Four takeaways from Arizona State’s home-opening blowout victory

During Arizona State’s 90-49 route of Central Connecticut State the Sun Devils started to show flashes of what kind of team they can be moving forward.

ASU forced a total of 23 turnovers as the Sun Devils were able to turn those into a total of 32 points. On the flip side, ASU turned the ball over 12 times on the game and did not give up a point off of them.

Arizona State also dominated the fast break as they outgained CCS 37-2 in the category and 42-22 in points in the paint.

Senior Rob Edwards continues to show his potential in the matchup as he led the team with 23 points and five three-pointers.

Romello White and Taeshon Cherry took the floor for the first time after being suspended for the team’s season opener and the team’s pair of dynamic freshmen in Jalen and Jaelen continued to impress.

Alonzo Verge struggled once again from the field but helped make plays and impact the game with his passing ability.

Here are four takeaways from ASU’s first victory on the season.

Edwards impresses (again)

After dealing with a sore back all of last season, Edwards finally seems capable of playing at full strength after a full off-season of recovery and getting stronger.

“I’m proud of him, I’m happy for him,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “He’s worked extremely hard in the off-season ─ working on getting his back right. He feels great, he’s moving great. He’s been terrific in our first two games. His threes in the first half I thought were very important for us to build the lead we built.”

Edwards was the main source of offense for Arizona State as he came up with several high impact threes whenever the Sun Devil offense began to falter.

After 20 points on 4/5 shooting from three-point range in the team’s opener against Colorado, it’s safe to assume that Edwards will continue to be a focal point moving forward for an Arizona State team that is highly capable of shooting and converting a large number of threes this season.

“Possibly the best three-point shooting team that I’ve coached. Just hasn’t really developed yet to that point. Hopefully, we will get more time in practice over the next 10 days.”

Watch out for Jaelen and Jalen

After both having impressive debuts, the pair of freshmen in Jalen Graham and Jaelen House have continued their hot start in the victory over CCS.

Graham had five blocks against Colorado in the season opener alongside six points while House had 7 points but had a much larger overall impact on the game including three key steals.

Against the Blue Devils, Graham had a stat line of 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, to go along with three steals. House, on the other hand, had 14 points, 5 assists, and a team-high four steals.

“His on the ball defense, his instincts on defense,” Hurley stated.

“It’s a big reason why we look at the stat sheet and see 14 steals. That’s a lot for a team and it’s Jaelen’s impact in on the ball defense and his instincts off the ball.”

With the addition of Romello White and Taeshon Cherry back in the mix it will be hard to say where Graham’s minutes may go to but for now, he has proven himself a worthy option in the starting lineup moving forward.

Romello and Taeshon surprise in first action this season

After sitting out the first game of the season for what was described as a minor team rules violation, both Romello White and Taeshon Cherry made their season debuts for ASU.

White played a total of 13 minutes in his first action as he converted his lone shot for two points while picking up 11 rebounds.

The forward made a huge impact on the defensive side of the ball picking up three blocks including two on back-to-back Central Connecticut possessions.

While White did play relatively well, his rustiness showed in the eyes of Hurley.

“He’s a guy like when the ball was thrown back to him going down the center of the lane, if this was three weeks ago, he would’ve torn the rim down,” Hurley admitted. “That’s what happens when you miss 10 days of practice and go out there and play.”

Cherry, on the other hand, played a total of eight minutes as he picked up four points while missing his two three-point attempts.

While neither player's stats jump off the stat sheet, their production after missing a large amount of practice time was a surprise for Hurley.

“Those repetitions are very valuable, and they didn’t get them,” Hurley stated. “Anything positive those guys did today, to me was a bit of a surprise. Just because we’ve had no time to work with them on the court.”

Verge still figuring things out

While being highly touted by head coach Bobby Hurley in his efforts in practice, transfer Alonzo Verge has yet to find his shooting stroke with Arizona State.

In his first game as a Sun Devil, Verge shot a mere 2 of 11 from the field including 0 for 4 from three in a four-point outing against Colorado.

Against Central Connecticut, it was much of the same from the field as the junior finished 3 of 10 from the field and 0 for 3 from three-point land.

While Verge has struggled to get a hold on his shot, his efforts against the Blue Devils showed a well-versed game in many different aspects.

Verge finished with 10 points with four coming from the free-throw line, and a team-high that tied only House with 5 assists.

His passing ability alongside his well-known ability to shoot and knock the three-ball should be beneficial for the Sun Devils moving forward.

For now, ASU’s attention turns to Ryder on Sunday after the team’s 41 point blowout over Central Connecticut.