Arizona State basketball predictions against USC

TEMPE, Ariz. — Arizona State basketball (10-7, 4-2) welcomes USC (8-10, 2-5) to Desert Financial Arena Saturday to cap off its two-game home stand against the California squads. Both ASU and USC come into the game on a bit of a cold streak. The Trojans have lost three straight games while the Sun Devils have lost two straight.

USC has been without its two top scorers in its last two games, fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis (18.7 ppg) and freshman guard Isaiah Collier (15.4 ppg). This has led to the first two starts of freshman guard Bronny James’, Lebron James’ son, college career. This Trojans team also features graduate student forward DJ Rodman, who’s the son of Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman. With the absence of Ellis and Collier, James has seen a season-high in minutes in the last two games and Rodman scored a season-high 16 points last game.

ASU has been led by its four guards all season long, who each average more than 10 points per game. Junior guard Frankie Collins has scored double digits and at least one steal in all but one game this season. In addition, junior guard/forward Jamiya Neal has had a nice three-game stretch scoring double digits, shooting better than 50% from the field, and recording at least a steal per game.

USC owns the all-time series between the two teams going 29-18. ASU won the last matchup, 77-72, behind a 27-point effort from Desmond Cambridge Jr. in the Pac-12 tournament last season. However, the Trojans have won the last seven straight regular-season matchups.

Both teams will be looking to get back in the win column on Saturday to keep any NCAA tournament hopes alive.

Here are our Sun Devil Daily staff predictions for Arizona State basketball against USC.

Arizona State basketball predictions against USC

ASU: 75 USC: 68

Coming off a loss to UCLA, ASU looks to bounce back with a home-court win. USC’s defense has been allowing on average nearly 75 points per game this season and are coming off a three-game losing streak. Momentum can definitely be in favor of ASU looking for a win. – Truitt Robinson (4-4)

ASU: 72 USC: 73

After a gutting loss against UCLA, the Sun Devils will look to bounce back against Bonny James and the Trojans. ASU played well defensively against the Bruins but I think the offense will see their shooting numbers regress back to the mean and just fall short in another heart-wrenching loss. – Anthony D’Amato (6-8)

ASU: 77 USC: 68

Arizona State needs to win this game to keep hopes for March alive. I think Bobby Hurley has his squad ready to get back on track at home before they hit the road for two very important games in Oregon. I think ASU is able to score enough and play solid defense to get the job done against an injury-depleted USC team. The Sun Devils get back on track on Saturday. – Douglas Santo (8-6)

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