‘It’s like family.’ No. 19 Gonzaga’s visit to Arizona State doubles as long-awaited Homecoming for Adam Miller

TEMPE, Ariz. – “Straightforward” and “simple” would not be the first terms that come to mind when describing Adam Miller’s six-year college basketball journey, but the veteran Gonzaga guard generally has fond memories from a two-year pit stop at Arizona State.

Miller earned his bachelor’s degree in Tempe and delivered in a few big spots on the court for the Sun Devils, who brought the guard in after he experienced ups and downs at Illinois and LSU.

More than 45% of the 3,556 total minutes Miller’s played the last five years came wearing an ASU uniform, not to mention 569 of his 1,238 career points. It is unclear what a rowdy student section will have in store for the transfer when No. 19 Gonzaga (3-0) rolls into Desert Financial Arena for a late-night tip-off (8 p.m., ESPN2) against ASU (2-0), but Miller is perfectly clear on the personal emotions that come with returning to his former school.

“Basically the whole coaching staff, it’s like family,” Miller said. “I graduated from there, so I’m happy for that. Just happy for the opportunity to go back there and play and see old faces, just do what I love to do. It’s a great feeling and just ready to go in there and play some basketball.”

It will be a homecoming on multiple fronts. Miller’s return to campus coincides with ASU’s designated Homecoming weekend, which starts with nonconference hoops action Friday night and resumes with a Big 12 football game the following day between the Sun Devils and West Virginia.

For the second straight year, Gonzaga is the team standing between ASU and a 3-0 start.

Last November, ASU coach Bobby Hurley was scheming ways to get Miller open looks from the 3-point line against sixth-ranked Gonzaga, which held off a spirited effort from the Sun Devils to win 88-80 at McCarthey Athletic Center. Among other things, ASU’s defensive plan on Friday will be centered around limiting Miller’s opportunities from behind the arc one season after he made 42.9% of his 3-pointers.

“I’m a human being, it’s going to be a little weird seeing him in a different jersey having coached him a couple years,” Hurley said. “But he gave the program everything he had, Adam, and never cheated us on anything. Always rooting for him for this year outside of this competition. He’s a really good player. I think he fits their team and their personnel really well. He’s a good piece in their puzzle for sure.”

Earlier this week, Miller reposted a social media reel from ASU’s official team account containing a few of his top highlights with the Sun Devils last season and captioned the Instagram story with the word “grateful.”

After Tuesday’s game against No. 23 Creighton, Miller, who made 5 of 8 shots from the field to finish with 11 points in a 90-63 victory, was one of the last players to leave the Kennel, putting shots up more than an hour after the final buzzer sounded.

“I know (Hurley) is going to be telling them that I’m probably going to be a little bit antsy to come in there,” Miller said. “I think the message is just, they’re going to stick to their game plan and they’re going to do the same thing we do. The better team’s going to win and whoever has their head on the best and follows the scout. I think they’ve got a great team over there.”

Miller’s return may be the most compelling one, but Friday’s GU-ASU clash is jam-packed with other storylines. Two of Hurley’s newcomers, Pepperdine transfer Moe Odum (11.5 ppg, 7.0 apg) and San Diego transfer Santiago Trouet (8.5 ppg, 6.5 rpg), have a good bead on Gonzaga after matching up against Few’s teams in West Coast Conference play.

“Their intensity from jump ball is just super high,” said Odum, who played the Zags three times at Pacific and twice at Pepperdine. “Even their bench is into it. One little play, their bench is up. They have a crowd everywhere they go, so it’s just super hard to really beat them as a five because you’re not just playing five, you’re playing the coaching staff, you’re playing the people on the bench, you’re playing the fans.”

The Sun Devils will probably call on forward Marcus Adams Jr. off the bench at some point during Friday’s game. Adams Jr. had one of the shortest stints at Gonzaga of any player who’s come through the school, signing a financial aid agreement on July 31, 2023, before requesting his release just 27 days later.

The former four-star prospect originally enrolled at Kansas, but only participated in a handful of preseason workouts before leaving the Big 12 program in July. Adams Jr.’s time at Gonzaga was even shorter before he re-entered the transfer portal and landed at BYU, appearing in a single game for the Cougars during the 2023-24 season.

The Torrance, California, native transferred to Cal State Northridge last year, starting in 32 games while averaging 16.1 points, but went back into the portal this offseason and signed at ASU, where he is averaging 4.0 ppg and 2.5 rpg in 13 minutes off the bench.

ASU’s leading scorer through two games is Mor Massamba Diop, a 7-foot-1 center who played and roomed with Gonzaga 7-footer Ismaila Diagne while both were at Spanish Liga ACB powerhouse Real Madrid. Diop is averaging 16.0 ppg and 5.5 rpg through two contests and demonstrates his ability to step out and hit 3-pointers when he knocked down both of his attempts against Utah Tech.

Diop’s emergence creates an interesting frontcourt matchup on Friday. The Sun Devils have a good idea of what Gonzaga’s Graham Ike and Braden Huff bring to the table after the forwards combined for 30 points in last year’s game, including 21 points off the bench from Huff.

Well, for the most part. Hurley had the same reaction Creighton’s Greg McDermott did when Ike buried a trio of 3-pointers inside the first four minutes of Tuesday’s game in Spokane. Ike attempted only 33 shots from behind the arc last season and did not shoot a 3-pointer in the ASU game.

“His game last night, he made a statement right away hitting a couple 3s, which we haven’t seen a lot of,” Hurley said. “That’s obviously a new dimension to his game he’s worked on. But they run the floor so well, their big guys. They’re going to try to duck you in. They do a lot of high-low and they understand angles and positioning very well.

“In practice it’s like, ‘hey man you can’t let your guard down in post defense.’ If you sit behind them in the post, it’s lights out.”

Friday’s game will be a Homecoming for Miller, but also a return to the Phoenix area for Tyon Grant-Foster, who played two seasons at Western Athletic Conference program Grand Canyon, and is GU’s third-leading scorer (11.3 ppg) through three games. Freshman wing Davis Fogle grew up in Anacortes, Washington, but spent his senior year of high school at Phoenix-based Arizona Compass Prep. Fogle had 11 points in the Zags’ season opener and played seven minutes off the bench Tuesday against Creighton.