clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

ASU Looks To Build Momentum Against Washington State, 12:30 PM MST

By Cory Williams

The Sun Devils attempt to take their Pac-10 conference record to .500 in early afternoon action at Wells Fargo Arena against the Washington St. Cougars.

After a big win against the Washington Huskies, ASU (11-5, 1-2) already has a signature victory in Pac-10 play. This came as a nice surprise after an uninspiring start in Los Angeles.

Washington State (11-3, 2-1), on the other hand, has faced several stiff tests this season, including road losses to Kansas State and Gonzaga. The Cougs are fresh off a big victory in Tucson thanks to a buzzer-beating layup by DeAngelo Casto.


The Devils need to utilize the same game plan that saw great success against Washington:

1. Get Ruslan Pateev more playing time. One of the knocks on Eric Boateng is that he is a black hole in the paint - once the ball goes in there, it doesn't come out. Pateev, on the other hand, hasn't developed his shot yet, so he spends his time passing the ball back out to the perimeter.

2. Set Rihards Kuksiks up for success. We will only go as far as Rihards. If he gets a lot of clean looks, we can build a lead and take advantage of our smothering defense.

3. Cover the perimeter in the zone. These Cougars can shoot the lights out. Take a look at their statistics.

FG 3PT FT Rebounds Misc
G M M A Pct M A Pct M A Pct Off Def Tot Ast TO Stl Blk PF PPG
Klay Thompson 15 35.7 7.6 16.4 46.3 2.5 6.1 41.3 6.2 7.8 79.5 1.2 3.8 5.0 3.0 3.1 1.7 0.5 2.2 23.9
Reggie Moore 15 31.1 3.6 7.4 48.6 0.9 2.4 36.1 5.3 6.7 78.2 0.5 1.5 2.0 4.5 2.5 1.6 0.0 1.5 13.3
DeAngelo Casto 15 26.9 4.1 8.5 48.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.9 4.7 62.9 3.1 4.3 7.5 0.5 2.3 0.8 2.1 2.3 11.2
Nikola Koprivica 15 21.6 2.7 4.6 58.0 1.1 2.1 50.0 1.9 2.5 73.7 1.1 2.9 4.1 1.9 1.5 0.3 0.1 1.8 8.3
Marcus Capers 15 26.7 2.4 4.2 57.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.9 3.1 63.0 1.4 3.0 4.4 1.5 1.1 0.4 0.7 2.8 6.7
Xavier Thames 15 15.4 1.8 3.9 46.6 0.3 0.8 33.3 0.8 0.9 85.7 0.3 1.1 1.4 1.1 1.1 0.7 0.0 2.1 4.7
Abe Lodwick 15 15.0 1.2 2.7 43.9 0.7 1.7 40.0 0.5 0.5 87.5 0.9 2.1 3.1 0.5 0.8 0.3 0.4 1.5 3.5
Brock Motum 9 6.7 1.2 1.9 64.7 0.3 0.7 50.0 0.1 0.6 20.0 0.3 0.2 0.6 0.7 0.3 0.1 0.0 0.6 2.9
James Watson 13 6.5 1.1 1.5 70.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.4 0.8 50.0 1.0 0.9 1.9 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 1.2 2.5
Michael Harthun 13 12.3 0.8 2.4 35.5 0.1 0.5 16.7 0.5 0.8 70.0 0.3 1.0 1.3 0.5 0.5 0.2 0.1 1.0 2.3
Charlie Enquist 12 10.5 0.5 0.8 60.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.7 0.8 88.9 0.7 1.5 2.2 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.1 1.4 1.7
Steven Bjornstad 6 2.2 0.5 0.8 60.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.5 33.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.5 1.2
John Allen 8 4.0 0.1 0.6 20.0 0.1 0.6 20.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.8 0.1 0.3 0.0 0.4 0.4
Ben Loewen 3 2.3 0.0 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.0
Anthony Brown 2 2.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Austin Bragg 1 3.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0


That's a lot of perimeter talent. Klay Thompson is obviously the key to this game.

Tipoff is in 5 minutes. Go Devils! Post in the gamethread, lets talk about this game.

CougCenter

Cougars vs Sun Devils coverage

More From House of Sparky