TEMPE, Ariz.— Coming off the biggest win of the season on the road against Arizona, No. 25 BYU heads to Tempe to face Arizona State on Wednesday night.
On paper, the Cougars are heavy favorites. They sit at 19-8 overall and 10-6 in Big 12 play, good for fifth place in the conference. They also enter the matchup on a four-game win streak and have cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time this season.
Arizona State, meanwhile, is struggling. The Sun Devils are 13-14 overall and 4-12 in the Big 12, sitting near the bottom of the standings. Before pulling off a surprising road win Sunday at Kansas State, they had dropped six straight.
Making matters worse, head coach Bobby Hurley announced Sunday that he dismissed leading scorer BJ Freeman for "conduct detrimental to the team." Freeman, who averaged 13.7 points per game in 25 appearances this season, leaves a significant gap in the offense.
Hurley will now rely on younger, less experienced players, including freshman Jayden Quaintance, to step up.
Regardless of Arizona State’s struggles, BYU coach Kevin Young stressed the importance of regrouping after what he called “an absolute slugfest of a college basketball game," both "mentally and emotionally” against Arizona.
In his weekly media presser, Young praised his team’s toughness and resilience, but emphasized the need to quickly regroup and refocus for a “hungry” basketball team in Arizona State.
“In this league, every game is a dog fight. I know they (Arizona State) have been on the short end of some of those with a couple of losses, but they are a team that has got talent — coach (Hurley) really does a good job,” said Young.
Arizona State remains a top-75 NET-rated team, meaning BYU has a chance to pick up its fifth Quad 1 win of the season, third in a row, and improve its NCAA Tournament resume as Selection Sunday soon approaches.