Washington @ Arizona State preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 1, 2018 ) Arizona State 64, Washington 68

No one can take down Washington - not even a flu bug or an injury to one of its top players - as the Huskies try for their 13th straight victory when they visit Arizona State on Saturday in a Pac-12 game. Washington won at Arizona for the first time in seven years 67-60 on Thursday despite senior forward Noah Dickerson (ankle), senior guard Matisse Thybulle (ill) and senior forward Dominic Green (ill) - plus the entire coaching staff (ill) - not performing at 100 percent.

“... You feel like you’ve been run over by a truck. And then the truck backs up and runs you over again,'' Huskies coach Mike Hopkins told the media. "...One of our mottos is ready for anything. ... You just got to gut it up and go out there and just compete and our guys did that (Thursday).” Washington, which is off to its best conference start since going 14-0 in 1952-53, boasts the stingiest defense in the Pac-12 at 64 points per game - 60.4 during its winning streak - and hasn't allowed more than 70 in a conference game. “Defense travels,” Hopkins said. “Defense wins championships. It’s what we do. It’s what we hang our hat on. It’s our identity.” Arizona State is coming off its worst loss of the season, a stunning 91-70 verdict against Washington State on Thursday with coach Bobby Hurley telling the media: "There really wasn't anything overly positive that you can say. It was a pretty damaging loss for us."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, ESPN

ABOUT WASHINGTON (19-4, 10-0 Pac-12): Sophomore guard Jaylen Nowell averages team highs of 16.4 points and 3.4 assists, as well as 5.4 rebounds, but has scored fewer than 16 in each of his last three games. Dickerson (12.6 points, club-most 6.7 rebounds) battled through an ankle injury to score 10 points in 26 minutes against Arizona. Thybulle (10.0 points, conference-best 3.2 steals) had five steals Thursday and has 281 for his career - 22 shy of Stanford's Brevin Knight (1993-97) and 45 behind Oregon State's Gary Payton (1986-90) for Pac-12 supremacy.

ABOUT ARIZONA STATE (15-7, 6-4): Senior forward Zylan Cheatham (11.6 points, team-high 11.1 rebounds, 3.5 assists) entered the week one of 18 players nationally averaging a double-double, but only one other is also averaging at least three assists (Wisconsin's Ethan Happ). Freshman guard Luguentz Dort (club-most 16.2 points, 4.5 rebounds) scored 22 points versus Washington State, giving him five games with 20 or more. Sophomore guard Remy Martin (13.1 points, 5.1 assists) is averaging 8.4 assists in his last five contests while committing only 10 turnovers during that span.

TIP-INS

1. Only six teams in Pac-12 history have started 10-0 in conference, and all won the league title.

2. The Sun Devils lead the Pac-12 in rebounding margin at plus-6.6 and have outrebounded 18 of their 22 opponents after doing so 14-of-32 times last season.

3. The clubs have split their last six meetings dating back to the 2014-15 season with the home team winning only three times.

PREDICTION: Washington 66, Arizona State 64