Arizona @ Arizona State preview
Desert Financial Arena
Last Meeting ( Jan 25, 2020 ) Arizona 65, Arizona State 66
Due to scheduling concerns impacted by COVID-19, rivals Arizona and Arizona State will play each other twice in a five-day span with the first game slated for Thursday in Tempe.
The teams will meet again on Monday in Tucson, a game that was moved up from March 6 so the Pac-12 will have time during the last week of the regular season to make up games postponed during the pandemic.
Schedule changes are nothing new for the Sun Devils, who have endured four postponements during their league slate, including last week's game at Oregon.
Arizona State (4-6, 1-3) lost at Oregon State 80-79 on Saturday in only its third game since Dec. 16. Team captain Remy Martin played for the first time in a month after taking time off following the death of his grandfather.
Martin made just 3 of 13 shots from the field and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts, including a heave at the final buzzer.
"I thought the other parts of his game, he didn't miss a beat," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. "It was probably as good as he's done this year at getting his teammates the ball and had again, eight assists and no turnovers. He had that look like that I've seen so many times here (the) last six, seven minutes of the game where he wanted the ball, wanted to make plays."
The Sun Devils had 22 assists and only four turnovers in that game, and Hurley's standout freshmen Marcus Bagley (19 points) and Josh Christopher (14 points, seven rebounds) once again excelled.
Arizona (10-3, 4-3) has dealt with far fewer disruptions to its Pac-12 schedule, including Saturday's postponed tilt at Oregon.
The Wildcats have not played since a 98-64 win at Oregon State on Jan. 14, a strong performance after they were swept at home by Southern California and UCLA.
Freshman Bennedict Mathurin scored 31 points against the Beavers. He started in place of the injured Jemarl Baker Jr., who suffered a season-ending wrist injury against the Bruins on Jan. 9.
"You can kind of see (Mathurin) developing almost week by week," Arizona coach Sean Miller said. "Each week he's a little bit more confident, more sure of himself. He has a beautiful looking shot and Ben deserves a lot of credit. He works on it constantly before practice, after practice."
--Field Level Media