Preview: KU welcomes Big 12 newcomer ASU

AP Photo/Kevin Kolczynski

Kansas guard Shakeel Moore (0) reacts as they play against Central Florida during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, in Orlando, Florida.

The Kansas men’s basketball team received as good a response as anyone could have imagined after a home loss in its conference opener.

Sunday’s 99-48 win over UCF set school records as it was the largest road win in school history against a Division I opponent – in a league game, no less – and the most dominant performance by a road team in Big 12 history Conference.

But just as quickly as KU bounced back from its New Year’s Eve disappointment, it will now have to attack its next game just as hard as the Big 12 schedule moves forward at a breakneck pace. After returning a little late from its road trip due to the winter storm over the weekend – the Jayhawks left Florida mid-morning Monday and therefore had to take the day off – KU will welcome new conference opponent Arizona State to Lawrence on Wednesday at 8 p.m

“It was tough,” guard Shakeel Moore said of the schedule. “I’ve been there many times, done it many times and had to stay overnight, but it happens. That’s what we signed up for.”

ASU may be new to the conference, but it has played KU 11 times and holds a 6-5 lead in the all-time series, with Bobby Hurley outscoring Bill Self in both meetings and picking up a 95-85 win in the second game -Placed Jayhawks (an eventual Final Four team) in Lawrence in the 2017-18 season and an 80-76 finish in Tempe, Arizona, the following Year.

This year’s Sun Devils are hoping to advance past the first round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. So far, they’ve had an up-and-down start to the season, as evidenced by their first two net-neutral Big 12 results: a 20-point loss at BYU on Dec. 31, immediately followed by a 20-point win over Colorado on Saturday .

ASU played a non-conference schedule largely characterized by uncomfortably close non-conference victories over middling opponents (Idaho State 55-48 on November 5, Cal Poly 93-89 on November 20, etc.), although the Sun Devils earned a quality win over Saint Mary’s in the title game of the Acrisure Classic in Palm Desert, Calif., with freshman guard Joson Sanon leading by 19 points.

Sanon, a five-star 2025 recruit recruited by KU who initially transferred and committed to Arizona before transferring to ASU, averaged 13.5 points per game and was one of two Sun Devils to score at least 48 % shooting from distance with fellow guard Adam Miller. (As a team, ASU ranks third in the Big 12 with a 3-point percentage of 37.6%.) However, Sanon missed the CU game with an ankle injury and Hurley called it a game-winning decision for Wednesday, stating, “He I really want to play.”

The Sun Devils have another standout freshman in forward Jayden Quaintance, who is averaging 9.4 points, 8.2 rebounds and a league-best 3.2 blocks per game. He forms a strong frontcourt duo with Ball State transfer Basheer Jihad (13.5 points).

“They score easily, they are extremely long, very physically gifted – their entire team,” Self said.

One thing ASU doesn’t do is create extra possessions (an area where KU excelled against UCF). Despite the efforts of Quaintance and Jihad, the Sun Devils are the worst offensive rebounding team in the Big 12 at 9.2 per game and 291st in the country. Considering KU is now the league’s best defensive rebounding team and No. 10 in the country after just grabbing 41 defensive boards at UCF, second-chance points don’t seem like a likely path to success for ASU on Wednesday .

ASU is also tied with KU for last in the league in forced turnovers (11.8 per game) and alone for last in steals (six).

The Jayhawks have a chance to reestablish their dominance at Allen Fieldhouse after the rare misstep on Dec. 31.

“We know we lost to West Virginia, the first game in the conference, and we know we can’t let that happen in front of our fans, and we’re fully prepared,” Moore said.

No. 11 Kansas Jayhawks (10-3, 1-1 Big 12) vs. Arizona State Sun Devils (10-3, 1-1 Big 12)

• Allen Fieldhouse, Lawrence, 8 p.m

• Transmitted: ESPN2

• radio: Jayhawk Radio Network (in Lawrence, KLWN AM 1320 / K269GB FM 101.7 / KMXN FM 92.9)

Keep an eye out

Freshman phenoms: KU center Flory Bidunga has never been higher after showing in six blocks against UCF that he has the potential to develop into an elite rim protector in the long term and that he can play alongside teammate Hunter Dickinson in the short term can. His fight with Quaintance, whom Self described as “a different looking guy,” will be kept in mind whenever the two are on the ground at the same time. They consistently ranked among the top centers in the Class of 2024 and competed not only in the recruiting rankings but also on the field, including at the Adidas 3SSB Circuit and the McDonald’s All American Game; Their first collegiate-level meet is Wednesday.

Well suited: Moore started his first game as a Jayhawk against UCF largely because Self thought he would be an ideal physical opponent for the Knights’ star guard Darius Johnson and could allow Dajuan Harris Jr. to face Jordan Ivy-Curry. ASU doesn’t have quite the same firepower in the backcourt — especially with Sanon out — but Self said Tuesday that he plans to use Moore again. He praised the guard’s ability to “develop a defensive mindset right from the start.” Moore, for his part, is already familiar with some of ASU’s staff, having attended high school with guard BJ Freeman and playing against Miller in the SEC.

New kids on the block: How intimidated will the Sun Devils be by the atmosphere at Allen Fieldhouse? Students still won’t be back at full strength, but the building was just as full and reasonably loud during the winter break games against Brown and West Virginia. ASU players will typically be experiencing the venue for the first time (although Overland Park native guard Alston Mason played at Allen Fieldhouse during his year at Oklahoma). Colorado will get the same treatment on February 11th, as will ASU’s rival Arizona on March 8th. Utah will not visit the fieldhouse this season. Although UCF was in the league last year, it also makes its first visit to Lawrence on Jan. 28.

Observation out of balance

The men’s basketball game will form the second half of a doubleheader at Allen Fieldhouse after the KU women’s team hosts No. 11 TCU at 2 p.m., an unusual event that was also a result of the storm.

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Written by Henry Greenstein

Henry is a sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com and serves as a KU beat writer while managing daily sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (BA, Linguistics) and Arizona State University (MA, Sports Journalism). Despite being from Los Angeles, he’s often been told that he doesn’t give off “California vibes,” whatever that means.

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