TEMPE, Ariz.-This weekend, the Utah men’s basketball team commences Pac-12 play with a pair of extremely difficult match-ups in the Grand Canyon State.
Thursday, the Utes face Arizona State at the Wells Fargo Center of Tempe, Ariz. and will draw Arizona Saturday at the McKale Center of Tucson, Ariz.
The Utes went 6-6 in non-conference play and will face a 9-3 Sun Devils squad coming off a 67-66 loss to Princeton Saturday which dropped them from the rankings.
Prior to that, however, the Sun Devils had climbed as high as #17 in the polls. Among their impressive non-conference wins were victories over Mississippi State (currently #17) and Kansas, who is currently #5 but was the top-ranked team in the polls when Arizona State upset them.
The Utes score 73.5 points per game and surrender 72.9 points per contest. Senior guard Sedrick Barefield remains Utah’s leading scorer, posting 15 points per game.
The Sun Devils score 79.7 points per game and give up 72.1 points per contest.
Freshman guard, Canadian national Luguentz Dort, leads the Sun Devils with 18.1 points per game.
Utah leads Arizona State 33-21 all-time and is a respectable 12-13 all-time at Tempe in series history.
Saturday, the Utes will face an Arizona Wildcats squad that is currently 9-4 on the season.
This Wildcats squad is not as strong as they have been in previous seasons under head coach Sean Miller who is in his 10th season at Tucson.
The Wildcats score 74 points per game and surrender 65.5 points per contest.
Arizona is led by sophomore guard Brandon Randolph who posts 16.6 points per game on the season.
The Utes are 29-33 all-time against the Wildcats, including only 1-12 in their Pac-12 history.
