After Friday’s successful opening night victory over Portland State, the Arizona State men’s basketball team will look to maintain its early success against the Cal Poly Mustangs.
History gives the advantage to the Sun Devils who hold a 5-1 all-time series lead over the Mustangs.
ASU, who was picked to finish 11th in the Pac-12, is still likely to come out on top against a Mustang team projected to finish last in the Big West.
Cal Poly is in rebuilding after losing four of the team’s top five scorers and rebounders to graduation last spring and will face a big test against the speed and tempo of Bobby Hurley’s offense.
More from Devils in Detail
As witnessed in Friday’s game, ASU will be heavily reliant on the perimeter this season.
Senior guard Torian Graham and junior guards Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II proved to be a dominant backcourt trio for the Sun Devils, scoring 65 of the Devils’ 88 points against Portland State.
Graham, who sat out last season after following Hurley from Buffalo, has finished his last two games with more than 20 points. Graham has proved to be an essential spark for the Devils especially in the first half as he led the Devils out of a 12-4 deficit against UC Santa Cruz and an 8-2 deficit against Portland State.
He is expected to play the role of a spark plug off the bench this season and should be a problem for the Mustangs’ defense.
Holder and Evans’ abilities off the dribble and in ball screens will continue to power ASU’s backcourt and be a threat against the Mustangs. Evans, who like Graham followed Hurley from Buffalo and sat out last season, averaged 15.4 points and 4.6 assists at Buffalo as a sophomore and was named the fifth-best performer at Adidas Nations.
Holder, who had seven games with 20 or more points last season has proved to be a leader for the Devils, averaging 14.2 points as a sophomore and leading the team in scoring in 16 games.
Hurley and his backcourt heavy team will be put to the test against a very frontcourt heavy Mustangs team.
The Mustangs, who lost their opener against Pepperdine 77-68, have been heavily reliant on their frontcourt’s size and ability in the paint. Unlike the Sun Devils, the Mustangs have an abundance of big men at their disposal.
For Cal Poly, the leading scorers against Pepperdine were forwards Luke Meikle and Josh Martin who each had 17 points while Martin recorded 21 rebounds. Both players will present a challenge with their size as Meikle is 6-9, 209 pounds and Martin 6-8, 212 pounds.
Meikle is the team’s top returning scorer after posting 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 2015. Martin is back after transferring from Minnesota last offseason and is a threat both defensively and in his ability to finish around the rim.
This game will test the Sun Devils against a team with an abundance of height and size, something that Hurley may have to adjust to accordingly.
Tip off will be at 7 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena and the game can be streamed through the Pac-12 Networks.
This article originally appeared on 
