Joson Sanon will return for Arizona State-Iowa State showdown

Every game from this point forward will be the biggest game of the season for the Arizona State men's basketball team.
But Saturday's game vs. Iowa State is especially big.
The Sun Devils (11-7, 2-5) know they have little margin for error if they want to get to the 2025 NCAA Tournament. After losing four in a row, ASU got back on track Tuesday with a huge 65-57 road victory over West Virginia.
A win over Iowa State — who comes into the game ranked No. 5 in the NCAA NET Rankings — would put Arizona State into the projected NCAA tournament field of 68 and give them three Quadrant 1 victories on the season. (A Quad 1 victory is a home win over a top 30 team in the NET Rankings, or a road victory over a top 50 team in the NET.)
Joson Sanon Will Return
The Sun Devils dug themselves a hole to start Big 12 play, largely because they've had to play without their leading scorer — five-star freshman shooting guard Joson Sanon.
A projected first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Sanon was averaging a team-leading 13.5 points when he went down with a high ankle sprain in ASU's Big 12-opening loss at BYU on New Year's eve.
Sanon missed two games before trying to return against Baylor on Jan. 11. But he was a shell of himself and only played 18 minutes. He has spent the past two weeks rehabbing, and ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said he is ready to return Saturday vs. the Cyclones.
"He's excited to play and we're excited to have him back," Hurley said on Friday.
Getting Sanon back is a huge deal for the Sun Devils. Without Sanon, Hurley had a seven-man rotation and the Sun Devils ran out of gas late in close losses to Baylor, UCF and Cincinnait. They also built a first-half lead over Kansas before falling apart in the second half.
Hurley has called Sanon "the best shooter he's ever coached" — and for good reason. At 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds, Sanon has prototypical size for an NBA shooting guard. And with his high release, he can shoot over almost anyone.
Sanon is shooting 47.5% from the 3-point line and 47.2% from the field this season.
The Arizona State vs. Iowa State game is scheduled to tipoff Saturday at 12 p.m. MST at Desert Financial Arena.