Saturday’s loss to then-No. 8 Gonzaga came down to failing to follow the scouting report.

At least, that was coach Mick Cronin and his squad’s verdict.

“I think we have to do a better job listening, like I said earlier – scouting report – and then two, just not making dumb fouls,” senior forward Tyler Bilodeau said. “I had a dumb one at the end of the half … have to minimize those mistakes.”

Following its second ranked defeat of the season, UCLA men’s basketball (7-3, 2-0 Big Ten) can avenge its loss when it faces Arizona State (9-2) on Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion. The Bruins’ midweek affair marks the start of a three-game homestand over winter break, all against unranked nonconference opponents.

Fortunately for UCLA, the Arizona State scouting report should be easy to follow.

The Sun Devils are fueled by their guards, who should provide more favorable matchups for a Bruin squad that just conceded 46 combined points to forward tandem Graham Ike and Braden Huff.

“I don’t know if anyone’s got two big guys that can score like that,” Cronin said.

Three of Arizona State’s top four scorers come from its backcourt including Moe Odum, Anthony Johnson and Bryce Ford.

Odum paces the team in scoring with 16.7 points per game but does so on an inefficient 39.8% mark from the field but an ultra-effective 42.1% clip from beyond the arc. Odum also leads the team in steals and assists by a large margin, garnering 46 more than the next closest passer.

The offense runs through Odum, and it should continue to do so in Pauley Pavilion.

Odum’s facilitating capacity and involvement in the offense makes him a likely candidate to get senior guard Skyy Clark in coverage, who will most likely be tasked to guard the Sun Devil’s leading scorer for the contest’s entirety.

But with Clark’s hands full, it should mean wide open space for senior guard Donovan Dent.

The reigning Mountain West Player of the Year has yet to establish consistency as a dynamic offensive weapon in Westwood, but with some time to reset after a difficult Gonzaga outing, he could finally crack his slump Wednesday.

“I know what kind of player I am, so I just want to get back to that,” Dent said. “I had a bit of a mental stretch there, a little bit. To start the season, coach (Cronin) has put full faith behind me – just getting me back up and stuff – so I just want to keep building in the right direction.”

Dent will most likely split his time between Ford and Johnson. While Johnson ranks second on the team in scoring with 13.5 points per game, he has started just one of his 11 games, while Ford has taken most of the starts despite averaging just 9.1 points per game.

Regardless, neither guard is particularly a lethal offensive facilitator or a threat on the glass, giving Dent the advantage of focusing on offense and taking the game into his own hands.

Even if he doesn’t, UCLA’s frontcourt play should give Arizona State a challenge.

The Sun Devils rank last in the Big 12 in combined team rebounds, team offensive rebounds and rebounding margin, giving the Bruins’ bigs a chance to feast in the interior.

Bilodeau – who leads the team in scoring – and junior forward/center Xavier Booker will battle it out with true freshman center Massamba Diop and forward Santiago Trouet.

The Sun Devils boast a taller lineup with Diop standing at 7-foot-1 alongside Trouet and other starter Andrija Grbović both standing at 6-foot-11, which could pose a challenge for Bilodeau, Booker and junior guard/forward Eric Dailey Jr.

However, despite the team’s height, Arizona State’s big men trio slacks on the boards and struggles to score outside the paint. Diop leads the bigs in scoring with 12.7 points per game on a 62.8% field goal percentage. But both Diop and Trouet struggle to shoot from the outside, with Trouet shooting 7.7% from the perimeter and Diop having taken just six 3-pointers in 11 games so far.

Grbović is more of a dynamic scorer, though, knocking in 16 of the 39 shots he has taken from beyond the arc this season. His varied scoring approach will most likely attract the man-to-man coverage of Dailey, who is the quickest of the UCLA big men.

But who excels and who does not across matchups will ultimately be determined on the hardwood at 7 p.m. in Pauley Pavilion.