Colorado Aims for Recovery Against ASU After Blowout

This Saturday, January 5th, the Colorado Buffaloes travel to Tempe to take on the Arizona State University Sun Devils. The Buffaloes come into this game with their record at 11-3 and 5th in the Pac 12 standings.  Colorado is coming off of their worst defeat of the season so far, losing by 47 points away to the 10th ranked Arizona Wildcats. 

This was by far the worst performance of the season for the Buffaloes, but it should be noted that Colorado was missing some key players, most notably star forwards Tristan Da Silva and Cody Williams.  The Sun Devils come into this matchup off of an important win against Utah, a prime Pac 12 division contender.  This win also puts Arizona State at 3-0 in the conference this season, their first time achieving this feat since 2012-13.  These two teams have had different keys to success this season, and it will be interesting to see how they matchup with one another. 

Arizona State has been heavily utilizing their star man Frankie Collins, who has proven to be a threat on both ends of the court with double digit points in 13 of 14 games and 44 steals this season, which is the fourth most in the nation.  Colorado has been most known for their physicality.  With Eddie Lampkin being the center of their physical dominance.  The presence of playmakers across the floor, along with the distribution of points among those playmakers has made Colorado an entertaining watch this season. 

This game has implications for the future being an in conference showdown, and it will certainly be one that the Buffaloes want to win to help get themselves back on track.  Look for the Buffaloes to use their physicality and all around playmaking to go to a tough environment on the road and outlast the Wildcats; and look for Arizona State to utilize their star man, while playing hard on both ends of the floor.

The game will begin at 8pm EST and will be televised on ESPNU and can be streamed on the ESPN app.