The college basketball season is approaching March, which means the madness is right around the corner and one of Tucson's favorite times of the year is nearly here.

However, with just seven games left of the regular season, No. 5 Arizona has yet to play in-state rival ASU.

Last season, the Wildcats went 2-1 versus the Sun Devils with the one loss coming at home in McKale Center as ASU guard Desmond Cambridge nailed a 60-foot shot at the buzzer to upset then-No. 7 Arizona 89-88 shocking the UA faithful in attendance.

Well, the two teams are in completely different situations from that point in time last season. Arizona, not only has a strong chance of winning the Pac-12 in its final season, but also is in the hunt for a No. 1 seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Meanwhile, ASU is sitting at 13-12 with any hope of an NCAA Tournament bid looking bleak.

Now, these two programs will face off against each other for the first time all season. To get you ready for the game, we've broken down three things you need to watch for as the Wildcats taken on the Sun Devils:

One commonality in most the Wildcats losses this season has been the opponent getting red-hot from beyond the arc.

In the five losses, teams have hit 10 3-point buckets on average and shot a lights out 47% from distance.

In the loss to ASU during the 2022-23 season, Arizona allowed the Sun Devils to go 11 of 28 from deep.

Although ASU hasn't been great at the 3-point line and shoots 30% as a team from distance, Arizona can't take that for granted.

Poor 3-point shooting teams have done damage against Arizona and the hoop looks larger for whatever reason. Oregon State is the perfect example of that.

On the season, OSU has shot 33% from deep, but against the Wildcats, the Beavera went 12 of 20 and guard Jordan Pope nailed the game-winning shot from deep and went 5 of 8 from the 3-point line.

The guys that could do that to Arizona is guard Jose Perez, who is averaging 12.9 points per game. He shootings 46% from deep, but has only taken 35 attempts all season.

However, against Arizona, this might be the game where Perez lets it fly from deep. So, the Wildcats will need to know where he is on the floor at all times.

Its very clear that Arizona has a size advantage with 7-foot center Oumar Ballo, 7-foot-2 center Motiejus Krivas and 6-foot-7 forward Keshad Johnson. In comparison, Arizona State has one 7-foot player in center Shawn Phillips Jr., while everyone else is under 6-foot-10.

So yes, Arizona has an advantage and needs to not only control the paint, but dominant it and get Phillips in early foul trouble, which will cause issues for ASU.

This season, Arizona is averaging 44.6 points in the paint and have lost the battle in the paint just once to Washington State and tied Purdue. Both games resulted in losses.

As for the defensive side of the court, Arizona has held teams to 29 paint points per game and against unranked opponents that number drops 27 points in the paint per game.

So, if Arizona can continue what it has been doing in the paint with Ballo, Krivas and Johnson, the odds are the Wildcats will win the game.

Throughout the season, point guard Kylan Boswell has seen a lot of highs and lows, which isn't a surprise when you're talking about a player that is just 18 years-old.

Some of his bigger moments have come against then-No. 2 Duke on the road, where Boswell scored 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting and against Utah with a 16-point performance.

In the Wildcats' losses this season, Boswell has averaged 4.6 points and took 8.8 shot attempts in those games. When he is aggressive, even when the ball isn't falling, it creates issues for the opposing team.

In order for Arizona to make is 6-straight wins, Boswell will need to be aggressive and keep up the energy on both ends of the court.

The Wildcats will look to make it 3-straight wins over ASU on Saturday with the game tipping off at 7:30 p.m. (MST) on FS1.

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