Arizona State faces major challenge early against No. 6 Gonzaga

Arizona State knocked off one of the top teams in the West Coast Conference on Friday night, defeating Santa Clara 81-74 in Henderson, Nev.

But Sunday the Sun Devils go up against the big dogs.

Arizona State (2-0) will travel to Spokane, Wash., to face the No. 6 Gonzaga Bulldogs (1-0).

"It was a test," ASU coach Bobby Hurley said of beating Santa Clara for his 199th career victory. "They'll win a lot of games this year.

"It is an older team that has played a lot of games together and brought several guys back. So it was a really good win for us."

Seniors BJ Freeman and Adam Miller led the way for the Sun Devils on Friday, scoring 17 and 16 points, respectively, and combining for five 3-pointers.

ASU also got a boost from freshmen Amier Ali (13 points), Joson Sanon (11 points) and Jayden Quaintance (13 rebounds).

"There are a number of guys who can be playmakers and we trust to make the right play," Hurley said. "If we share the ball the right way, good things will happen. Joson got off to a fast start, JQ came through with his rebounding, and Amier made some big shots down the stretch. The freshmen stepped up for us."

The Sun Devils played much better than in their home opener, a 55-48 victory against Idaho State on Tuesday.

"It came down to executing and moving the ball," Miller said. "We have great players, so when we are kicking out and hitting 3s, that's what our team is built off of. We have to continue making the extra pass and getting into the paint."

That will be essential against the Bulldogs, who are coming off a season-opening 101-63 victory against No. 8 Baylor in Spokane on Monday.

Nolan Hickman scored 17 points and Graham Ike had 15 points and eight rebounds to lead a balanced Gonzaga attack. The Bulldogs had seven players score nine or more points.

"They just came in and played with great confidence and were very, very assertive," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "That's the beauty of this team. We have some nice depth."

The Zags are opening the season with two games against major conference opponents for just the second time in Few's 26 seasons.

The last time they did that was in 2020-21, when they beat Kansas and Auburn to open the season and reached 31-0 before falling to Baylor in the NCAA Tournament championship game.

"I'm winless against them, so it definitely is a game you always circle on your calendar when you play against Baylor," Gonzaga forward Ben Gregg said. "Just the history of the program the last 10 years or so. So circled them on our calendar, knew it was the first game. Said before the game we just want to make a statement and we did that."

Perhaps the most impressive thing about Gonzaga's rout was its defense. The Bulldogs held prized Baylor freshman VJ Edgecombe, considered a likely NBA draft lottery pick, to just two points until a highlight-reel dunk over GU's Joe Few, the coach's son, with 1:41 remaining.

Edgecombe finished 2-of-11 from the field for four points in 29 minutes.

--Field Level Media