The Arizona State Sun Devils enter their second season in the Big 12 with a lot on the line for coach Bobby Hurley. He’s in the final year of his contract and his team is coming off a 13-win season. The roster was practically turned over in the offseason and the thought is that the Duke legend is coaching for his job. The roster he’s assembled is what he’ll be measured by. Here is a preview of the upcoming season.
Arizona State Sun Devils
2024-25: 13-20, 4-16 in Big 12, 15th place. Eliminated in first round of Big 12 Tournament. Lost to Nebraska in first round of College Basketball Crown in Las Vegas.
Head coach: Bobby Hurley is entering his 11th season. The former Duke star is 168-151 at ASU and 210-171 overall (two additional years at Buffalo).
Big 12 history: Arizona State made its Big 12 debut last season. Before that, the program was a long-time member of the Pac-12 Conference, where it reached the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight three times, the last of which was in 1975.
2025-26 Schedule: Click here for the full Big 12 men’s schedule.
Arizona State 2025-26 Roster Review
Gone: Alston Mason (13.8 PPG), BJ Freeman (13.7 PPG), Basheer Jihad (12.7 PPG), Joson Sanon (11.9 PPG), Adam Miller (9.8 PPG), Jayden Quaintance (9.4 PPG), Amier Ali (5.5 PPG), Shawn Phillips Jr. (5.4 PPG), Austin Nunez (2.0 PPG), Brandon Gardner, Brycen Long
Returning: G Trevor Best (3.6 PPG), G Quentin McCoy (was at ASU last year)
Incoming transfers: G Adante’ Holiman (16.9 PPG at Georgia Southern), F Marcus Adams Jr. (16.1 PPG at Cal State Northridge), F Allen Mukeba (14.6 PPG at Oakland), G Maurice Odum (13.1 PPG at Pepperdine), F Santiago Trouet (8.7 PPG at San Diego), G Bryce Ford (7.1 PPG at Toledo), G/F Vijay Wallace (juco); G Anthony Johnson (juco), G Noah Meeusen (international).
Incoming freshmen: F Kash Polk (three-star), F Andrija Grbovic (international), C Massamba Diop (international), F Jovan Ićitović (international), C Dame Salane.
Projected Starting Lineup
G Maurice Odom: Average 13.1 ppg with the Waves last year.
G Adante’ Holiman: A great scorer at the mid-major level should help right away.
G Bryce Ford: Can hit 38% from 3-poitn line which should be helpful to Sun Devils
F Marcus Adams Jr.: Bobby Hurley didn’t lure Adams back in to the Big 12 to sit him. Adams is injured and won’t start practicing until late October, which could delay his appearance in the starting lineup.
F Santiago Touret: Has the inside track to be the team’s leading rebounder.
Starting Lineup Crashers
G Trevor Best: One of the few holdovers from last season should be improved from a season ago. Should have plenty of opportunity, too.
Lineup Competition
This will be an incredibly fluid lineup. Hurley did a good job of bringing in plenty of scoring, but all of it was from the mid-major level. That can work in his favor. Those players tend to be hungry when they reach the high-major level. But only one player feels like a ‘lead-pipe’ lock to be a starter and that is Adams, who transferred to CSUN after playing at BYU and showed off his talent. His impact will be depend on his injury recovery. Aside from the holdovers, he’s the only player that understands the rigors of the Big 12. That should help.
Early Prediction
Arizona State hasn’t had a winning season in either of the last two campaigns. Last year was especially disappointing, as Hurley lured one of the best recruits in the country in Quaintance to join the program. He transferred to Kentucky, but he tore his ACL late last season. This feels like a make-or-break year for Hurley, who is in the final year of his contract and ASU chose not to extend it in the offseason. It’s hard to see these Sun Devils finishing .500 in league play. Non-conference should give observers a good feel for where they’re heading. It’s hard to see a path for the Sun Devils to finish among the Top 8 teams in the conference.
