There were points this past year where it looked like Arizona State guard Torian Graham would be a failed experiment in Bobby Hurley’s first season as the head coach.
After sparking the Sun Devils (2-0) for the second game in a row in the second half of a 96-74 win over Cal Poly on Sunday, it’s quite clear that assessment was premature.
Graham, who has served as the team’s sixth man through the first two games of the season, went 7-for-12 from the floor for 18 points, adding seven defensive rebounds and energy on the defensive end of the floor as the Sun Devils handled the pesky Mustangs in the second half. He was effective against Portland State on Friday night as well, totaling 23 points on 9-for-11 shooting in 28 minutes.
“Torian was every bit as good as he was the first game and doing the same things he’s been doing for months,” Hurley said. “He provides the spark on offense. He’s a pure, pure scorer and not only as a shooter. He gets to the rim. On defense, he’s gives us a strong wing defender, and he gets some deflections and made a couple really good defensive plays.”
As a 6-foot-5 guard with the natural ability to score and the defensive flexibility to guard multiple positions, Graham seems like a natural fit to spark ASU off Hurley’s bench. He did so for the second consecutive game on Sunday, charging the energy of the 4,155 fans inside of Wells Fargo Arena with one simple play.
With Cal Poly leading 51-48 with 15:30 left in the game, Graham got the ball at the top of the key. He would dump the ball into the post for senior forward Obinna Oleka, who found the cutting Graham in the lane for a vicious dunk to cut the lead to one.
From that point on, the Sun Devils outscored Cal Poly 46-23.
Graham’s biggest contributions have been on that end of the floor, as he showed Sunday he could score from the perimeter, driving the lane, cutting, and from the mid-range. It’s the offensive versatility Graham brings that stands out most to his coach.
“When you’re making shots as easily as he makes them from 3[-pointers], guys are running at him now even harder and he’s got the shot fake and the quick drive and he’s got the floater and you can see, he plays above the rim,” Hurley said. “The other thing, I mean, is his step back is so nice. That step back jumper he has, because of his length and how high he gets off the floor, I mean, it’s hard to defend that.”
Though it would be wise not to jump to conclusions after two games against below-average opponents, Graham’s emergence could play a role in how Hurley adapts his rotation going forward. Much of ASU’s late run was sparked by a four-guard lineup, something Hurley said he hasn’t employed before as a head coach. Hurley said the talent he has along the perimeter with guys such as Graham and guards Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II makes it an easy decision, though he added that he’d like to transition to more traditional lineups with the expected improvement of some of ASU’s young bigs.
“As these guys develop – as Ramon [Vila] develops, as Jethro [Tshisumpa] develops – we can get more conventional and we will play a more conventional lineup,” Hurley said. “I want to get Obi [Oleka] some looks at the four and I want to get Sam [Cunliffe] reps on the perimeter.”
It seems that Graham’s game is well-suited for coming off the bench, something he had not done before this season. However, continued consistent production could force him into the starting lineup. Graham was among the starting five for the second half, starting in the place of junior Kodi Justice.
Justice, who worked primarily as a sixth man last year, finished Sunday with five points on 2-for-5 shooting after having five points on 2-for-6 shooting against Portland State.
Freshman Sam Cunliffe, who entered the season with a 4-star rating from Rivals and plenty of expectations, has started at the four through two games but struggled with foul trouble and tentativeness to total eight points on 3-for-9 shooting so far. Hurley attributed Cunliffe’s struggles to his transition to the college game and a new position.
The rotations Hurley uses will figure prominently in the next week as the 2-0 Sun Devils’ schedule suddenly toughens, starting with Thursday’s game against Northern Iowa in Tire Pros Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
Regardless of where Graham figures into the rotation, one thing is clear – Graham won’t be Arizona State’s dirty little secret for long.
“I noticed that [Cal Poly] was aware of where he was,” Hurley said. “He wasn’t getting that many clean, open looks, and I would expect that to continue.”
