Having lost five of their last six games and hitting the road without their star center, one wouldn’t be amiss to write the Sun Devils (17-8, 8-6 Pac-12) off in Palo Alto. However, Arizona State stepped up the challenge against Stanford (10-14, 4-9) and pulled out a gutsy comeback win over the Cardinal by a final score of 69-65. To push them through to a much-needed victory, the Sun Devils scratched and clawed all 40 minutes and ultimately secured the road victory in a close contest.
“This was a must-win game,” DJ Horne said. “We knew Stanford was never gonna quit. We had to dig deep.”
As a team, dig deep; they did. But for Horne especially, his shovel dug through dirt the Sun Devils desperately needed to break through tonight.
DJ Horne is back to playing his best at the best time
Ever since ASU’s home loss to UCLA on January 19, DJ Horne has not been himself. Going scoreless against USC and playing just one minute in the second half against Washington, the leading scorer of last year’s team was struggling mightily, so much so that Bobby Hurley even questioned his effort and determination during the team’s four-game slide at the end of January. Against Oregon last weekend, Horne’s 18 points served as a reminder to Sun Devil fans that the dynamic scorer had found his touch again. Not only did he stay hot offensively on Thursday, but he came up with the biggest plays of the night, something Sun Devil fans hadn’t seen from him in a long time.
Horne’s scoring performance against the Cardinal speaks for itself in how important he was to the win, but his work all over the court when it was needed the most is what helped get the Sun Devils over the finish line. In the final minute of play, Horne made the three key plays on the floor. Trailing by one with less than two minutes to play, Horne sunk a deep three from the top of the key to give the Sun Devils just their third lead of the game.
On the defensive end, Horne’s six rebounds were second most on the team, a mark he hasn’t reached since November, in the absence of Warren Washington. The biggest one came in the dying seconds of the second half. With the Sun Devils up two, Stanford ended a chaotic possession on a miss, and Horne emerged from a trio of white shirts with the ball before getting fouled with just eight seconds on the clock. He would then sink both free throws, pushing the Sun Devil lead to two possessions with not enough time left for Stanford to counter. Horne’s clutch play was critical to the needed win, especially without Warren Washington and a slow shooting night for Desmond Cambridge.
“Next man up mentality,” Horne said. “Everybody showed that tonight.”
ASU can’t afford to stumble at the beginning of the second half
What the Sun Devils didn’t show in their gutsy win was the ability to start the second half. For nearly a month now, Arizona State has put itself behind in games in the opening minutes of the second half, and Thursday was no exception. Within four minutes of a 33-33 halftime tie, Stanford had jumped out to a 15-2 run, opening up a wide 48-35 advantage over Arizona State. While some big-time shot-making would help them overcome this plague tonight, the Sun Devils can’t continue to tread these dangerous waters.
Starting with the UCLA game, Arizona State has been outscored in the first four minutes of the second half 56-31. The Sun Devils have been unable to perform at this juncture for seven games now, five of which have ended in losses. As fatigue starts to wear in towards the end of the regular season, the Sun Devils can ill afford to keep putting themselves in these situations, as Thursday served as a mere exception to what has been their Achilles heel over the last few weeks.
The need for Warren Washington’s defensive presence was emphasized
Another aspect of the game that has left the Sun Devils with more questions than answers is their defense. One of the keystones to their then 15-3 start, Arizona State hasn’t been the same ball-stopping team over the past few weeks. In that stellar beginning of the year, ASU allowed opponents to reach 70 points or more only three times. Since then, it’s happened four times in seven games. While Stanford was halted at 65 on Thursday, their way of offense exposed ASU defensively without their man down low.
Warren Washington was a big part of that break, as the Nevada transfer fit in seamlessly to lead the team in rebounds per game (7) and blocks per game (1.9). With Washington out with COVID-19 against Stanford, the Sun Devils were forced to collapse on cuts to the basket much more often than usual, leaving Stanford shooters open on the wing. Spencer Jones, in particular, made ASU feel the pain with five triples on the day. Luckily for Bobby Hurley and company, the Cardinal shot just 12-for-29 from deep collectively, leaving plenty of points on the board for Stanford. Even in defeat, they shot above 40 percent, the third time this season an ASU opponent has shot at that clip against the Sun Devils and lost.
Washington’s presence on the glass was also sorely missed, as Stanford outrebounded Arizona State 44-39 and 17-14 on the offensive boards. The Sun Devils amassed just 24 points in the paint and shot 33 three-pointers, well above their season average of 23. While they made just enough to get it done offensively, and Devan Cambridge’s double-double effort helped pick up the slack on defense, Washington’s big shoes were also very fortunately filled off the bench.
Duke Brennan earned himself a bigger role
With the absence of Warren Washington, a three-man rotation of Duke Brennan, Enoch Boakye, and Alonzo Gaffney were deployed to help make up for it. While Boakye and Gaffney were relatively quiet, the play of Brennan made an impact. While much of it won’t show up in the box score, without Duke Brennan, the Sun Devils would’ve fought an uphill battle defensively. In his 18 minutes, the freshman accounted for plenty of problems down low for Stanford on both ends of the court, fighting for rebounds and loose balls with no regard. Box outs and hard-nosed defense from Brennan helped limit the production of Stanford’s third-leading scorer Harrison Ingram. The Cardinal center shot just 4-12 from the field, with Brennan acting as his primary defender when on the floor, swatting away two of his shots in the process. In addition, Brennan was able to set himself up to take multiple charges from Stanford drives, stealing critical possessions away.
His overall work did translate into the plus/minus category, where the Sun Devils held a +19 advantage with Brennan on the floor Thursday night. With the way he played in the stead of Warren Washington and considering his efforts all season, Brennan has proven himself capable of handling big minutes in big games, something the Sun Devils will have plenty of in the coming weeks.
The team knows how important these next games are for their tournament hopes
In just over three weeks, Arizona State went from a surefire NCAA Tournament team to a group hanging in the conversation by a thread. Their resumé on its face isn’t eye-popping, as wins against surging teams in Creighton and Michigan are being negated by losses to the Washington schools and dropped home games against USC and Oregon. Their advanced analytics numbers also aren’t putting them over the top, and much of the college basketball world has responded by omitting Arizona State from nearly all major bracketology indexes.
Entering tonight’s game against Stanford, the Sun Devils had seven more chances in the regular season to change people’s opinions about them. Bobby Hurley acknowledged this when speaking to the media on Tuesday.
“We’re running out of opportunities,” he said.
While the portions are thinning, ASU still ate up its chance against Stanford. Against a Quadrant 2 team, the Sun Devils stepped up in the game’s biggest moments, having come back from a double-digit deficit on the road to defeat a talented Stanford team that had won five of its last six games. In the game’s final four minutes, ASU did not allow a point on the road to a conference opponent in a close game. On their end, they poured in eight unanswered points to finish the game, preceded by the resilience and dogged determination that resembled the team that started the season so well.
With their tournament hopes hanging in the balance with almost every game they play from here on out, each man in the locker room understands what needs to be done for them to keep their season going past Las Vegas. The first test has been passed, but time will tell if ASU can sustain the level of play they need to reach the NCAA Tournament.
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