Arizona State faced their archrivals, the Arizona Wildcats, on Sunday night but took a tough loss 91-52 at home through low field goal percentages and a struggling defense.
Arizona State’s offense couldn’t put up points against the Wildcats as it was only able to score 31% of its field goals and was only 21% on three-pointers.
However, it wasn’t all bad on offense for the Sun Devils as they went 11 for 16 on free throws.
“There’s things we have to continue to work on,” said Arizona State head coach Natasha Adair. “There’s things we have to continue to improve.”
The Sun Devils defense also had their struggles this game, allowing the Wildcats to score 57% of their field goals and 65% of their three-pointers.
The Wildcats were able to score 28 points in the second quarter alone and averaged over 15 points in each quarter.
Adair added that there are things that the Sun Devils need to get better at, such as how ASU starts the game and how they track the game from quarter to quarter.
Despite the offensive and defensive troubles, Arizona State had its fair share of star players, with sophomore guard Jalyn Brown leading ASU’s scoring with 19 points. Brown also led the Sun Devils with eight rebounds with eight and four takeaways.
Sophomore guard Trayanna Crisp was second behind Brown in points and rebounds, with 12 points and four rebounds. Senior guard Jaddan Simmons followed closely behind with 11 points.
Even with the loss, the Sun Devils aren’t willing to give up. With over half of their regular season still to come, Adair says they will continue to compete in the future and work on bettering their gameplay.
They’ll have a chance to do just that on Dec. 20 when they face Fresno State at Footprint Center for the Jerry Colangelo’s 2023 Hall of Fame Series. Tip-off is set for 12 p.m. MST in Phoenix.
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