Lessons learned from Arizona State’s first two-game road trip in the Pac-12

After ASU went to Kansas and beat the then-No. 2 Jayhawks in December trips to unranked and unheralded Colorado and Utah appeared as given wins to some.

Not so.

The Sun Devils jumped out to an early lead against Colorado on Thursday, only to have the Buffaloes stage a second-half comeback behind an inspired crowd (and eventually court-storming) crowd. On Sunday, ASU again saw another early advantage dwindle against Utah before rallying in down the stretch to escape with an important 80-77 win.

The two-legged road trip through the mountain schools might prove to be the toughest ASU embarks upon this year. It forced the Sun Devils to play at a higher elevation against two solid teams in two different states.

Nevertheless, visits to Oregon, Washington, Washington State and Stanford still loom – venues ASU has a combined 3-5 record in during coach Bobby Hurley’s tenure

Winning in Allen Fieldhouse was supremely impressive, but doesn’t diminish the significance of this weekend’s lower-profile split. Just look around the country, wherein the last two days alone No. 1 Michigan State, No. 2 Duke, No. 5 Xavier, No. 14 Arizona and No. 22 Arkansas all lost to unranked teams on the road.

Had ASU’s overwhelming foul trouble led to a loss against the Utes and 0-3 conference start, optimism for the Sun Devils would be harder to conjure. But for now, the ASU did enough to likely keep itself in the top 10 in the country and in the thick of the Pac-12 race.

Not bad after a tricky trip.

· ASU struggles against the zone defense

At times during its record-setting non-conference campaign, ASU ran into zone defenses. Xavier, San Francisco, and Longwood all challenged the Sun Devils with the alternate defensive look. But on each occasion, Bobby Hurley’s guards caught fire and shot teams back into a man-on-man scheme.

Colorado, however, stuck with the zone throughout its upset of the Sun Devils on Thursday, as did Utah for most of Sunday’s game. To counter, Hurley used versatile forward Mickey Mitchell as a “zone breaker”, taking advantage of the Ohio State-transfer’s quality passing ability to generate open shots.

Only, ASU didn’t knock down as many looks (contested or not) this weekend as it did during November and December. Instead of explosive second-half scoring runs, the Sun Devils found themselves in dogfights both nights.

Part of the problem: Romello White has been sloppy. Instead of giving ASU a reliable scoring outlet down low, the freshman struggled with turnovers and foul trouble during the weekend swing through the Rocky Mountain states. After averaging over 13 ppg before the trip, White scored a combined 13 points in the last two games while getting whistled for 8 fouls.

Nonetheless, Hurley admitted after Thursday’s loss in Boulder that he hadn’t spent enough time preparing his team to face a zone. After two battles against the spatial systems, that’s a mistake he can’t afford to make again.

It’s little coincidence ASU turned in two of its worst shooting performances of the season while struggling to break down the zone.

· ASU can win games without shooting the lights out

Despite those aforementioned poor performances from the field (ASU shot under its season average in both games this past weekend), the Sun Devils still found a way to force overtime against Colorado (which shot above average in both categories that night) and outlasted Utah in Sunday’s crucial win.

Only time will tell if this mini-slump from the field was just a temporary blip or the start of a more serious shooting problem for ASU.

But even if the Sun Devils don’t rediscover their blistering 92 ppg scoring pace from non-conference play – which would be a tall task given the increased difficulty of schedule they will be faced with in the Pac-12 – they proved that they don’t need to be elite from the floor to be competitive.

This is good for ASU, which was knocking down buckets at a frankly unsustainable clip during its non-conference stretch (51 percent on field goals, 40 percent from three). Though it’s opened 1-2 in the Pac-12, ASU’s ability to stay in games even when shots aren’t falling will be important moving forward. Not many teams make deep runs in March thanks to perimeter shooting alone.

Another observation: The Sun Devils are going to keep letting it fly from deep, even if the ball isn’t going in.

Take Shannon Evans for example. The senior entered Sunday’s game in a 0-14 slump from three, yet fired from nearly 30 feet late in the second half against the Utes. For some shooters (especially those mired in a drought), that kind of low percentage attempt at such a crucial moment in the game would draw their coach’s ire. Evans however, drilled the bomb and put ASU ahead 68-66, and the Sun Devils led the rest of the way.

It was the highlight of his 22-point performance, which included 5-of-7 makes from the perimeter. He followed through on the promise he made after Thursday’s loss to Colorado, when he said: “You’ll see Sunday, we’ll come out firing again. It’s what we do.”

Fire away ASU did. The Sun Devils shooting didn’t set the world on fire in Salt Lake City, but they manufactured enough from the field to pick up a first conference win of the season.

· Sorry Remy Martin fans, Bobby Hurley is trusting his seniors

Among all of ASU’s pleasant surprises this season, few have been as enthralling as Remy Martin. The freshman, expected during the preseason to be a depth piece this winter, has wowed with suffocating defense and high energy effort on both ends of the floor.

During stretches where ASU’s offense has gone cold, Martin hasn’t been afraid to produce on his own by either flying through traffic to get to the rim or pulling up from range.

When it comes to fan favorites, the freshman might be at the top of ASU’s list.

But when Hurley has to divvy up minutes late in tight ball games, Martin seems likely to draw the short end of the straw more than his trio of senior teammates in the backcourt.

Against Utah, he scored 11 points in 28 minutes. Not bad, but also less action than the 31 minutes Kodi Justice received or the 36 and 33 minutes Hurley left ball-handling guards Tra Holder and Shannon Evans on the floor, respectively.

Back in Colorado on Thursday, Martin was subbed on and off the floor in the game’s final minutes. The senior threesome was trusted down the entire stretch, staying on the court throughout the contest’s deciding moments.

Martin is dynamic and provides ASU with an energy that will rarely be matched by any of the other 9 players on the floor. But, Hurley has built this emerging team around his three seniors. When a result is in doubt, he’s shown he is going to let them dictate the outcome.

Expect the majority of his end-of-game usage to come on the defensive end or in free throw shooting situations. He probably still has to work his way up Hurley’s list of go-to players with the game on the line.