Covid hiatus followed by the traditional holiday break were elements that both ASU and Cal had to deal with entering their Sunday night contest in Berkeley. Yet following a 74-50 loss by the Sun Devils, it seemed as if the Golden Bears, winners of nine straight home games, ultimately had much less rust to knock off in a dominant ticker to ticker victory, which also snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Sun Devils.
The struggles on both ends of the floor showed up for Arizona State (5-8, 1-2 Pac-12) early on in the contest. A 12-1 run for Cal (9-5, 2-1) midway through that stanza which was aided by torrid three-point shooting (7 of 14 at halftime), gave the hosts a 20-point lead during the half and a comfortable 41-23 edge going into the locker room. That same first half saw ASU scoreless from beyond the arc (0-7), shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor.
The first five minutes of the first half showcased the best stretch of basketball for ASU freshman center Enoch Boakye who scored his team’s first seven points of that period. But his teammates’ offensive woes negated not only his effort but a cold shooting performance by Cal, who made a mere three field goals in the first eight minutes of the second half.
ASU guard DJ Horne who paced his team with 17 points finally took the lid off the Sun Devils’ three-point shooting and, coupled with a long-range basket by Jay Heath, cut down the lead to 52-36. Yet, that is as close as the visitors would get in their comeback efforts. Even though Cal was just 2-5 from long distance in the last 20 minutes, they were plenty effective, with 20 points in the paint en route to a 52.2 percent shooting from the floor in the second half.
As well as Horne played shooting 6 of 10 from the field, 2-4 from beyond the arc, his backcourt teammates had forgettable games. Marreon Jackson was just 1-10 from the floor (0-4 from three), and Jay Heath getting his first start of the season, struggled with 3-14 shooting (1-4 from three). Luther Muhammad, who came off the bench for a change, played only ten minutes, all of them in the first half, and did not attempt a shot.
The shortcomings by the visitors were not only reserved for that group of players as the Sun Devil frontcourt lost the rebounding battle 33-24 and were outscored in the paint 34 to 20. ASU sorely missed forward Alonzo Gaffney (and his 7-4 wingspan), who stayed back in the valley due to COVID protocols. Jalen Graham played Just nine minutes (and like Muhammad didn’t see second-half action), scoring just two points. Forward Kimani Lawrence contributed eight points, two blocks, and two steals. Walk-on Jon Olmsted played a season-high 16 minutes and was scoreless.
The bright spot of this unit was Boakye, who not only logged a season-high 28 minutes of play but also flirted with a double-double posting nine points and a career-high nine rebounds, as well as tallying two blocks. But on the defensive side, the newcomer definitely had his hands full with Cal senior forward Andre Kelly, who had 13 points. The Golden Bears were led by guard Jordan Shepherd who registered 16 points and was 9-10 from the line.
ASU returns to the valley tonight and for good or for bad, will have a quick turnaround to prepare for another road game, this at UCLA on Wednesday night to face, on the one hand, an extremely talented Bruins squad but the other hand also a team that has not played since December 11th. And this contest precedes a looming matchup with ASU’s in-state rival in Tempe on Saturday, January 8th.
