Halfway through the second half of Wednesday night’s Legends Classic semifinal in Brooklyn, New York, Arizona State looked like it would sleepwalk to another disappointing non-conference loss as it trailed VCU by eight points. The Sun Devils flipped the switch in a resounding way down the stretch, coming back in the final minutes to beat the Rams and advance to the tournament championship against No. 20 Michigan.
Ultimately, ASU never came close to flipping that switch back. An offensive onslaught featuring a balanced scoring attack led Arizona State to a dominant wire-to-wire 87-62 victory on Thursday night to take home the tournament championship. In a game in which it was a 7.5-point underdog, the Sun Devils looked anything but an inferior foe.
The Sun Devils shot a torrid 60 percent from the field and 57.9 percent from beyond the arc. It was the largest margin of victory in program history over a ranked opponent. The signature win is the third non-conference tournament title under Bobby Hurley, along with the 2017 Continental Tire Invitational and the 2018 MGM Resorts Main Event. This one, though, may have been the most impressive of them all. Here are five takeaways from the shocking blowout win.
Bobby Hurley isn’t afraid to play his freshmen, and they aren’t afraid of the moment.
Hurley won’t hesitate to throw anyone into the fire, no matter the age. Austin Nunez and Duke Brennan have been key contributors through the first five games of the season. Nunez was more of a focal point tonight with the flow of the game and the perimeter nature of play, and he took advantage of it. Nunez built off the confidence he gained on Wednesday night and parlayed it into a beautiful offensive performance, scoring 15 points off the bench on an incredibly efficient 6-10 from the field. He buried three of his five three-point attempts. Nunez was +22 when he was on the floor tonight. Second on the team only to Desmond Cambridge’s +24. Nunez's 15 are a career-high, the third consecutive game and second straight day he's notched a career-high in scoring. He was also named to the All-Tournament Team.
Brennan added four points on 2-2 shooting. He logged important minutes in both games of this tournament and figures to be a key rotational big man for Hurley this season. Despite the notable veteran and experienced ASU roster, Nunez and Brennan have shown they are here to contribute now. On Thursday night, Brennan logged 16 minutes, Nunez 22.
Desmond Cambridge can be the offensive MVP of this team
For better or for worse, there has never been a shot that Desmond Cambridge didn’t like taking. On this night, it was decidedly for the better. He led all scorers tonight with 20 points on 6-12 shooting and 4-8 from behind the three-point line. He was everywhere for ASU on both sides of the ball. His unshaken confidence is key as a somewhat streaky shooter, and poor stretches often caused him to elongate shooting slumps during his time at Nevada. Arizona State will need him to feel good about his stroke in order to routinely squeeze out this kind of offensive production. The team thrived with Cambridge on the floor; he finished the game with a +24 differential.
His free throw shooting is also a key, as his offensive prowess naturally drew the undivided attention of the Michigan players attempting to contain him. On a night when everything was going right for him, he sank all four of his attempts from the charity stripe. His efforts in both games of the tournament earned him the MVP award.
Arizona State’s three-point success depends on the right cast
Last season, Luther Muhammad and Alonzo Gaffney accounted for far too many of ASU’s long distance shot attempts. Tonight, the Sun Devils were an impressive and better yet effective 11-19 from deep, largely because the right guys were the ones launching the roundball. Desmond Cambridge buried four triples, and DJ Horne and Austin Nunez each added three of their own. Devan Cambridge knocked down his only attempt from deep. Normally, with 11 made threes, you’d expect a total of attempts to be nearing 30. ASU’s proficiency from beyond the arc on Thursday night demonstrated that they’re not dependent on the triple but can be devastating on the offensive end of the court when their sharpshooters are on point.
In 22 minutes, Luther Muhammad was incredibly valuable off the bench, and he didn’t even attempt a single three-point shot. He was 4-5 from the floor and was a perfect 5-5 from the line. His defensive intensity was palpable, allowing his offensive game to flow freely and complement those around him. Hurley doesn’t need Muhammad to hoist threes this season, and Thursday’s win proved as much.
Warren Washington is the productive two-way frontcourt player ASU has yearned for
While most of the attention will rightfully go to the offensive performance, Arizona State’s defense was also stellar on Thursday night. Especially in the paint. Michigan was held to just 28 first-half points, and only late down the stretch, when the game was already well out of reach, did a few quick buckets allow them to reach a more respectable total of 62. In its previous three games this young season, Michigan put up 75, 83, and 91 points.
The Wolverines lacked offensive rhythm and couldn’t get anything going inside with their 7’2” All-American center Hunter Dickinson who was guarded most of the night by Warren Washington. The ASU forward and Nevada transfer picked up two blocks and held Dickinson to 14 points on just six made field goals. Prior to the game, Dickinson boldly stated that Michigan would beat Arizona State by 20. Washington made sure that wasn’t the case for one of the best big men in the nation. Washington isn’t just a rim protector, adding four points and a game-high eight rebounds. After foul trouble defined his night in the win over VCU, Washington was a key cog in the wheel of Arizona State’s biggest victory in years.
A confident DJ Horne significantly raises the ceiling for ASU.
DJ Horne took a pass from Warren Washington following an offensive rebound and didn’t hesitate to pull a slightly contested wing three. He knocked it down as he backpedaled down the court and jumped in place before getting into his defensive stance. Horne, like a number of his teammates on Thursday night, was feeling himself. His 19 points were just one behind Desmond Cambridge’s team lead and were reminiscent of several of his performances last year, a campaign where he ultimately was ASU’s leading scorer. He nailed the three-pointers and was overall 8-14 from the field. Just for good measure, Horne added four rebounds and two assists to round out a gorgeous stat line. His play tonight and on Wednesday earned him All-Tournament Team honors.
His confidence can take ASU’s offensive game to great heights come conference play. He was part of a balanced attack as well, as ASU had four scorers in double figures, and nine players saw their names in the scoring column; Seven Sun Devils scored in the first 9:33 of the contest. The Sun Devils got 33 of their 87 points off the bench, winning that category 33-22 against the Wolverines. It was a season-high in bench points for the Sun Devils. Much has been said about the Sun Devils’ offensive firepower this season, and a dominating win over their most talented opponent to date proved that theory in spades.
"I told the guys that there's nothing better than playing great basketball in this city," Hurley said. "It is really appreciated here. It was on full display on our end tonight. The way the guys played, making shots, making plays, guarding with energy, in a place like New York where basketball is so special, I think the fans and people that watched this tonight really appreciated our performance. I told the guys, 'I won a lot of games in New Jersey, but I never won anything big in New York.'
The somber flight from Houston to New York following an upset overtime loss To Texas Southern now yields way to a cross-country travel from New York back to Phoenix that will naturally have a dramatically different sentiment than just a few days ago.
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