No. 19 Gonzaga hits the road for the first time this season to face Arizona State on Friday night in Tempe, Ariz.
The Bulldogs (3-0) have enjoyed an average winning margin of 32.3 points against Texas Southern, Oklahoma and No. 23 Creighton in games played in Spokane, Wash.
Gonzaga is coming off a 90-63 win Tuesday over Creighton behind Graham Ike’s 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Arizona State (2-0) will play its third consecutive home game after beating Southern Utah 81-64 and Utah Tech 81-66 last week.
“I mean, we’ve got to play games on the road, so we’ll see,” said Gonzaga coach Mark Few of visiting the Sun Devils. “I know they’ve got quite a student section, and I’m sure they’ll be fired up for us to come into town.
“We had a heck of a game with them last year that just came down to the last couple minutes, and I expect nothing different this year.”
The Sun Devils stayed close throughout before losing 88-80 at Gonzaga last season, but they had a massive roster turnover with reserve guard Trevor Best the only returner.
Former Arizona State starting guard Adam Miller, who had eight points, three rebounds and three assists against Gonzaga last year, is now a graduate senior with the Bulldogs.
Miller had 11 points in Tuesday’s win over the Bluejays. He is averaging 10.7 points a game while shooting 50% (13 of 26) from the field.
Arizona State freshman center Massamba Diop, who leads the Sun Devils with 16.0 points per game, will match up against Ike.
Ike, who started his career at Wyoming, reached 2,000 points in his career in the game against Creighton.
“He’s amazing how he can just, time and time again, deliver and deliver and deliver,” Few said. “A lot of them are not easy shots. We’ve had some guys score a lot of points over the years that had a lot of easy ones.
“Graham doesn’t get a lot of easy ones. I mean, they’re usually over a hand or somebody walking under him, or in traffic or all that.”
Diop is shooting 65% from the field, including a 2-of-2 mark in 3-point shooting with both shots in the win over Utah Tech.
“He’s been a really — we knew he was really talented — but he’s really exceeded our expectations for what he’s been able to do, particularly on the offensive end,” said Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley of Diop, who hails from Senegal and has played professionally in Spain.
Hurley, who is in the final year of his contract in Tempe, needs a victory over a program like Gonzaga to boost his chances of remaining with the program and enhance his ability to convince recruits he will return.
Hurley, 54, is in his 11th season at Arizona State and is 170-151 with three NCAA tournament appearances without a victory past the first round.
“As coaches, we love structure,” Hurley said. “We love planning things so that the uncertainty doesn’t bother us. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it. It’s hard for next year’s high school class, in terms of recruiting, getting your legs cut off in that situation, not knowing what my status would be.”
–Field Level Media
