During the process of winning state championships in his time at local Shadow Mountain High, Jaelen House began to find enjoyment doing what few people enjoyed. The son of Arizona State legend Eddie House, who left Tempe in 2000 holding school records for his scoring pedigree, told reporters it was his time in high school that opened his desire for playing defense.
“I don’t like when people score on me,” House said simply of the impetus for his original defensive effort. Starting at the high school level, House’s defensive intensity helped him rack up high steal numbers en route to four-straight state championships. “Not a lot of people like to play defense. So, I go out there and try to do something nobody else likes to do. I feel like I’m one of the best defenders in our conference.”
Since beginning his Sun Devil career, House has played a sparkplug role for the Sun Devils, often inserted when head coach Bobby Hurley wanted to unleash some of Arizona State’s full-court press or take advantage of lazy ballhandlers. Defense – and energy – has been House’s ticket for playing time during the first year-and-a-half in Tempe, and he got another chance Thursday night.
After discussing potential lineup changes during his Wednesday meeting with the media, Hurley opted for length and defensive versatility with his starting lineup, inserting senior forward Kimani Lawrence in place of senior guard Alonzo Verge. The changes gave ASU its seventh different starting lineup of the season. When Arizona State’s first substitutions were made at the guard position, Hurley elected to insert House and Holland Woods ahead of Verge, the reigning Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year.
“I thought Jaelen House was most likely the difference-maker,” Hurley said following the Sun Devils’ 72-68 win over California, which snapped a six-game losing streak. “On defense, he was flying around.”
Hurley described House’s energy as “contagious,” noting that the sophomore guard – who had played 12.8 minutes per game entering the contest – is the same way each day in practice.
“He hasn’t always had the opportunities. That’s one of the more crowded positions on our team,” Hurley said. “That’s the thing about life. If you’re presented an opportunity, you want to try to seize it and take advantage of it, and Jaelen showed signs of that how he was fighting and competing in our last Arizona game, and he did the exact same thing tonight and even did a better job.”
“I’ve just gotta be more aggressive,” said House of his play this season. “I was just out there at first, playing timid and not trying to come out of the game instead of playing my game. I feel like I’m getting back to myself right now.”
With defense as his calling card, House put the finishing touches on California Thursday night on the offensive end. The reserve guard dribbled in circles around Golden Bear defenders with less than a minute remaining before weaving his way through traffic to finish a layup with 36 seconds left, which gave ASU a 71-64 lead, which would stand for the second conference victory of the Sun Devil season.
“The positive play that he had has to be rewarded,” said Hurley of House, who recorded a season-high 23 minutes against California. The 160-pound jitterbug of a guard finished with six points, one rebound, one assist, and three steals – one more than the entire Golden Bear team combined. “Like everyone here, we’ve had guys sick, we’ve had guys injured, he’s missed some practice time. When he’s on the court in practice, he’s vocal, he’s energetic, he flies around, and he plays hard.
“We just need more life infused into what we’re doing, and I think he did that tonight.”
Offensively, the Sun Devils were able to get an efficient scoring performance, despite struggling shooting from deep. Senior guard Remy Martin scored a team-high 19 points, using his ingenuity and experience to draw 11 free throws, including a few late to seal things for the Sun Devils.
The same length and defensive versatility entered into Hurley’s starting lineup translated to the offensive end as well. With Lawrence (nine points, 4-4 shooting) and sophomore forward Jalen Graham (12 points, 6-8 shooting) providing an interior presence, Arizona State shot 50 percent from the floor despite a 3-14 showing from beyond the arc.
“I’m looking to be a little more balanced,” explained Hurley following a night which saw ASU feed the post more frequently than usual. “We’re certainly heavy outside-in getting to the basket, and [Graham] had a couple of hoops in the first half. Hopefully, we can be able to build on that to get more of a post presence that we can throw the ball to on offense and trust that.”
Following his first collegiate game without scoring 10 or more points, freshman guard Josh Christopher made his impact against the Golden Bears. Christopher opened out of the halftime break with two of his three made 3-pointers on the night. The only Sun Devil to make a 3-pointer, Christopher’s deep success came in different fashions; the first via a catch-and-shoot look, the second a pull-up 3, and his final triple of the night falling despite contact in his landing zone.
For the most part, Arizona State struggled Thursday night with the same things the Sun Devils have struggled with all season long. Outrebounded in 11 consecutive games entering the matchup, ASU allowed the Golden Bears to grab 12 of their 24 first-half misses. In the second half, Cal was limited to just three offensive rebounds after entering the contest ranked 323rd in the nation in offensive rebounding rate.
The Sun Devils opened with better focus in the first half, opening up an early 17-5 advantage with strong shot selection and timely defense. The energy and effort helped solve the rebounding issues, something Hurley credited House for increasing amongst his teammates in the second half.
With the win, ASU found itself victorious for the first time in the calendar year. Still, a cautiously optimistic Hurley remained ahead of Saturday’s matchup with a depleted Stanford crew.
“It worked out well,” Hurley said of the lineup tinkering. “Hopefully, there’s some carryover with it.”
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