The Pac-10 in recent years has been a league that showcases some of the nation’s top underclassmen talent.

One needs only to look at the past few NBA Drafts to see a handful of the conference’s top freshman and sophomores being taken in the first round, including several as lottery picks.

Derrick Williams is ready to carry the torch.

UA’s 6-foot-8 freshman forward headed into Saturday’s contest, a 77-58 win by the Wildcats, leading his team in scoring at nearly 16 points per game.

Against ASU’s front line, Williams dominated, scoring 20 points and shutting down the Sun Devil trio of big men: senior Eric Boateng, sophomore Taylor Rohde and freshman Ruslan Pateev.

“Derrick Williams played a heck of game,” ASU senior point guard Derek Glasser said. “It seemed like wherever they were driving from, they got into the paint and just dished to the open guy. Again, our rotations were just a step slow and they did a great job of getting to the basket and finding the open man.”

With UA trailing 29-27 with two minutes gone by in the second half, Williams deposited a thunderous dunk to tie the game. The Wildcats never trailed again.

Williams scored 13 second-half points, the bulk of which came during UA’s early run in the period that quickly put the game out of reach.

“Derrick Williams is a showcase premier freshman player,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “He’s very efficient on offense.”

ASU received little production from its front line, as its three big men combined for just four points, harassed constantly by the pressure defense of Williams.

Reach the reporter at nkosmide@asu.edu