Last night's ASU men's basketball matchup against the University of Alberta marked the end of the brief two-game exhibition season.
Now it's time to bring on the real challenges.
Challenges that include Southern Utah, Alcorn State, UC-Santa Barbara and North Texas - four opponents that make up the Sun Devils' first four regular season games, all of which are to be played within the safe confines of Wells Fargo Arena.
ASU will, however, test its new might against some strong Big Ten competition in December.
The Sun Devils' non-conference tests start with Minnesota on Dec. 5 and end with ASU's first road game. The Sun Devils are scheduled to make the trip to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes Dec. 17. Both teams finished in the top five of the Big Ten last March.
Last year, ASU busted off nine straight wins to wrap up the non-conference schedule on its way to an 18-win season.
This year, fans can expect more hiccups as the Sun Devils use the time to smooth out the wrinkles.
Reach the reporter at michael.fowler@asu.edu.
