Arizona State traveled to Palm Springs on Thanksgiving weekend, facing a tall task. It faced potentially two matchups against teams that made the NCAA tournament last season and returned a sizeable amount of production.
Despite being underdogs in both games, the Sun Devils won the Acrisure Classic tournament with back-to-back victories over New Mexico and Saint Mary’s.
In these wins, ASU displayed a pair of key traits they seemed to lack early in the season: toughness and versatility. Historically, these elements prove to be vital to the success of winning basketball teams–especially in March.
The toughness showed through by way of the Sun Devils’ resilience in tightly contested back-and-forth affairs.
Throughout the weekend, ASU not only trailed at halftime but also trailed in the last five minutes of each of the two games.
But the Devils didn’t waiver and neither did ASU head coach Bobby Hurley.
“In those dark moments, we try to find another gear,” Hurley said. “I’m gaining a lot of confidence in them too. Like I’m not panicking if teams are getting a little bit of separation from us because I know that we could go on a run. We have the ability to spurt because we got guys who could put the ball in the basket.”
This confidence allowed ASU to face adversity, such as a 21-1 run it endured against New Mexico from the end of the first half to the start of the second half, and not flinch.
Additionally, the Sun Devils also showcased an ability to adapt to different opponents. Over the tournament, they played teams who boasted vastly different styles of play and did not let the pace or physicality affect them.
In the first game, the Maroon and Gold faced a fast-paced New Mexico team that came into the tournament averaging 85.5 ppg, slotting them as one of the highest-scoring teams in the NCAA.
The Lobos also practice an aggressive style of defense, third in the nation in opponent turnovers per game (18), in an attempt to speed up their opponents.
However, the Sun Devils took care of the basketball, cutting that total nearly in half (10), while still keeping up with New Mexico’s high-powered offense.
“They were turning teams over almost 20 times a game, [so] I thought we took care of the ball well,” Hurley said. “We handled that game well [being] a quicker game.”
Senior transfer forwards Basheer Jihad and BJ Freeman produced in the clutch to help the Sun Devils pull away from the Lobos late en route to an 85-82 victory. Jihad led the team in scoring with 20 points, 17 in the second half, while Freeman followed close behind with 16.
But in game two, the Sun Devils saw a much different type of opponent: the slow-paced, defensive-centric Saint Mary’s Gaels.
The night before playing ASU, the Gaels held USC to just 36 points with their defense overwhelming the Trojans.
But their physicality didn’t faze Hurley’s Devils.
His squad got into a slugfest and found a way to come out with a 68-64 win to hand Saint Mary’s its first loss of the season.
“Slower game, you worry about a more low possession game and particularly St. Mary’s rebounding,” Hurley said. “They were plus 15 on their opponents coming into that game, so I was worried about doing our job to rebound the basketball. But I think we withstood the physicality of that game well.”
The win marked just the second time ASU had been held to under 80 points all season long. Yet, the Sun Devils still managed to maintain a relatively efficient 46% shooting percentage in the low-possession game.
Freshman guard Joson Sanon led the charge, dropping 19 points off the bench to continue his hot start to the season.
Now, the Sun Devils look to carry this momentum back to a place where they haven’t played as well this season: home.
Although ASU remains unbeaten at Desert Financial Arena, the team has appeared shaky at times against sub-par competition.
Hurley hopes his team can sustain these winning traits when it heads back to Tempe and play better in front of the home fans.
“I don’t think we’ve played our basketball at DFA (Desert Financial Arena), and that’s going to be something I’ll talk with our guys about today,” Hurley said. “We want to make that an exciting environment for our fan base to come in and see us play well.”
ASU will get a chance to put together a complete performance at home when it takes on San Diego on Dec. 3 at 7 p.m. MST.
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