ASU Basketball: Devils head to Vegas to face Louisville, Southern Illinois

No. 19 ASU basketball travels to Las Vegas to face their second top-five opponent of the season in No. 5 Louisville and Southern Illinois.

Arizona State’s tough non-conference schedule rolls on Friday as the Sun Devils will face their second top-five opponent of the season in Las Vegas.

The Sun Devils open the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout with a matchup against fifth-ranked Louisville, a team coming off an appearance in the Women’s Final Four.

No. 19 Arizona State is coming a tightly-contested 88-85 road win over Arkansas thanks to four players finishing in double figures.

Forward Kianna Ibis led the way with 20 points with guards Robbi Ryan and Iris Mbulito scoring 13 points and forward Sophia Elenga picking up her first career double-double (11 points, 12 rebounds).

Arizona State controlled the game leading by as many as 10 in the third quarter but Arkansas showed their feistiness coming back time and time again with big shots to cut the deficit to four.

In the end, ASU fended off the Razorbacks to improve to 2-1 thanks to a big edge in bench points (42-11) and rebounds (43-35).

Friday presents a big challenge for the Sun Devils in the fifth-ranked Cardinals.

Louisville has yet to play a home game this season sporting road wins against Western Kentucky, Chattanooga and Boise State.

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Guard Asia Durr is one of the best players in the country and the leader of the team averaging 25.7 points per game so far this season.

Returning with Durr is three other starters which includes forward Sam Fuehring and guard Jazmine Jones.

Both are off to slow starts only averaging 7.0 and 6.0 points per game respectively but a player who has emerged off the bench as a key contributor is guard Arica Carter.

Carter is averaging 12.7 points per game, second best mark on the team, on 63.2 shooting from the field.

This will be the Cardinals’ first test of the season facing a team like the Sun Devils. ASU has already been battled tested facing No. 4 Baylor and Arkansas.

Unlike Baylor, Arizona State doesn’t have to deal with a size disadvantage inside and that should play to ASU’s strength.

The Sun Devils will need to lock in on Durr and limit her scoring capability. They’ll look to force the other Cardinals to make shots and beat them that way.

ASU’s advantage should come from their depth as the Cardinals are heavily reliant on Durr to lead the charge. A balanced scoring display like they had against Arkansas would put the Sun Devils in a good position to pull off the upset.

On Saturday, Arizona State will face Southern Illinois in their final game in Las Vegas. The Salukis sit at 2-2 with wins over Southeast Missouri State and Marshall and losses versus UT-Martin and Western Kentucky.

Southern Illinois is coming off a 17-14 season as they lost in the second round of the Missouri Valley Tournament.

Picked to finish fourth in the conference this season, SIU is led by All-MVC first team forward Nicole Martin and the MVC Freshman of the Year forward Abby Brockmeyer.

Martin is averaging 16.3 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game while Brockmeyer is averaging a double-double in 12.3 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game.

However, the team’s leading scorer is Makenzie Silvey who’s averaging 17.3 points per game thanks to her 3-point ability, leading the team with 12 3-pointers made.

Like Arizona State, Southern Illinois returned practically their whole roster from last season with 12 players back.

dark. Next. ASU Basketball: Balanced scoring attack leads Sun Devils past Arkansas

The Sun Devils will look to boost their resume in Las Vegas this week before returning home for the first time in three weeks next weekend for the ASU Classic. Tip off of both games will be at 3:30 p.m. MT.