No. 3 Villanova overwhelms No. 18 ASU in 2K Empire Classic Final

Remy Martin was quiet. For three quarters of the first half of play, the Sun Devils’ preseason All-American hadn’t scored. Up until the 5:29 mark of the opening half – when Martin’s second shot of the night got a friendly bounce and fell through for his first 3-pointer of the night – it hadn’t mattered.

No stranger to matching up with elite competition, Bobby Hurley’s 18th-ranked Sun Devils (1-1) were exchanging blows with No. 3 Villanova (2-0). Martin’s first made field goal of the night pulled Arizona State within two. Trailing 31-29, the first half had largely been a back-and-forth affair with Josh Christopher and Alonzo Verge responsible for keeping the Sun Devils in it.

Assists were hard to come by for the Sun Devils. Whether through poor shooting or poor ball movement – Hurley believed it was the former rather than the latter– ASU’s offense went into the halftime break with just one assist, and two made 3-pointers on 13 attempts. They were never able to completely come out of it, falling 83-74 to the third-ranked Wildcats.

“We didn’t connect well,” Hurley said of the Sun Devils’ shooting, which produced a 10-for-28 night from deep. “Playing a team of their caliber, you can’t afford to miss that many shots that are fairly open. You can’t get assists if you don’t make the shots, and that was the issue there.

“The majority of them were very good shots. We’re built as a team that needs to convert and needs its offense to play well in order to beat a team like Villanova.”

At some point, freshman guard Josh Christopher’s coming out party was to be expected. In what was the Sun Devils’ seventh matchup with a top 10 team under Bobby Hurley in non-conference play, the highest-rated recruit in Arizona State history showed why he had so many suitors vying for his talent coming out of high school.

Christopher emerged early as an offensive presence against the Wildcats, scoring 12 points in the games’ first eight minutes. He glided to the rim for a backdoor dunk and was able to stroke his jumper from deep, showing off a versatility to his offensive game against a stingy Villanova defense. When the freshman guard headed to the bench at the 5:41 mark with his second personal foul of the night, Martin’s failure to step up signaled trouble for Arizona State’s hopes.

“We weren’t able to stay with them as the half was ending and didn’t really finish the way we hoped to,” said Hurley, who spun Martin’s lower-scoring performance as a positive. A day after a 26-point performance, ASU’s head coach gave credit to his senior point guard. “I appreciated that [Martin] didn’t have his best stuff on offense tonight, and he just wasn’t in a good groove, couldn’t get it going, but he didn’t force the action. He saw and noticed that Josh had a game going.”

In ASU’s season-opening win over Rhode Island, the Sun Devils, saw five different options tally double-figures in scoring. A night later, only Christopher, Verge and Bagley scored more than 10 points with no other Sun Devil above the five-point mark.

Without late contributions from Chris Osten, the Sun Devils’ loss of Romello White – who transferred to Ole Miss following the 2019-20 season – may have been felt more than it was in the season-opener. Tasked with matching up with an All-American level big, the Sun Devils provided little resistance, getting out-rebounded 43 to 27. Hurley credited Villanova’s sophomore forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl with changing the complexion of the game on both ends of the floor.

“We have some really good guards that can really go off the dribble, and hats off to Robinson-Earl,” said Hurley of the Wildcats’ forward, who scored 28 points on 11 of 17 shooting. “He’s got the full package on offense, but defensively… he was expending all kinds of energy guarding [Christopher and Verge] and doing a really good job.”

Out of the halftime break, the Sun Devils attempted to make a run, but the overwhelming machine that is the Villanova Wildcats continued in its derailment of ASU’s upset bid hopes.

“I liked how we came out of the half,” said Hurley of the Sun Devils, who opened the second half with a 3-point play from Christopher and a made 3-pointer from freshman forward Marcus Bagley to cut the deficit to 41-38. “Then we had a defensive breakdown, and they hit a corner 3. Once we started gaining momentum, we weren’t able to continue to build off that.”

Without other contributors alongside Christopher and Verge, a lack of consistent offense or sustained success on defense gave the Sun Devils no answers for the Wildcats. Arizona State attempted to make runs. Villanova’s runs were just longer.

“We were too up-and-down throughout the game,” Hurley explained.

Following up an 11-point debut with a 28-point sequel in his second game as a Sun Devil bodes well for the high expectations placed on Christopher. When meeting with reporters prior to the season, Christopher said, “on this team, it could be anybody’s night.” While Christopher spent much of Thursday evening in “Bubbleville” as ASU’s hot hand, a lack of co-stars led to failure.

“He looked locked in,” said Hurley. “I think he got in a good groove early in the game. He was able to connect on some shots. I think he showed you a glimpse of what he’s capable of. A heck of a performance for a freshman playing against one of the best teams in the country.

“I think he’s on the right track right now.”

Heading back to Tempe with a split record gives Hurley enough to work with. The sixth-year Sun Devil head coach knows the talent remains intact, with no shame in losing to a program that’s won two national championships in the last five years.

“We have to play better offensively because that’s going to be our bread and butter,” said Hurley after a 74-point performance which came on the heels of a 94-point effort in Wednesday’s win over Rhode Island. “We’re going to defend and defend with energy, but we have to have multiple guys playing well, and we just didn’t have enough offense to have a legitimate chance to beat a team that’s this good.”

Before the Sun Devils left for Uncasville, Connecticut; Hurley told reporters that the ASU team was “like a living, breathing relationship.” The analogy was intended to show that there were answers to be found within this team. That remains the case as the Sun Devils head home for a Sunday date with Houston Baptist.

“I enjoy playing high-caliber games and playing against the very best teams in the non-conference,” Hurley reiterated following ASU’s first loss of the season. “We’ve done that historically, and I think you learn a lot. Sometimes you have success and win. Didn’t go our way tonight, but there’s really good film for us to look at and talk about.”

Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and get all the latest Sun Devil news! FOR A LIMITED TIME, new annual memberships will pay just $75 for the first year use promo code adidas75 or NIKE75 to get a $75 digital gift code to either apparel store.