While Arizona State was on COVID pause and junior forward Jalen Graham was dealing with a non-COVID illness, he and head coach Bobby Hurley met for a video call. In the last game action for Graham, the Mountain Pointe product had played a season-low nine minutes and contributed two points on 1 of 4 shooting as the Sun Devils lost 74-50 to Cal.
Along with the rest of the Sun Devils, Graham was in the midst of a disappointing year that did not match the expectations that he or his teammates set for the season. In response, Graham’s low-point resulted in a meeting of the minds.
“That kid means a lot to me,” Hurley told reporters after a floater from Graham in the game’s final seconds broke a tie and proved to be the game-winner Monday afternoon in Arizona State’s (6-9, 2-3 Pac-12) 64-62 win over Utah (8-10, 1-7 Pac-12). “He and I have built a good relationship this year. We sat down and talked about the whole season. We made a commitment to each other, and he’s more than honored it so far.”
On Friday, Hurley told reporters that Graham was questionable with the illness. By the end of the weekend’s homestand, the third-year Sun Devil had responded with a career-high 16 points in one contest and a game-winning bucket in another.
“We talked about how he still believed in me, still trusted me, and I told him that I had to play harder and get healthy,” Graham explained of the video call with the Sun Devil head coach. “We believed in each other. Frustrations, that happens. We just had to talk it out.
“He called me and eased my mind. I’ve been here for three years. He knows I’m a good player, and he believes in me. I’m going to get put on the floor, and I just need to produce. We talked about it, and that’s what I decided to do.”
Against Colorado on Saturday, Graham made all five of his free throw attempts. The performance was a shocking aberration for a big man who entered the game, shooting 8 of 25 from the charity stripe. Monday, Graham scored through contact for his first basket and made the free throw. Foul trouble sent him to the bench early and limited the ASU junior to just 14 minutes of action.
But those minutes were as effective as could be. Graham, who Hurley said has only been able to play basketball in four of the last 20 days, was active as a rebounder, tying his season-high in rebounds (set Saturday against Colorado) with five. In a constantly rotating ASU frontcourt that produced an 18-point, five-rebound performance from super senior forward Kimani Lawrence, Graham was efficient as well, converting on five of his eight attempts from the field.
“It’s not no one else’s fault but mine,” Graham said of his foul trouble. “I’ve just got to figure out how not to foul. It’s just hard. I want to compete, and when I’m healthy, I want to go. I just have to stay focused on defense and really lock in. It was frustrating, but it always is.”
Fouls took him off the floor for large portions of the first and second half, but Graham’s game-winner capped a stretch of effective offensive basketball for the Sun Devils. In the final two-and-a-half minutes, Arizona State made all four of its attempts from the floor.
“I was really pleased with our offense in the second half,” said Hurley after the final 20 minutes saw the ASU offense shoot 17 of 32 from the floor. “It was such a good feeling to look at the stat sheet after the game and see that.”
Graham closed in solid fashion, converting three of the four Sun Devil buckets in a variety of ways. His first score came off a fake dribble hand-off, which he utilized nicely to create a lane for an uncontested dunk that cut the ASU deficit to 58-57.
“I saw (Utah forward Dusan Mahorcic) trying to come and help off the guards. I thought they were more worried about the guard play,” Graham said. “I felt like he thought he was taking it to us a little bit and thought we were just going to go with guards. I had to get my revenge because he did it to me in the first half. He got me with the fake hand-off and got me my second foul. I had that in the back of my mind.”
The second Graham bucket came on a post-hook from the middle of the key. Graham rose up and scored over his left shoulder with a nice touch from his right hand. After Utah guard David Jenkins Jr. knotted the game at 62, Hurley called the second ASU timeout of the day and drew up another look for Graham’s hot hand.
“We saw in ball screens that they were really aggressively staying with the guard once we set it,” explained Hurley. “We wanted to get a little pocket pass to JG at the elbow.” And that’s how it unfolded. Graham caught a pass off the short roll from graduate student guard Marreon Jackson, rose up in the paint, and scored over Mahorcic to give ASU a 64-62 lead. Graham’s shot went through with 4.6 seconds remaining. “I maybe would’ve liked there to be a little less time on the clock as he made the shot,” Hurley said. ASU defended the Utah scramble, and Jay Heath blocked Jenkins Jr.’s final attempt to seal the victory, giving ASU its second win in conference play and sixth of the year.
Not only did Graham have three of ASU’s four final scores, but he also added an assist on the lone score that wasn’t a product of his offensive efforts. Sandwiched in between his first and second scores was a 3-pointer in transition from Jackson that knotted the game at 60. Jackson’s 10 points off the bench were a steadying force for ASU and more of what Hurley envisioned from his veteran point guard.
“I think he’s going to find himself, ” Hurley said, noting that Jackson shouldn’t expect to come off the bench frequently. “He just had a different way about him today. He was very determined and way more decisive. He got in the lane; he had a couple of nice finishes. He didn’t play perfect, but you could see signs this was the guy we watched through the summer and fall.”
Glimpses of that guy and glimpses of this team -- one that wins close games (five of the six wins this season are by single-digits) have come and gone, but consistency has been lacking. ASU will look for some of that next weekend when the Sun Devils travel to Stanford on Saturday and USC on Monday.
“I think you’re seeing a lot in the standings right now that there is a lot of congestion. A lot of 2-3 and 3-2, and this was a big game for us to really get our feet under us again and get a good feel heading onto the road. Now we have a chance to build off tonight.”
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