One might assume that losing the leading scorer on a team might cause a lull in the offensive production.
In the Big 12 home opener in Tempe, the Sun Devils defied the odds in a big way.
Arizona State (10-3, 1-1) lit up the scoreboard with a barrage of three-pointers in a dominating 81-61 victory over Colorado (9-4, 0-2) at Desert Financial Arena.
“Good bounce back,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “Back against the wall type of game just with what our schedule looks like here in the near future and coming off the BYU game shorthanded without our leading scorer. I thought the guys really rallied and played well. The only thing we kind of flipped the script on, not finishing the first half well and not finishing the game well and we were kind of the opposite at BYU.”
So hopefully we get closer to kind of putting it all together, but I thought the guys shared the ball very well in the first half. I thought for the most part on offense we were good. Defensively we did the job we needed to do, we were very active,” Hurley said.
With freshman guard Joson Sanon dealing with an ankle injury he suffered at Brigham Young, the leading scorer for ASU was in street clothes. Others needed to step up in his place, like senior guard BJ Freeman. The Milwaukee transfer scored a season-high 19 points and added four rebounds and four assists in the win. Freeman added two blocks and cited the team’s defense leading to the big scoring output.
“I think [the defensive performance] was by being our brother’s keeper,” Freeman told reporters. “Playing help-side defense, doing the little things, making sure that we’re talking on our point-switching and just communicating and being loud because we know everywhere we play is going to be a loud gym. Just being able to have each other’s backs and communicate.”
Freeman’s night was cut short with nine minutes left in the contest after he was assessed a flagrant foul and ejected. While fighting through a screen, Freeman appeared to incidentally hit a Colorado defender in the groin which was deemed severe enough for an ejection.
Freshman forward Jayden Quaintance continued his steady improvement, posting his fourth double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds. He also added three more blocks, bringing him to 41 blocks total on the young season. Senior forward Basheer Jihad did his best Sanon impression, splashing four three-pointers en route to 17 points.
Finishing Touches 🔚@basheerjihad11 is the beneficiary of good ball movement 🫡
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In ASU’s humbling 76-56 loss at BYU on New Year’s Eve, the Devils fell behind quickly. The Cougars jumped out to a 26-10 lead and cruised from there. This time, it was Hurley’s squad that was clicking early.
Even without their leading scorer, the Sun Devils came prepared to shoot from deep as four different players connected from three-point range in the first seven minutes. The ASU defense forced six first-half turnovers to set up easy buckets on the other end.
Quaintance stepped into a three from the top of the key and Jihad followed with a three-pointer of his own on a fast-break to close a 13-0 run. The flurry of ASU points had evolved into a commanding 32-11 advantage with under eight minutes remaining in the first half.
Team Basketball 🤝@AceWolf44 finds @qjayhoops behind the arc 👀
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Colorado closed the first half on a 10-0 run, but the Sun Devils still held a 40-27 edge at the break.
The second half continued Arizona State’s successful shooting stretch but was marred by 11 ugly turnovers. Even then, a career-high 23 points by senior forward Trevor Baskin off the bench couldn’t bring the Buffaloes any closer.
Hurley was pleased with the complementary performance from his squad. The script flipped fresh off their worst loss of the season.
“I thought there was a better commitment to get stops on defense and we didn’t have to call a ton of set plays early in the game,” Hurley said. “We were able to get the ball down the floor and set an early drag ball screen and move the ball, hit the paint, kick the ball out and we got some quality shots. Second half, I thought we executed well in half court when we had to. Most of our turnovers were when they pressed us and I thought we did some pretty good things at the offensive end.”
The Sun Devils shot 51.9% from the field and 46.4% from three-point range. The Buffaloes were held to just 12.5% from three. The hot shooting by ASU erased 17 turnovers and 15 offensive boards by Colorado as the rout was on nearly buzzer to buzzer.
The Sun Devils flipped a 20-point loss at BYU into a 20-point in Tempe over Colorado. Hurley will hope to keep that momentum for the team’s biggest test yet at historic Allen Fieldhouse on Jan. 8 against No. 7 Kansas, a program that Hurley has had success against. ASU is 2-0 all-time against the blue blood, including a 95-85 upset win over the No. 2 Jayhawks in 2017.
“We’re very confident,” Freeman said of the upcoming trip. “As long as we come in and play our basketball, I feel like we’ve got a chance with anybody in the country.”
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