Top-75 PG Austin Nunez commits to Sun Devils
Whether it’s family ties to the valley, an environment which is very similar to his hometown of San Antonio, and feeling a natural fit with the Sun Devil program all combined to today’s pledge of four-star prospect Austin Nunez to Arizona State while spending time on campus on an official visit.
“I really enjoyed being around coach Hurley who I got to meet for the first time,” Nunez said, “and I liked meeting with the other coaches and getting a feel for the players and just everyone that's around Arizona State Basketball. And I just really enjoyed my time here and just fell in love with the school. It just felt right being here.
“The fact that he (Hurley) said he was gonna let me play through mistakes is huge because you don’t want to be out there playing timid or scared or thinking if you make one wrong play that you're coming out of the game. Coach Hurley knows that there are gonna be mistakes made, and he just wants his players to play with freedom, and I was attracted to that. I got to hang around the players, and that was cool. They were telling me that they've never played for someone like coach Hurley that's just gonna give you freedom, let you be yourself and not try to change your game. You're gonna adapt to your role and just have fun doing it. As long as you're playing hard, not like walking back after you just did something bad or after you did something not smart; he's not going to really be mad at you, as long as you're playing hard and trying to win.”
His tandem of host players on his official visit expectedly gave him some valuable insight as to the experience of a student-athlete in the program, which ultimately was just another strong selling point.
“I was hosted by Luther Muhammad and Marreon Jackson,” Nunez stated, “and they talked about the academics and how the basketball team is gonna put people around you so you can be successful in the classroom. They're gonna help you have people manage your time, so you know when to get things done, and you're not late to practice or anything else. I just really liked how open those guys were for being older guys.
“I had fun hanging out with them, and I liked the whole vibe around campus. Everyone goes crazy there about the Sun Devils. I saw that at the football game where fans were going crazy because it was the first football game of the season and the first one since before COVID to really have fans there. So it was cool to see that environment, see actual campus life, seeing a lot of kids go to class. Everyone there says hello to you, and everyone was being nice. Yeah, it's a good vibe there.”
ASU’s newest addition was accompanied by his father, Lupe Nunez, who has extensive experience in the AAU club circuit, something that helped him, as well as his son, fully appreciate the manner in which ASU pursued Austin as well as showing him what they had to offer.
“The coaches all did a great job recruiting Austin,” Lupe Nunez described. “I’ve been the director of Austin’s AAU team, so he’s been around high level kids all of his life. He’s been in the recruiting process, so he understands what to look for in a program and what are the key points. Coach Hurley did a great job on the visit, and 80 percent of the visit was time that we spent with him.
“Austin knows that he has a chance to compete for early playing time, and he gets to learn from one of the best point guards to ever play the game. What he and coach Hurley have in common is that both of them are very competitive, both play with a chip on their shoulder, both are high level IQ guys and I think that was just a connection from the get-go between Austin and coach Hurley.”
It’s no secret that Arizona State will feature several new faces, nine newcomers to b exact, something that Lupe Nunez knows has been the norm in college basketball and yet has also been impressed with the positive synergy that dynamic has created in Tempe.
“You see the transfers that coach Hurley brought in, and you can tell this will be a good team with a good culture,” Lupe Nunez explained. “I visited a lot of high major campuses in the last ten years, and I know how hard it is when you bring in a lot of transfers into the program. But you could tell watching Arizona State that all the players loved competing against each other and that they really liked each other, and that’s something that Austin really liked to see.
“Austin is a big culture comfort kid. I know they (ASU) went through some ups and downs last year and had a lot of transfers out. Unfortunately, it's the landscape of the business now. But I think coach Hurley has done a good job of bringing in mature older guys who I also saw really supporting the younger kids. If those younger kids are struggling in practice and maybe not playing to the expectation of the older ones, instead of tearing them down, those older kids help build them up. Austin saw that, and that was a big thing for him.”
And demographically speaking, their recent visits showcased Tempe and the Valley of the Sun, for that matter, as an attractive cultural fit off the court as well.
“Tempe is very similar to San Antonio,” Lupe Nunez commented, “and the unique thing for Austin is him connecting with the Hispanic community here. Very few Hispanic kids play at his level at a high major school. You walk down the street here, and he sees kids that look like him. He’s half African American, half Hispanic, and we have family here that lives here in Arcadia, where we're staying at now. I think his best friend is going to come to school at Arizona State, which gives him more of a comfort zone. So, it all just made sense.
“God works in mysterious ways. Three years ago, his trainer and mentor told him that Arizona state would be a good fit for him. And then you know, shuffling through different schools and all the schools that were involved with Austin, we narrowed it down to fit and relationship and at the end of the day, Arizona State is what it came down to.”
The south paw point guard is considered a deft outside shooter from long range, but doesn't over rely on that skill and uses his athleticism well on both ends of the court. Needless to say that considering Hurley’s pedigree that the ASU head coach has easily identified in Nunez some of the vital skills needed to excel at the point guard role.
“He sees me as a point guard that can that can lead a team early on,” Nunez stated. “He just likes the leadership I bring onto the court, the peskiness I bring on the defensive side, and how I like to get everybody involved, and also get mine in too. Before I get to college, I definitely to keep on working on my (passing) angles because that helped me really separate myself from other players.
“I definitely want to put on weight the right way because getting stronger will play a huge role. My goal is to be 175 lbs. when I get to college, and later if I’m at 185, 190 that will be good as long as I keep my speed and the wiggle that I have because that separates me. So these are all the key things I need to work on. But you can always better yourself in being more consistent with your finishes at the rim, floaters, stuff like that.”
Nunez chose ASU over schools such as Texas, Oregon, Arkansas, Purdue and Virginia, among others, and officially visited Howard in the summer. The four-star prospect who plans to sign in November Nunez is Arizona State’s second pledge of the 2022 class and joins local top-25 center Duke Brennan who committed to the hometown school on August 25th.
