Report: ASU basketball finalizing home-and-home series with Georgia

Arizona State and Georgia are finalizing a home-and-home basketball series that will begin in Athens, Ga., during the 2018-19 season, new Bulldogs head coach Tom Crean told FRS Sports’ Jon Rothstein.

The series will conclude in Tempe in the 2019-20 season.

The Sun Devils are coming off a 20-12 season, where third-year head coach Bobby Hurley led them to the school’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013-14. ASU fell to Syracuse in the First Four round of the tournament.

Adding Georgia to the slate aligns with Hurley’s challenging scheduling tactics. Last year, his team faced power conference teams in Kansas State, Kansas and Vanderbilt, among others.

The Bulldogs will be rebuilding under Crean, who is a year removed from being fired from Indiana. Georgia went 18-15 last season but missed the NCAA Tournament. It will not return its leading scorer and rebounder, Yante Maten, who as a senior averaged 19.3 points — no other Bulldog averaged double-figures last year — and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Arizona State enters 2018-19 needing to replace guards Tra Holder, Shannon Evans and Kody Justice with both experience and high-level recruits expected to fill the void.

Cleveland State transfer Rob Edwards and incoming four-star recruits Luguentz Dort and Elias Valtonen will fight for playing time. At forward, San Diego State transfer Zylan Cheatham and four-star prospect Taeshon Cherry will join rising sophomore Kimani Lawrence on the wing.

Arizona State also returns big men Romello White, Vitaliy Shibel and De’Quon Lake next season.

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