The ASU men’s basketball team is used to losing players week after week.
After making progress on his ankle injury, junior guard and team leader Trent Lockett expects to make his full return to the court for the Sun Devils (7–16, 3–8 Pac-12).
Lockett returned to practice Monday and expects to play Thursday against the Utes (5–18, 2–9 Pac-12).
Lockett participated in non-contact activities during practice. He feels he’s getting better every day and continues to treat his sprained right ankle as often as possible.
“It reacted pretty well,” Lockett said. “Especially when we tried to run on it and stuff about a week and a half ago. It was really sore. I was happy with the way it came out (Tuesday).”
Coach Herb Sendek said Lockett remains day-to-day, but he is making progress.
How much he’ll play remains to be seen. Lockett hasn’t played in over three weeks since he went down against Oregon State on Jan. 14.
“We’re going to have to take it one step at a time and just see how he feels,” Sendek said.
Sendek also isn’t sure where exactly Lockett will play. He said Lockett will likely play some minutes at point guard, but it remains to be seen how much it will be.
His presence alone brings an impact for the Sun Devils. In the six games played without Lockett, ASU was 1–5. Nearly every statistical category was down during Lockett’s absence, including points per game. The Sun Devils averaged 64 points a game with Lockett and just 52.2 points without him.
Freshman Jonathan Gilling aggravated his left thumb during practice Monday. He injured it Thursday against Stanford, and Sendek said the sprain was significant. Junior guard Chris Colvin also missed practice Tuesday due to the flu.
“We continue to take some rib shots here with our health,” Sendek said.
The Sun Devils look to avenge their ugly 64–43 loss to the Utes on Jan. 21. They shot 38.6 percent from the floor in the blowout with Lockett. Utah had its best offensive performance in conference play shooting 52.5 percent.
However, that was in Utah, and the Utes — just like the Sun Devils — are pretty bad on the road. Utah is 0–8 away from Jon M. Huntsman Center.
“Looking at the film and preparing for this week, I think there’s some things that we can exploit that we didn’t last game going into this week,” Lockett said.
Fortunately for the Sun Devils, they’ll play five of their last seven games at home. They dropped a pair of games on the road at Stanford and California this past week, stretching their road losing streak to five.
Although ASU is 4–8 at home, it has played dramatically better at Wells Fargo Arena recently. The Sun Devils are 2–2 during their last four home games with both losses in single digits.
Put that in comparison to their five-game road skid: The Sun Devils have lost all five by 10 points or more.
“We’ve had trouble on the road this year, but I guess the biggest thing would be the pressure and the crowds,” Lockett said. “The crowds really get amped up on the road, and I guess that’s the biggest difference between there and our home court.”
Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on foxsportsarizona.com and 620 AM.
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
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