The offensive struggles for head coach Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State men’s basketball team have been well documented. Entering his ninth season as head coach, nearly every Hurley team has struggled with three-point shooting and consistent half-court offense. But, one thing that Hurley’s teams have also been known for in recent years is their effort on the defensive side of the ball.

Even when the offense has been at its worst, ASU has usually been able to generate offense by generating turnovers and getting out in transition. In the first half of a 78-61 over Sam Houston State, the Sun Devils showed off their defensive effort, forcing nine turnovers and scoring 12 points off of those turnovers.

“We really competed defensively,” Hurley said of the win. “It was our best half in the first half of getting deflections, and it got us in a position where we got stops. I thought we might be able to run on Sam Houston in transition. They played very hard. We thought that might have been something that we could exploit, and fortunately, we had the stops that we were able to get some baskets of transition. It was fun to watch the guys play that way tonight.”

When ASU wasn’t scoring in transition, the other way they were able to create consistent offense was through graduate guard Jose Perez. Given the way ASU has started the year offensively, the West Virginia transfer’s late arrival to Tempe has been a lifesaver for the Sun Devils.

Perez exploded in the first half for 16 points on six-of-nine shooting while hitting three of his four free throws. The Bronx native has become one of the Sun Devils’ most consistent offensive contributors through his ability to get downhill and either finish through tough contact or get to the charity stripe, averaging 5.2 FTA per game.

“Me adjusting to them, and them adjusting to me,” Perez answered when asked what’s been better over the last couple of games. “I’m playing with some talented guards. I just feel like they trust me enough. I came in two weeks, and they just trust me to make the right play.”

Hurley said after the game that he originally planned to run a lot of the offense through sophomore center Shawn Phillips, but with Phillips not likely to return until Pac-12 conference play began, Hurley has transitioned to Perez as his main offensive engine.

“It’s important to have balance in your offense and the ability when things are going a little sideways that you could get a high percentile, and we were able to do that,” Hurley said about Perez. “I think right off the timeout when it was 29 -19, go to Jose, and he got us a basket to immediately get the lead and get us going again.

“And Shawn Phillips was a guy that I thought, based on the full summer, we’d be able to throw it inside to him, play through him some inside out. But Jose has kind of taken more of that role to do that. And he can create, he’s very creative, crafty around the basket, and he can pass.”

Perez finished the game with a season-high 24 points, the most for any Sun Devil this season, and he also added eight rebounds, tied for the team lead with junior guard/forward Jamiya Neal. The increase in rebounding has been a theme for the team, as, without the seven-footer, Phillips’ size has become an issue. Hurley even joked after the game that Sam Houston looked like the Power-5 team size-wise and not ASU.

In order to make up for the deficit, it seems like the guards have taken it upon themselves to grab more rebounds. It has already become a competition between them.

“When (Neal) started getting rebounds, I was like, I gotta go get some rebounds too,” Perez said with a smile.

Perez and Neal were unable to settle their competition in this one, with them both tied for the team lead, but they better watch out behind them because junior guard Frankie Collins finished right behind them with seven boards of his own.

Each of the guards finished with double digits. A strong 12-point second half from Neal, including draining four consecutive shots, wiped out an ugly 1-7 start, and Neal finished with 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Collins finished the game with 12 points of his own alongside team highs in assists (7) and steals (3). Finally, senior forward Alonzo Gaffney also finished in double digits with 12 points, six rebounds, three blocks, and two assists.

It is the quartet’s second consecutive game, with all four of them scoring in the double digits, and it could be the beginning of a strong offensive core, but that was not what pleased Hurley the most after Wednesday’s win. ASU maintained at least a 10-point lead from 8:03 remaining in the first half onwards, so it allowed Hurley to get a look at the freshmen.

“I think the key thing for guys like [freshman guard] Braelon Green and [freshman forward] Akil Watson is the guys that need to perform the way they did the last two games,” Hurley noted. “Like, the starters played well. The guys that are our top core really have played better, and then that takes the pressure off guys like that, so we’re not throwing them into the fire in a bad situation.”

Green and Watson have been pushed into rotational minutes with the injury to Phillips and senior forward Zane Meeks, and they are awaiting waiver approval for Adam Miller. The young guys have impressed. While Wednesday’s box score won’t show a whole lot – Green and Watson finished with two and five points, respectively– Hurley was in love with the young guys’ effort.

“I think some of the things that stood out for me in the game was, again, our bench taking a step with (Green’s) defensive activity,” Hurley remarked. “Then Akeel just laying out on the floor for loose balls is probably the best thing we did all night.”

Although it has just been two games, the Sun Devils’ performances against Vanderbilt and a strong Sam Houston team have shown that ASU can play like a good basketball team. Perez described the embarrassing 77-49 loss to BYU as a ‘punch to the mouth, and it is clear that that loss has forced ASU to begin punching back.

“It’s showing me that we have, you know, will and determination,” Hurley said when asked what his team’s offensive performance over the last two games has shown him. “We can’t just go get the ball off the basket; we got to have guys fighting for it, and there were a lot of 50-50s that we came up with the basketball.”

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