Something has to give as two teams struggling to find their footing in the Big 12 for the first time square off in conference play on Tuesday in Boulder.
Colorado has yet to win a conference game, while Arizona State is one of four teams at 2-6.
ASU is coming off a 76-61 loss to No. 3 Iowa State on Saturday. While the margin of defeat was double digits, the Sun Devils led by one at 58-57 with 5:38 to go.
Colorado is coming off a 78-63 loss to Arizona at McKale Center on Saturday.
Both teams will come in hungry for a win.
Arizona State (11-8, 2-6) at Colorado (9-10, 0-8)
Site/Time: 7 p.m. MST, Tuesday, CU Events Center, Boulder, Colorado
TV: ESPN+ Radio: Arizona Sports 98.7 FM (KMVP)
About the matchup: This is the first Big 12 team ASU will be seeing a second time. The Sun Devils prevailed 81-61 when the teams played in Tempe. ASU won that game by a decisive margin despite being without Joson Sanon (12.5 ppg). B.J. Freeman led ASU with 19 points while 6-foot-9 senior forward Trevor Baskin had 23 for Colorado. The teams split games last season with each winning on its home floor.
About the Sun Devils: Sanon returned on Saturday after missing five of the previous six games with a high ankle sprain. That was a big boost for the lineup but there is some concern for fellow freshman Jayden Quaintance (10.3 ppg, 8.5 RPG), who suffered an injury in practice Thursday. He played in Saturday’s game but coach Bobby Hurley said his standout took a “bad step” and was going to get a thorough evaluation. Quaintance has six double-doubles with one of those coming against Colorado the first time the teams met. The Sun Devils biggest problem has been turnovers. They had 18 of them in the loss to Iowa State and are averaging 13.6 per game. Freeman (13 ppg) is the leading scorer but there are five Sun Devils tightly bunched in averaging double figures.
About the Buffaloes: Colorado’s last win was a 79-55 nonconference win over Bellarmine on Dec. 21. The average margin of loss in the eight conference games is 10.7 points with the 20-point loss to ASU in Tempe being the most lopsided loss. Senior guard Julian Hammond (13.9 ppg) and senior forward Andrej Jakimovski (10.2 ppg) are the only two players averaging double figures. Colorado has also struggled with ballhandling, averaging 15.5 turnovers per game, and is giving up an average of 16 per game off those mistakes. The fact Colorado has struggled so much is surprising because it did have some good nonconference wins. One of those was a one-point win over reigning national champion UConn.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU basketball faces winless Colorado on Tuesday
