Status of Arizona State Starter Revealed Moving Forward

The Sun Devils may be without a key player heading into a major road trip in Texas.

Jan 14, 2026; Tucson, Arizona, USA; Arizona State Sun Devils guard Bryce Ford (4) dribbles the ball during the first half of the game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Memorial Center. Mandatory Credit: Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images | Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

TEMPE -- Arizona State's 72-67 victory on Tuesday night over Texas Tech largely hinged on the back of five players - Moe Odum, Anthony "Pig" Johnson, Noah Meeusen, Santiago Trouet, and Massamba Diop played roughly 170 of the 200 available minutes among rotation players.

Much of this was due to junior shooting guard Bryce Ford being ruled out prior to the start of the game due to a lower body injury that has been lingering for some time, while forward Andrija Grbovic was battling through an illness.

The presumation is that the latter will be back to full speed ahead of Saturday's game against Baylor, with the former's status much more in-the-air.

Ford's Status Moving Forward Revealed

Hurley spoke in regards to the available personnel in the regular post-game press conference, with Ford's status seemingly set to be a "day-to-day" proposition.

"From a personnel standpoint, he's he was not feeling well. He hasn't practiced since. I think he's doing a little better, and we have a few days, I think he will just really see it'll be day to day, and like how he feels, but he wants to be out there. He's trying to get back. So we'll just see how that how he progresses over the rest of the week."

Arizona State forward Andrija Grbović (14) gathers Bryce Ford (4) and Moe Odum (5) during a game against Cincinnati at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 24, 2026. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Ford started off the season with incredible promise, as the Arizona native put together a 20 point performance in a win over Hawaii on November 20, and 18 in a victory over Washington State in the Maui Invitational. Unfortunately, an injury that Ford suffered in a win over Northern Arizona on December 9 has seemingly lingered long-term - the guard did miss games against Santa Clara, UCLA, BYU and Kansas State, but it appears as if the concern has yet to subside completely.

At this stage, it seems as if the starting guard won't be at 100% the rest of the way, but there's definite hope that the 6'4" guard will be back to make an impact sooner rather than later.

Until then, expect the guard rotation of Odum, Meeusen and Johnson to hold down he fort, while sophomore Trevor Best made some impact plays after seeing the court on Tuesday. On the negative side of things, a return for forward Marcus Adams Jr. doesn't appear promising. The sharpshooter has been out since the loss to Brigham Young on January 7 and has seemingly not made enough progress to improve on the game-by-game injury report.

Read more on the bold strategy that head coach Bobby Hurley employed with comments on 1/21 here, and on why Arizona State may have saved the season with the win over Cincinnati on Saturday here..

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