Arizona State basketball injury report

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State basketball welcomes Sam Houston State to Tempe Wednesday night but will be without a couple of frontcourt players.

Arizona State basketball injury update

Sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. has missed the last two games with a foot injury. Phillips injured his foot in the third game of the season against UMass Lowell. Head coach Bobby Hurley said he’s going to stay on the conservative side considering the nature of the injury. His best guess at a return is in late December. Phillips returning for the Pac-12 conference schedule would be the best-case scenario, according to Hurley.

Senior forward Zane Meeks has played in each of ASU’s first five games of the season. However, the Sun Devils will be without the 6-foot-9, 3-point specialist Wednesday night against Sam Houston State. Meeks is dealing with a foot injury that Hurley said he had been dealing with in the first couple weeks of summer.

Both players are transfers that have had an early impact for ASU this season. Phillips is a talented transfer from LSU, who has been the Sun Devils’ starting center in the games he’s played. He’s accumulated 17 points, 18 rebounds, and four blocks through the three games he’s played in.

“Shawn is the most gifted front-court guy that I’ve had,” Hurley said.

Meeks is a transfer from San Francisco, who’s played in every game this season coming off the bench. His injury was lingering when he arrived at ASU in the summer but had healed enough to play so far this season. Meeks has given the Sun Devils 18 points in 40 minutes this season, with all his shots being 3-point attempts.

Filling the missing roles

With the absence of these two transfers on Wednesday, you can look for graduate student forward Alonzo Gaffney and junior forward Bryant Selebangue to fill the void. Gaffney is coming off a breakout game against Vanderbilt and has shown his versatility on the court for the Sun Devils. Selebangue had been coming off the bench for Phillips but has filled in nicely with increased minutes since Phillips’ injury.

Arizona State will take on Sam Houston State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (AZT).

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