Arizona State heads into a matchup with Santa Clara at Henderson, Nev., on Saturday with six wins in its last seven games despite having only one returning player from last season.
The Sun Devils (8-2) have defeated Oklahoma and Texas and were competitive in losses to Gonzaga and Southern California.
Santa Clara (8-2) is coached by former Arizona State coach Herb Sendek, who led the Sun Devils’ program from 2006-15.
Rather than bring in high-profile recruits and touted transfers as in previous seasons, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley stocked his roster with transfers from mid-majors and small colleges.
Leading scorer Moe Odum (17.2 points per game) is a transfer from Pepperdine and second-leading scorer Anthony “Pig” Johnson (13.3) came to Arizona State from NAIA school University of Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Ky.
“We specifically brought in a number of guys to play and to have a deeper team than we had last year and have more options with this group,” Hurley said. “I always thought we would get better because of how late guys got to campus … So just getting them all on the same page was something that’s pretty cool.”
Sun Devils freshman post player Massamba Diop hails from Senegal and is averaging 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds.
Santa Clara notched wins over Xavier, Nevada and Minnesota before losing 98-71 at New Mexico last Saturday.
The Broncos’ Christian Hammond recorded his third game of the season with at least 20 points, finishing with 22. He leads the Broncos with 17.2 ppg.
“We let it get away from us and couldn’t surmount another comeback,” Sendek said of his team that rallied from an 18-point deficit, cutting the margin to single digits, before New Mexico pulled away.
“They really attacked the basketball and got into the paint way too easy.”
Elijah Mahl posted 13 points and eight rebounds, but also had four of Santa Clara’s 15 turnovers that led to 19 points for New Mexico. Mahl is second on the team in scoring with 13.2 ppg.
