The first night of Arizona State men's basketball's time at the Vegas Showdown is one they will want to forget. However, instead of returning to Tempe winless, the ASU offense came alive to secure an 82-67 win over Vanderbilt.
Here are five takeaways from ASU's first win over a Power Six opponent this season.
Gaffney leads a first-half explosion
After a disastrous offensive performance against BYU to open the Vegas Showdown, Arizona State men's basketball came out with a vengeance in game two against Vanderbilt.
While last night's game was a rough performance on the whole, ASU's first half against BYU was one that they will want to forget fast. Scoring only 17 points and shooting 9.1% from three, it was the Sun Devils' worst half of the season. On Friday, ASU opened the game with arguably their best half of the season.
Shooting 53.3% from the field and 58.3% from three, the Sun Devils raced out to a 15-point 44-29 halftime lead, all because of an unlikely offensive explosion. Entering Friday's contest, graduate forward Alonzo Gaffney was really struggling, hitting just one of his 17 three-point shots through four games. In the first half against Vanderbilt, Gaffney exploded for 17 points, hitting all five of his three-point attempts.
In one half, Gaffney quintupled his total three-pointers made and set a career-high in points, breaking his previous mark of 15 against Portland in 2021. The Cleveland native was also able to make his mark defensively, recording three blocks in the first half.
Overall scoring improvement
After the explosive first half that gave ASU a 15-point lead after 20 minutes, the Sun Devils shifted to a consistent approach in the second half, settling down the offense and trading buckets with Vanderbilt.
Against BYU, ASU had three double-digit scorers. However, outside of those three, the Sun Devils combined for just 15. Against Vanderbilt, the offense was much more balanced, with four players scoring double-digit points, and every player that appeared for ASU scored at least once.
Gaffney cooled down after his explosive first half, but the other Sun Devils picked up the slack. Over the previous three games, junior guard/forward Jamiya Neal has been one of ASU's most consistent scorers, scoring double-digits in all three games despite their overall disappointing offensive performance. Against Vanderbilt, Neal delivered an easy season-high 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting from the field while also grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.
The two other Sun Devils in double digits were graduate guard Jose Perez and junior guard Frankie Collins, who accounted for 15 and 12 points, respectively. While Collins still handled the majority of the point guard duties, head coach Bobby Hurley got Perez more involved at the top of the key. The move took the pressure off of both of the guards and allowed each to be more comfortable in their game. Perez excelled in getting to the line, hitting seven of his eight free throws.
Collins got more aggressive down the stretch, charging the lane more and more as ASU crept into the bonus. He hit all four of his free throws and accounted for three rebounds and three assists.
Defense continues to be the Sun Devils' strength
Whenever the offense has not performed, the Sun Devils have been able to rely on their excellent defense. And as the offense finally got going, the defense still performed impressively.
Vanderbilt entered Friday's game without the team's leading scorer, graduate guard Ezra Manjon, who averaged 18.8 points per game. With Manjon sidelined for the second straight game, graduate guard Evan Taylor took advantage. The Lehigh transfer exploded for 25 points on 7-for-18 shooting, but Taylor was unable to facilitate, finishing the game with just one assist.
Outside of Taylor, the Sun Devils were able to limit the Commodores offensively, especially from behind the three-point arc. Vanderbilt shot 37.5% from the field and just 17.3% from three. Remove Taylor's three three-pointers, and Vanderbilt falls to just 2-for-21 from deep.
ASU's rebounds rebound
While ASU's overall performance was embarrassing against BYU, the Sun Devils' lack of rebounding stood out like a sore thumb. The loss of sophomore center Shaun Phillips to injury revealed a big weakness down low. The Cougars outrebounded ASU 51-32 and had 18 offensive rebounds to just eight for the Sun Devils. It was complete domination down low.
So, entering Friday's game against Vanderbilt, ASU had to not only improve their offensive performance but also figure out a solution for rebounding down low without Phillips. While they did not dominate the boards, ASU did outrebound Vanderbilt 37-35. Neal led the team with seven, but Perez and junior forward Bryant Selebangue both had six apiece. It was a team effort in order to make up for the Shaun Phillips-sized hole on the glass.
Hurley said that ASU would be without Phillips for the foreseeable future, and while Friday was the first step in figuring out life on the court without the seven-footer, the Sun Devils still have a long way to go to solve their rebounding.
Complementary basketball
The main takeaway from Friday's game is that when ASU plays complementary basketball, the results are exciting. This has been the theme for nearly every team at ASU under Bobby Hurley. When it all comes together, it looks like a dangerous team that can limit opponents offensively and exploit opponents with their length and athleticism.
It feels like the first time ASU has truly put everything together in a game this season. The Sun Devils' previous two wins were against non-Power-5 competition in Texas Southern and UMass Lowell, and even then, ASU still did not put it all together against the theoretically inferior competition.
Vanderbilt is ASU's first Power Six win of the season, and it shows what ASU can be at its best. The Sun Devils finished with a highly efficient 51.8% field goal percentage and an excellent 45.5% on 22 attempts from three-point range. And when combining an efficient offensive performance with ASU's typically solid defense, the Sun Devils can become a dangerous team to anyone. The key, as it is for every Bobby Hurley team, is to figure out how to make the offense repeat this performance every time out on the court.
