New Era: Everything You Need To Know For Arizona State Men’s Basketball Home Opener vs. East Tennessee State

It feels like Christmas Eve. The gifts under the tree? College basketball.

Starting off with a special tip-off in Rome, the 2026-2027 men’s college basketball season kicked off on Sunday, with the Sun Devils set to start their schedule on Monday night.

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With a late 8:00 p.m. local tip-off, Arizona State will start the Randy Bennett era with a home visit from the East Tennessee State University Buccaneers of the Southern Conference.

Whether you are headed to Desert Financial Arena or watching from home, what should you expect for Game #1?

Here is a rundown of Devils-Bucs:

Here Come The Devils

ASU enters their season opener coming off a big win (as weird as that sounds).

In an exhibition vs. Mountain West favorite New Mexico, the Devils took a 91-86 victory behind a 31-point performance by preseason Big 12 Newcomer of the Year Paulius Murauskas.

Fellow Saint Mary’s transfer Dillan Shaw added 22 points, as the two captains combined for 53 points.

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“It’s big. It’s important,” ASU head basketball coach Randy Bennett said about the importance of having his two captains. “We have a team, we have a lot of other good players, (but) these guys, they know exactly what I want. They played for us on a good team and played big roles last year. So the trust is there, both ways. They know I believe in them, and I know they’ll come through.”

Know Your Foe: ETSU Buccaneers

A non-conference opener is usually labeled a “cupcake”, but the Buccaneers (like most pirates) aren’t coming to Tempe to play nice.

ETSU is coming off a regular-season conference championship, finishing 23-11 and 13-5 in the Southern Conference, falling just short of an NCAA Tournament bid via a conference tournament title game loss to Furman.

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However, most of that top-seeded Bucs team from last season is now gone.

Eight newcomers join the ETSU roster:

G BJ Ward (Southeast Missouri State)

G Jayden Cooper (South Alabama)

G Trevor Hennig (Weber State)

G Tyran Mason (UT Arlington)

F Kendall Campbell…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/era-everything-know-arizona-state-010756218.html

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Publish date : 2026-11-02 01:07:00

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