[ad_1]

Arizona State basketball is off to a 5-0 start but there are obviously still some skeptics. The Sun Devils failed to crack the Top 25 despite last week’s tournament win in Las Vegas which was highlighted by a victory over then-No. 15 Mississippi State.

Mississippi State is still ranked, now No. 25, while ASU was the top team in the receiving votes category.

Yes, the Sun Devils will use that as incentive.

“We think we should be in there,” said freshman guard Luguentz Dort, the MVP of the tournament in Las Vegas and this week’s Pac-12 Player of the Week. “It just gets us excited about going out there and beating the next ranked team.”

“It’s something you want for the guys, your players,” Hurley said of being ranked. “We had a great tournament but that (ranking) is more for the fans and people that follow the program. We just want to go out and win games.”

The next chance for the Sun Devils to do just that comes Wednesday when they entertain Nebraska-Omaha (3-4) in a nonconference game at Wells Fargo Arena.

The Mavericks don’t have much of a resume. They only moved to Division I for the 2011-2012 season and have not made the NCAA Tournament since doing so. They only lost to another Pac-12 team, Colorado, by four points earlier this month but are coming off a lopsided loss to Iowa State.

If there were any chance that the Sun Devils were going to take their opponent lightly, Hurley need only point to Oregon’s stunning home loss to Texas Southern on Monday night. That loss was the talk of college basketball, especially considering Oregon was the team picked to win the Pac-12 this season.

Nonconference performances of other Pac-12 teams have been underwhelming, too.

Texas Southern (2-4) will be in Tempe on Saturday to play Hurley’s squad.

“The gap is really closing,” Hurley said of the difference between teams from high-profile conferences and others. “It has gotten to the point if you’re not on your game you can get beaten.”

The Sun Devils could be short-handed. Junior guard Rob Edwards (back) and sophomore point guard Remy Martin (ankle) are both ailing.

Edwards has not played since the season-opener against Cal State-Fullerton in which he scored 14 points and snagged six rebounds.

Martin, averaging 11.6 points and four assists, originally injured his ankle two weeks before the season started and hasn’t missed a game although he hasn’t been at full strength. He aggravated that injury in ASU’s 87-82 win over Utah State last week.

Hurley said both will be game-time decisions on Wednesday.

The Sun Devils have gotten off to their strong start thanks to a towering presence on defense, particularly on the boards. They are ranked first in the country in rebounding at 46.6 per game, slightly better than Duke’s 46.2.

In their last home game against Long Beach State, ASU out-rebounded the Niners by a whopping 63-31.

They don’t have a player among the individual leaders but many have contributed. Zylan Cheatham, the lone senior in the starting lineup, is averaging a team-high 8.4 rebounds to go with his 12 points. Dort is next at 7.8 rebounds with a team-best, 23-point average. Senior forward De’Quon Lake is averaging 5.8 rebounds coming off the bench.

“We knew that was going to be a strength with our length and athleticism,” Hurley said of his team’s rebounding effort. “When you can go get the ball on offense and on defense that can compensate when you’re not at your best at the other end of the floor.”

Wednesday’s game

Nebraska-Omaha at Arizona State

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Wells Fargo Arena.

TV/Radio: Pac-12 Arizona/ESPN 620 AM.

Outlook: Nebraska-Omaha (3-4) is coming off an 82-55 loss to Iowa State on Monday.  Zach Jackson, a preseason All-Summit League selections, leads the team in scoring (20.5 ppg) but was held to 13 in that contest. The team is coached by Derrin Hansen, whose teams are a combined 197-166 in his previous 12 years. He directed the Mavericks to two NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and a conference championship in both the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association (2010) and the North Central Conference (2008) before Nebraska-Omaha announced its reclassification to Division I beginning with the 2011-12 season. It has not made the NCAA Tournament since moving up. The Mavericks were picked to finish eighth out of nine teams in the Summit League. … The Sun Devils (5-0) are coming off a championship at the MGM Main Event in Las Vegas in which Luguentz Dort was named MVP. ASU upset No. 15 Mississippi State in that tournament but failed to crack the AP Top 25 this week. It was the top team in the receiving votes category. ASU has four of five starters averaging double figures, led by Dort (23 ppg, 7.8 rpg). Kimani Lawrence (15.4 ppg) and Zylan Cheatham (12 ppg, 8.4 rpg) have also been stellar in the early going.

Projected Nebraska-Omaha lineup

G J.T. Gibson (6-3, Jr.).

G Zach Jackson (6-5, Sr.)

G Ayo Akinwole (6-0, Soph.)

F Matt Pile (6-8, Soph).

F Mitch Hahn (6-8, Soph.)

Projected ASU lineup

F Kimani Lawrence, 6-7, Soph. 

G Luguentz Dort, 6-4, Fr.

G Remy Martin, 6-0, Soph.

F Zylan Cheatham, 6-8, Sr.

F Romello White, 6-8, Soph.

Injury report: For Nebraska-Omaha G Zach Thornhill is out indefinitely with an undisclosed injury. For ASU, G Rob Edwards (back) is questionable. He has missed the past four games, only playing in the Sun Devils’ season-opener. PG Remy Martin reinjured his sore ankle in the last game in Las Vegas but played through it.

READ MORE

  • Pac-12 basketball power rankings: ASU the team to beat in conference?
  • Kimani Lawrence, ASU basketball knock off No. 15 Mississippi State in Las Vegas

[ad_2]

Source link