Playing in their fourth different state over the last five games, spanning the previous 17 days including this gameday, the Arizona State Sun Devils (5-2) edged the San Francisco Dons (7-2) 71-67 in their final non-conference matchup away from The Valley of the Sun.
“Teams play us hard, and then they fight until the end,” junior forward Romello White said in his postgame interview with CBS Sports Network. “We’ve been trying hard, really, down the stretch to stay composed and get the ‘W,’ so I feel like we did great today.”
Things have not gone smoothly for the Sun Devils since their impressive showing against then No. 7 Virginia, losing the neutral site contest by three points to the defending national champions just nine days ago.
However, ASU has channeled its will to win through adversity, defeating the Dons and previously the Princeton Tigers by a combined six points. As a result, the Sun Devils are now riding consecutive wins, both challenging road games against non-power-five schools given the circumstances of each one.
“We knew it was going to be a hard environment, to come in here and get a win,” White said. “Coach (Bobby Hurley) told us to stay focused, play as a team and I feel like we did that today. Played good defense, defended the three-point line good enough, so I feel like we did good today.”
It was a much more well-distributed scoring effort for ASU compared to its previous two contests. White tied junior guard Remy Martin with a team-high 14 points, while sophomore forward Taeshon Cherry joined them in double figures with 10.
As a team, the Sun Devils outshot USF in all aspects, not necessarily because of a superb shooting night themselves, but because of the strong defense White alluded to.
ASU shot 42 percent from the field (26-for-62) as well as from three (5-for-12), while hitting 74 percent of its free throws. USF shot 36 percent (24-for-66) on field goals, 29 percent from three (8-for-28) and 69 percent on free throws (11-for-16).
Here are some other key takeaways from ASU’s first December win of the season.
Once again, Sun Devils prove their depth could win them many games this season
I know this may be a theme anyone who reads at least my ASU basketball stories is likely familiar with, but it bears repetition and emphasis when the Sun Devils win the way they did tonight.
Following the previous pair of games, when the team’s scoring has been concentrated between Martin, White and a third double-figure scorer who would add very little in the other game, tonight was a refreshing reminder of the depth ASU truly can tap into.
To compare the aforementioned scoring leaders of the Sun Devils (Martin & White, Cherry) with those of the Dons, junior guard Jamaree Bouyea led both sides with 17 points and sophomore guard Khalil Shabazz was second between both teams with 15.
Their third-leading scorer, junior Charles Minlend, was only one ahead of Cherry with 11 points, as on the surface, it looks like USF’s top scorers slightly beat those of ASU.
The reason this was ultimately washed out by the final score was because the Sun Devils had four more players who scored between five-nine points themselves, a group led by freshman forward Jalen Graham’s nine points in 14 minutes.
Although the Dons had a fourth scorer in double figures, with freshman forward Josh Kunen’s 10-point double-double thanks to his 10 rebounds too, their team’s next leading scorer had five, then nobody else above three.
While the level of opponent may take away from the impressiveness of this scoring balance—fairly or unfairly—it’s a welcome sight to see guys like sophomore guard Elias Valtonen, junior forward Kimani Lawrence and junior guard Rob Edwards contribute with key threes in the second half to support the efforts of the leading scorers in a victory.
Martin and White emerging as go-to guys, yet Sun Devils prove functional without them
As mentioned earlier, White and Martin headlined the scoring for the Sun Devils.
ASU’s star junior point guard in Martin got his 14 from an ugly 4-for-15 shooting from the field (including two missed threes), with a 6-for-8 effort on foul shots, plus he added six rebounds (second on the team) and a team-high five assists.
Contrarily, the Sun Devils premier big-man in White scored 14 off 6-for-7 shooting from the field and 2-for-3 on free throws, and added 11 rebounds for his ninth career double-double. Just like he did in the victory over St. John’s 10 days ago, he was not called for a single foul, this time in 26 minutes on the floor.
As the numbers imply, this dynamic duo of juniors has seemingly emerged as ASU’s one-two scoring punch, or at least the most consistent one over the past several games. Obviously, it fits the idea of Martin as the most lethal scoring threat when he gets the ball outside the paint, while White is the man to feed inside of it.
“He’s a big influence, and he’s a great leader too in practice,” Cherry commented on White to Sun Devil Radio Network postgame. “He doesn’t really say much in the game, but in practice, he’s a great leader, off the court he’s a great leader. That’s my brother, I’m with him all the time.”
By the looks of tonight’s performance, White may be starting to rub off on Cherry in the right way. Cherry’s 10-point performance was his first time in double figures this season (came in with 17 combined points over his five previous appearances), as the last time he had such a game was February 20 of last season versus Stanford.
This is an example of a larger truth becoming evident with this team, which is that they don’t need White and/or Martin constantly on the floor to keep the sky from falling, which ties back into the aforementioned depth.
Take tonight as an example, when White missed from the 11:40-7:54 marks of the second half, and then again from the 6:53-3:12 marks. Meanwhile, Martin was out between 13:10-9:22 and again from 5:33-3:12.
None of this proved to have a severely negative impact on the Sun Devils efforts, as they continued to keep the game in a stalemate with their stars coming in and out of the game down the stretch—Martin due to stretches of poor shooting, White due to an injury with around seven minutes to go, where he took an opponent’s head to his chin on an incidental collision.
“I feel good,” White said, despite being reminded he’ll need stitches to mend his cut. “My adrenaline’s going, so I really can’t even feel it, so play through it.”
Newcomers in lineup proving they can collectively make up for lost production from last season
The Sun Devils had an idea going into the season how potent the talent in this year’s recruiting class was. Pair that with a couple of strong transfer additions, and the team seems in really strong shape with its newcomers.
Graham has been the most pleasant surprise of all of them, as he shot 4-for-6 from the field and 1-of-2 on free throws to get his nine points tonight, while he also added four rebounds and an assist in 14 minutes on the floor.
Junior transfer forward Khalid Thomas continues to earn important playing minutes after his heroic efforts in the Princeton victory, as he added three points tonight (1-for-2 from the field and on free throws) plus five rebounds, a block, two steals, and—like White—was not called for one foul, although he was only on the floor for 20 minutes.
Freshman guard Jaelen House had an uncharacteristic off night, failing to score on four shots in 18 minutes, but was picked up by the likes of Lawrence and Valtonen, neither of whom are necessarily new to the team but are both expected to step into larger roles this season.
Lawrence’s seven points (3-for-5 field goals, 1-for-2 three-point shooting) were his most since the season opener in China, while Valtonen hit two big corner threes in the middle of the second half, on great kick-outs from Martin I might add, to finish with six points, plus a pair of rebounds and a blocked shot.
Valtonen continues to prove he can take on a bigger role, as his +8 rating was tied with senior guard Rob Edwards (five points on 2-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 from three, five rebounds) for highest on the team this game.
ASU will return to action Saturday night at 7:30 p.m. when it hosts the Louisiana Rajin’ Cajuns. The game will air on Pac-12 Networks.
