Devils set to face Bayless
Arizona State men's basketball coach Herb Sendek has no illusions about what the team faces Sunday at Arizona, which is expected to have freshman guard Jerryd Bayless and plenty of motivation to avenge a loss at Wells Fargo Arena last month, when Bayless was sidelined because of a knee injury.
"When a guy like that isn't able to play, you typically aren't able to go down the bench and say, 'Go in for him,' " Sendek said.
Arizona's backcourt will be forced to adjust without reliable guard Nic Wise, who underwent knee surgery this week.
For the Sun Devils, however, a healthy Bayless in the Arizona lineup poses a challenge they have yet to encounter.
Sendek recited Jerryd Bayless' impressive statistics - 18.9 points a game, 43 percent shooting from 3-point distance and 82 percent from the free-throw line.
When any player with Bayless' ability is injured, the cliche is that somebody, everybody, has to step up.
"I suppose that's possible, but it's not that easy to do," Sendek said. " . . . Without him, they were still really, really, really, really good, and with him they're really, really, really, really good."
Really.
Searching for accuracy
ASU freshman Ty Abbott is mired in a shooting slump that only patience and practice can correct. Forget the psychoanalysis.
"I'm not Dr. Phil," Sendek said. "I know I look a little like him, but Ty just has to keep playing, take good shots, know that we believe in him, know that the next shot is going in, take shots within the framework of our offense, which he typically does.
"He's a good shooter, and over time good shooters make good shots."
Free throws
ASU's five-game losing streak adds up to two more losses within a month than freshman James Harden endured in his last two years in high school. At Artesia High in Southern California, Harden's teams went 33-1 in 2005-06 and 33-2 in 2006-07.
• It appears as though swingman Rihards Kuksiks is emerging as another freshman factor - the fourth - with a role in the Sun Devils' rotation. He averaged 18 minutes last week in losses at UCLA and Southern California. "We're trying to get him integrated into the lineup," Sendek said. "We certainly used him in Southern California, and we anticipate he'll continue to grow with us."
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