BOULDER — The No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes are in Arizona for a quick Pac-12 road swing. They’ll take on the Arizona State Sun Devils Thursday night in Tempe before heading to Tucson to play the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday.
Thursday night’s contest will be the second and final time Colorado will see Arizona State this season, after handing the Sun Devils an 81-71 beatdown in Shanghai to open the season.
Here’s what we’re wondering heading into the second matchup with Arizona State:
Who wins the point guard battle?
Colorado Buffaloes guard McKinley Wright IV has a pair of tough matchups this weekend. On Saturday he’ll try to slow down potential top-5 NBA Draft pick Nico Mannion of Arizona, but first he’ll match up against Arizona State’s Remy Martin Thursday night.
Martin was a second-team All-Pac-12 selection last season after leading the league in assit-to-turnover ratio and finishing second with five assists per game. This year, though, Martin has found more success scoring himself.
Martin’s assist numbers have fallen by over 20 percent this season, but he’s making up for it by scoring just over 19 points per game. On the defensive end, he’s a stalwart.
Wright will be tasked with slowing Martin down.
The pair of 6-foot juniors went toe-to-toe in the season-opener in Shanghai, China and there wasn’t a clear winner. Martin put up 23 points on 20 shots along with 8 assists and 4 turnovers. Wright scored 17 points on 16 shots and notched 5 assists and 2 turnovers.
Martin also posted five steals to Wright’s one.
Wright’s team won the game.
How does Romello White change things?
Colorado pulled out a decisive win the first time around but two big names were missing from the Sun Devils.
Taeshon Cherry, a sophomore forward who was a five-star recruit, wasn’t available to play in Shanghai but he’s carved out a role in Arizona State’s rotation.
The bigger acquisition is redshirt junior big man Romello White. White is averaging just over 10 points per game and just under 10 rebounds per game. He’s shooting 65 percent from the field.
Evan Battey should line up opposite White. Battey has the size advantage — they’re the same height but Battey is listed 30 pounds heavier — but White is more experienced and has the better numbers this season.
The added post presence could make things trickier for Colorado in its second matchup against Arizona State.
Can D’Shawn Schwartz get back on track?
It’s an overstatement to say that junior guard D’Shawn Schwartz is off-track.
He put up 14 points and shot 46 percent from the field in Colorado’s last game, against Utah. But Schwartz missed all three of his 3-point attempts after missing all four of his attempts in the previous game, against Oregon State.
Schwartz has been on fire from deep this season, shooting above 43% from deep despite this mini-slump. However, getting out of the slump quickly will be a priority this weekend.
The No. 20 Colorado Buffaloes play the Arizona State Sun Devils at 7 p.m. in Tempe, AZ. The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2.
