me with the group,” he said. “I’m here every day and I’ve seen the obstacles and what these guys have had to go through and the ups and the downs and some hard losses and just a lot of things that have happened to young kids. And the fact that we’re still pushing and we’re fighting, we’re battling, I think it says a lot about the character of the group. I’m proud of them and I got a lot of respect for the way we’re again, continuing to navigate through a tough time.”