Shots from inside the paint were few and far between for Arizona State’s guard-oriented offense. The 23rd-ranked Sun Devils spent much of Thursday night’s contest hoisting shots from beyond the arc at Desert Financial Arena, in hopes they could out-score No. 24 San Diego State.
By halftime, the 3-point line was keeping the Sun Devils competitive. As the Aztecs held a 26-17 advantage on the glass after 20 minutes; the only thing keeping the Sun Devils in the game was the shooting from deep, where they were made seven of their 17 first-half attempts en route to a 35-33 deficit.
“I think it was a combination of just poor shot selection, careless turnovers, bad transition defense after mistakes, and we were still up two somehow with 15 minutes left [in the second half],” said Hurley, who spent more than 30 minutes postgame watching film and discussing things with the team prior to meeting with the media. “With all the things that I witnessed through 25 minutes, so it felt like a miracle.”
Free throws by Josh Christopher gave the Sun Devils a 43-41 advantage with 16:22 to play in the second half in what turned out to be the last lead held by Arizona State in a disastrous night. Poor ball movement led to poor shooting on a night the Sun Devils were beat 36-8 in the box score’s points in the paint margin.
“Then, we found a way to do worse than we had done up to that point, which was scary,” said Hurley.
Jalen Graham’s shot with 13:10 to go in the second half was the first non-jump shot from a Sun Devil in the second half. A possession later, Jaelen House tried his luck from the interior, missing a floater. The closing minutes of the second half featured a few successful paint touches for Graham, but on a night that ASU took 34 3-pointers – and shot several more from the mid-range – little was falling for the Devils.
“It felt like a really ugly game. A difficult game for anyone to really get into an offensive rhythm,” Hurley said, “and they emerged from that 15-minute mark in the second half and really outplayed us; were more physical, more resilient.”
The Aztecs’ 18-2 run opened up a sizable lead which would never be in doubt, as the reigning Mountain West regular-season champions maintained a comfortable lead for the remainder of the contest, defeating ASU 80-68.
An uncharacteristically absent performance from senior guard Remy Martin left the Sun Devils looking for other contributors. In previous years, Martin stepped up in the biggest games of the year. Against the two ranked foes ASU has faced thus far this year, he’s failed to crack double-figures in scoring during either contest.
“He kind of had a little bit of a blank look on him,” said Hurley of Martin, who took his first shot of the game with 5:14 remaining in the first half. “He wasn’t really having that fire. That energy that I’ve always been kind of used to seeing from Remy. Overall, he’s gotta play better in these games. He’s had a history of playing extremely well in these types of games.”
With Martin shooting the ball just eight times, up stepped senior guard Alonzo Verge, who scored 25 points on 8-of-20 shooting. Just as there were when Verge scored 43 points in a 40-point loss to Saint Mary’s last year, Hurley found there to be few, if any, positives to take away from the Sun Devils’ performance Thursday night.
“He was probably our most potent offensive player tonight, and that being said, it wasn’t perfect for him,” said Hurley of Verge, who added five rebounds and four assists to his stat-line. Even with a successful scoring night, the Sun Devil head coach lamented some of the plays made by the former Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year. “He had a behind-the-back pass turnover that I didn’t love. He had another one he threw out of bounds to Graham, trying to cut to the basket.
“Certainly, he had a good statistical offensive night, but I don’t think that anybody should be happy about what happened tonight.”
Freshman forward Marcus Bagley’s absence was felt throughout the game. Sitting out after suffering what Hurley and the program are calling a calf strain during last week’s win over California, the Sun Devils missed the program’s leading rebounder through four games. Hurley questioned ASU’s hustle and desire after losing the rebounding battle 44-37, with junior forward Nathan Mensah gathering 15 boards on his way to a double-double.
Just as Bagley was unavailable for the entirety of the game, Christopher was unable to stay on the court in the second half, picking up his fifth foul via a technical with 8:24 to play. It was another blow to a Sun Devil squad which felt the brunt of the veteran presence provided by San Diego State’s roster – as senior guard Jordan Schakel scored a career-high 25 points on 60 percent shooting from the floor.
“Even before [Christopher] fouled out, we were going downhill,” said sophomore forward Jalen Graham. “After that, they really took it to us, and we couldn’t respond.”
Prior to this year, the last ASU team to enter the season in the preseason poll featured James Harden, and never fell out of the Associated Press’s weekly rankings. Losses by nine and 12 points to ranked opponents aren’t unforgivable to any extent, but Hurley said the Sun Devils have to improve against elite competition to end up where they desire. On Sunday, they’ll have a chance to bounce back with a crosstown trip to take on Grand Canyon.
“We’ve had plenty of time to practice and work together,” Hurley said. “We’ve had no stoppages. So, we should be functioning better.
“These are all things that if we can’t find another gear and play harder than we’re not going to have success against teams like San Diego State or Villanova, or any really good teams that are on our schedule the rest of the way.”
