After being benched, Lawrence decided to change and stop caring about shots

Kimani Lawrence’s journey began on his walk home. He quickly snuck out of the locker room, scooted down the tunnel in street clothes with his head low. Former Sun Devil Eddie House found him on the court. He knew Lawrence’s despair, his angst.

“He just told me, ‘Don’t let that take the love out of the game. If you really love basketball, you’ll figure a way out,’” Lawrence recalled.

Lawrence thought long and hard about what House said. As he sat on the former NBA guard’s words, his self-pity and anger faded. He was able to look at his situation through a rational lens -- no more emotion.

The blame, he realized, fell on himself.

“I had to look in the mirror and be a man and figure it out,” Lawrence said. “I felt like it would be easy to be like, ‘I don’t like Hurley, he’s not playing me.’”

And there lies Lawrence’s adversity -- his hurdle. Coach Bobby Hurley kept him at the end of the bench for the entirety of ASU’s game versus Creighton. And it’s not like the Sun Devils couldn’t have used him -- they lost by seven. But, then again, maybe that’s why he didn’t check-in.

To that point, Lawrence was less than productive. He had scored more than 10 points just twice during the season. He contributed with a few rebounds a game and a steal here and there, but he was by no means a Renaissance Man on the basketball court.

Not to say many were expecting Lawrence to average 20 and 10 every night, but he’s a junior. He holds the experience of two NCAA Tournament trips in his back pocket; and all the dominant forces on those teams have ventured away from Tempe. He had the platform to step up and excel.

Through two months, his ascension was teetering on regression. Hurley felt the need to keep him off the court -- and, well, send a message.

“I have to start tuning into a group and try to get rhythm into the rotation. Just shuttling guys in and out -- like 10, 11 guys -- is not the answer long term,” Hurley said following the Creighton game. “I needed to figure out who I can count on in a game and tonight was the group I went with.”

Was that a jab at his underperforming junior? Perhaps. But even if it wasn’t, most players on the receiving end of subliminal coachspeak would have taken it as such as if the situation warranted a ‘Coach-screwed-me-over’ comment.

Lawrence took it as a signal to change -- not his routine but rather how he played and practiced. Whatever he was doing, it wasn’t working. It put him on the bench after all. There was no reason to complain to coaches or teammates. He could fix his struggles.

“Just playing hard. Not caring if the shot is going in or not,” Lawrence said when asked he changed. “Run the floor hard, get a couple of blocks, offensive rebounds, all that. That offensive game will come.”

At least conventional basketball wisdom would suggest as much. But over the last month, the Sun Devils have encountered a shooting lull that has stuck around far longer than most people’s New Year’s resolutions.

They can’t shake it. And because they can’t shake it, they continue to think about why they can’t shake it. Then they think some more. So on and so on. For a while, that was Lawrence. He was so concerned with his offensive slump, contributing to the little things was so far removed from his psyche.

House’s chat fixed that. In the end, it was all about making basketball fun -- and he’s been able to garner the joy through everything but offense.

“It’s fun playing defense, getting a stop, getting a block,” Lawrence said. “You can get hyped up off that. It’s not just about shots. The shots are going to fall, I'm not worried about that.”

Added assistant coach Rashon Burno: “I think he took some pressure off himself by focusing on things he can control … Focus on what you can control. And what is that? Playing hard; playing smart; and just competing at a high level. Live with the results.”

In the Sun Devils 28-point loss to Arizona, most of those in maroon and gold fell silent. The shooting woes trudged on. Senior Rob Edwards and Remy Martin both had trouble connecting. And so did Lawrence. But he added five rebounds and four first-half blocks -- he was everywhere.

After the game, Hurley said Lawrence’s performance was one of the few bright spots from the Devils’ dreary Pac-12 opener.

“A lot of guys that have had an established role for a period of time and then they weren’t playing in a game, they could have just went in the tank,” Hurley said. “But he didn’t. It shows a lot about his character for him to again reassert himself so we have confidence to want him to be out on the floor.”

Lawrence has been solid since his one-game hiatus. He hasn’t been Superman -- and that’s OK. Instead, he’s transformed into the perfect role model to embody the 95 percent message the ASU coaches are trying to drill into their team -- a reminder to be active and contribute the 95 percent of the time you don’t have the ball on the court.

He bought in. Hurley and Burno hope that translates to the entirety of their locker room. Now, that’s a tall task. Lawrence paused for a second, pondering how he’ll try and get his teammates to follow his lead -- to worry about the team over their offensive struggles.

“When we don’t buy-in, we get losses like Saint Mary’s (a 40-point defeat in December) and U of A,” Lawrence said. “I hope that’s enough motivation right there.”

ASU’s resurgence or stagnation hinges greatly on if that motivation takes hold of the majority of the Sun Devils’ roster. If they follow suit of Lawrence’s emphasis on playing team basketball, ASU may be able to make the most of its conference slate.

For now, though, Lawrence is pleased he took charge of his future rather than dwelling on one benching.

“You just have to get yourself out of the hole. It feels good once you’re out of the hole, but it was definitely hard,” he said. “I had a lot of expectations for myself. But, I look at it like I’d rather it happen early in the season than later in the season when it really, really matters.”

“I’m glad I went through that. It showed me how to play the game the right way, approach it the right way and just learn from it.”