On Wednesday at 6:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks, Cal men’s basketball will welcome Arizona State to Haas Pavilion for their Pac-12 home opener. Cal comes into this game 5-9 overall and 0-2 in Pac-12 play while Arizona State comes in at 10-4 overall and 1-1 in Pac-12 play.
Last time out: Cal lost to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion on Saturday by a final score of 98-83. Darius McNeill led the way for Cal with 23 points and 7 steals while Kris Wilkes paced UCLA to the win, finishing with 18 points and 5 rebounds.
RECAP: Cal falls to UCLA at Pauley Pavilion
MONDAY STAT PACK: MBB & WBB Numbers
On Arizona State: The Sun Devils are led by freshman guard Luguentz Dort, who is averaging 17.5 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.6 steals per game. Dort is one of the top freshmen in the Pac-12, doing a good job of replacing Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II in the backcourt. At 6’4”, 215 pounds, Dort has really good size for the guard position and uses his body well to play tough, physical basketball.
A trademark of Arizona State under Bobby Hurley has been their scoring balance and versatility on offense. While it’s not as pronounced this year, the Sun Devils still have multiple options that they can go to in addition to Dort: Remy Martin (12.0 points), Zylan Cheatham (11.8 points), and Kimani Lawrence (11.1 points). Cheatham is an interesting piece in that he’s being used as a point forward, giving the Sun Devils a unique weapon on offense.
When looking at the team stats, what Arizona State does well is score and rebound. They average 80.4 points per game on 44.4% shooting from the field, 33.2% shooting from 3-point range, and 67.6% shooting from the foul line. While not having the best shooting percentages, the Sun Devils’ + 8.6 rebounding differential gives them extra possessions that they are able to convert into second chance points.
Keys to the game: The first thing Cal needs to do in order to win this game is find a way to defend Dort. Dort is averaging 14.0 points per game through his first two games of Pac-12 play, cooling off a bit since non-conference play. If Cal is able to hold him to 15 points or less and force him to work for those points, that’ll be a good indicator that they’re playing good defense and taking care of business on that end of the floor.
A second key for Cal is to not get eaten alive inside. The blueprint to beating Cal is to work the ball inside and take advantage of their inexperienced post players. If Cal is able to play better interior defense and force Arizona State to take more shots from the perimeter, that will be huge. Arizona State isn’t the best perimeter shooting team, so if Cal is forcing them to settle for jumpers as opposed to attacking the hole, that will be a really good thing.
A final key to the game for Cal is to come out with a lot of energy and feed off the energy of their home crowd. If a Pac-12 home opener against a quality opponent doesn’t fire up this Cal team, I don’t know what will. They have an opportunity to make an early statement in this game, proving that they’re better than people think. We’ve seen the home crowd propel Cal to the finish line a few times this year, but if they get down early, Cal won’t give the home crowd a chance to have such an impact.
Quotes: On Tuesday, Wyking Jones along with Justice Sueing and Connor Vanover spoke to the media. Below are quotes relating to the game.
Q: How is Paris feeling? Can you give us an update on his status for tomorrow?
Jones: “Paris, he got out and did some things today in practice. He’s gonna be a game-time decision. He really wants to play. He’s a tough kid. So, we’ll see. We’ll see how he feels tomorrow night.”
Q: What are your impressions of Arizona State? They have the Kansas win and the Princeton loss.
Jones: “You gotta be ready to play every night. I think that’s just a lesson for all of us. You gotta be ready to play every single night. Nobody’s going to give you a win. At this point there’s enough film out that everybody knows what you want to do. What you’re good at, what your weaknesses are, what they need to try to exploit, and so it’s a dogfight every single night to get a win. Non-conference, conference, doesn’t matter. Everybody’s preparing to get a win and are gonna compete.”
Q: What do you think of Arizona State guard Luguentz Dort?
Jones: “He’s physical. He’s physical. He’s a freshman, but he’s going to bring it to you. Just physical, tough, aggressive. And that’s their team. That’s their team and that’s our challenge tomorrow night is to match their physicality and to match their toughness. I think we’re ready for the challenge.”
Q: How are they different from last year?
Jones: “They’re different. Tra Holder, Kodi Justice, Shannon Evans, those guys always shot the ball well and you didn’t know which one of those guys was going to go off. They still spread out their scoring, but they’re not as deadly a shooting team as they had been in the past. They’re more interior than they’ve been in the last three years. They really look to post up, really look to attack you more inside out than outside in.”
Q: Do they run a lot of stuff in the post through Zylan Cheatham? Jones: “Yeah, he’s kind of a point forward for them. In the last game against Colorado he brought the ball up. They changed the lineup and they took Dort or Remy [Martin] out of the lineup and he was the guy bringing the ball up. So he’s talented. We’ve seen him before when he was at San Diego State. He’s talented and he has a great feel for the game. He’s a senior, he’s a veteran.”
Q: Any thoughts on Arizona State?
Sueing: “I mean, they’re really a good team. Are they still ranked 17th, I think? Maybe might have gotten knocked down from the loss, but they’re a really good team. They play very well together, they’re aggressive, and they of course have their weaknesses that we’re going to look to exploit. I think we have a really good chance going into tomorrow night playing against them.”
