TEMPE — With a minute left in a tightly contested contest, Arizona State freshman center Massamba Diop threw down a thunderous dunk to give the Sun Devils a 79-75 lead. Then, on the other end, graduate forward Allen Mukeba swatted a shot home to raise the Tempe crowd to its feet, as ASU seemed primed to finish its resurgent second half with a smooth finish.
Then, things went awry. Kansas State kept fouling to preserve the clock and give itself a shot. Meanwhile, the Sun Devils went four-for-eight down the stretch, and their once nine-point lead was cut down to four. With five seconds to go, Wildcats junior guard PJ Haggerty silenced the crowd with a 34-foot snipe, cutting the deficit to one.
Yet, when clutch free throws were needed, ASU senior guard Moe Odum stepped up and delivered, knocking down both free throws before helping make the final defensive stand. It allowed the Sun Devils to earn their first victory in nearly a month.
Arizona State Sun Devils defeated the Kansas State Wildcats in a classic back-and-forth affair, 87-84, at Desert Financial Arena Saturday night. For the Sun Devils, physicality and grit were shown, although there was much that still needs to be improved.
“It was not the cleanest game in the world,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “But just with everything that the guys have been through the last couple of weeks, this was a much-needed outcome for the morale of the group to see us win a game.”
Rebounding remained a key emphasis for not just coach Bobby Hurley, but also for the Sun Devils players. After their loss against Colorado on Jan. 3, Hurley highlighted the need for someone to step up and rebound, and multiple guys stepped up, but none bigger than sophomore forward Santiago Trouet.
Trouet led the Sun Devils with 10 rebounds, seven of them coming on the offensive glass. Second-chance points opportunities are something ASU has been missing, along with the effort and grit to do the dirty work on the offensive glass.
“I thought Santi was a big part of our turnaround,” Hurley said. “In the second half, he had some really blue-collar plays like getting offensive rebounds and diving to the ball.”
Trouet wasn’t the only one who stepped up on the boards, as the Sun Devils garnered 18 offensive rebounds and out-rebounded Kansas State 48-to-34.
The Sun Devils generated 24 second-chance points, 13 points off turnovers and 14 fastbreak points.
For the Maroon and Gold, they ran a seven-man rotation following the absences of junior guard Bryce Ford and sophomore forward Marcus Adams Jr. The game plan for the Hurley-led squad was simple: dominate inside on both ends of the floor and be physical.
Effort and physical play showed up numerous times throughout Saturday afternoon’s contest. One of the first big effort plays was senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson had a chasedown block with seven minutes to play to keep the 20-18 lead.
The Sun Devils ended the contest with 10 total blocks, including five from Diop, two from Johnson and two from Mukeba.
Inside the paint, ASU had 50 points in the paint while holding Kansas State to 28 points in the paint.
The Sun Devils kept drawing fouls inside, leading to 32 chances from the free-throw line, which ended up being a key factor in the win.
“Aggression was definitely part of the game plan,” Odum said. “The Big 12 is super physical and teams are being super physical with us, and we have physical players, (so we) just have to make it a dog fight.”
It wasn’t all pretty for Sparky’s side as 3-point shooting and free throws continue to be key issues, especially late into games and in clutch scenarios.
Despite the struggles from the line in the clutch late-game situation, the Sun Devils had a relatively good night from the charity stripe, going 24-for-32 from the line, good for a 75% clip.
The 3-point shooting struggled in both aspects. Offensively, ASU went just 3-for-22 from downtown. The Sun Devils have not shot above 30% from three since their Dec. 12 win over Santa Clara, where they shot 48% from three.
On the flip side, Arizona State struggled guarding the perimeter, allowing the Wildcats to go 13-for-31 from three, good for a 42% from beyond the arc.
ASU will look to face its toughest test yet when it travels to Tucson for the Territorial Cup against in-state rival No. 1 Arizona on Wednesday, Jan. 14, at 8:30 p.m. MST.
“If you all hate Arizona as much as you all say you do, that is how we feel about them,” Odum said. “We feel like we can beat anybody we step on the floor with.”
Leave a Reply