Arizona State vs Baylor Prediction and Preview

Read below for a full Arizona State vs Baylor prediction and preview.

Arizona State returns home to Desert Financial Arena to face Baylor on Saturday night. It will be the sixth all-time meeting between both sides, and their first as conference opponents. The Bears have won all the matchups, most recently beating the Sun Devils 75-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis opener on Nov. 24, 2021.

General Information:

Teams: Arizona State (10-4, 1-2 Big 12) and Baylor (10-4, 2-1 Big 12)

Tip Time: 9:30 p.m. EST

Watch: ESPN+

Listen: ESPN 620 AM (KTAR)

What to know about Baylor basketball:

Another game, another date against an original Big 12 school for the Sun Devils as they face Baylor. While not as good as Kansas, the Bears are receiving votes into the Top 25. They were actually in the rankings for two weeks before being pushed out after a 74-55 road loss to Iowa State on Jan. 4. The visitors could return next week with a win on Saturday, which would follow a commanding 68-48 win against fellow Top 25 dropout Cincinnati last Tuesday.

Freshman guard VJ Edgecombe led the way with 18 points and four rebounds, recording his 10th performance in double figures this season. Fifth-year forward Norchad Omier, who is now at Baylor after stops with Arkansas State and Miami, also posted 18 points, and notched his eighth double-double of the season.

Omier is one of two players in the Big 12 that averages a double-double. The other being Hunter Dickinson, who had 15 points and 12 rebounds against Arizona State on Wednesday.

The Bears also find production through some returning starters, such as fifth year guard Jeremy Roach, senior guard Jayden Nunn and junior forward Josh Ojianwuna, who all average double figures.

Scott Drew also has a key bench player in freshman guard Robert O. Wright III. He is second on the team in points per game with 12.4, but has struggled to reach that mark over the past two games.

Latest on Arizona State basketball: 

The Sun Devils lost 74-55 to Kansas last Wednesday night, their first loss to the Jayhawks in the Bobby Hurley era. Despite leading 42-36 at the break, the hosts answered with a 38-point second half to energize the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse.

“We did not do a good job of taking care of the ball on their press,” Hurley told reporters after the game. “We were just very ineffective. We started digging a whole for ourselves and couldn’t get out.”

Kansas senior guard Zeke Mayo went 5-for-8 on his three-point attempts en route to a 23-point performance. Graduate center Hunter Dickinson, the preseason Big 12 men’s basketball player of the year, notched a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

Another game without Joson Sanon, despite being a game-time decision, led to more stellar guard play from the Maroon and Gold. This time, senior guard Alston Mason spearheaded the effort with 19 points. Senior guard/forward BJ Freeman, the team’s leading scorer against BYU and Colorado, followed with 10 points.

However, Bobby Hurley and the team received some exciting news in the recruiting world this weekend, signing 7-foot-1 center Leo Curtis. The four-star recruit chose Arizona State over Indiana and West Virginia.

“ASU did a good job recruiting me,” Tipton said in an interview with On3’s Joe Tipton. “I believe their style fits how I play and I can see myself playing when I watch them. I think it’s a really good program and I like the facilities and the campus.”

Arizona State vs Baylor prediction: Sun Devils by 6

Despite being the underdog in this matchup, the crowd at Desert Financial Arena should aid the Maroon and Gold to victory. Regardless on if freshman guard Joson Sanon will play, the Arizona State guards will continue to step up, while the forwards will get back into a groove.