Arizona State Preview

Game 12: December 20th, 8:00 pm.

Opponent: Arizona State Sun Devils

Location: Tempe, AZ

Site: Wells Fargo Arena

Records: ASU 6-5; CU 11-0

In the final D-1 non-conference game of the season and the first true road game outside of Nebraska the Creighton Bluejays travel to the Valley of the Sun to take on Arizona State.

If you have followed Creighton you may remember many games right before Christmas that the Jays have played poorly in. The last game, a 66-65 nail biting win by the Jays, would have fit into that group of games we have seen many times. The good news is two-fold-1) Creighton won that game and 2) the Jays have one more to play before the Christmas break.

One would think this would be another easy one by the way Arizona State has started the season. But after last Saturday who knows. The Sun Devils have played a fairly tough schedule, losing to the likes of Purdue and Kentucky. They have also been beaten by UNI by 19 and just lost at home to New Mexico State.

What you need to know: There will be no looking ahead to Christmas break in this one. Look for the Jays to be highly motivated. I think they will look to push the tempo more than they did in the last game and throw an early knockout punch to ASU.

What you don’t need to know: Head coach Bobby Hurley has struggled in guiding the Sun Devils. But his collegiate playing career was anything but a struggle. Hurley was point guard for some of the greatest teams Duke has ever had.

Listen to some of these notes from his playing days at Duke:

-he played in three final fours, winning two titles. (Think about that-most players would die to play in one final four)

-he was voted Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 1992

-he is the all-time NCAA leader in assists with 1076 assists

-he was named one of the 50 greatest players in ACC history

-he won 119 games in his Duke career

Those are some fantastic accomplishments. Easy to see why when his current team is .500 he doesn’t take it well.