Arizona State (11-7, 5-2 Pac-12) took advantage of the shorthanded Trojans (8-11, 2-6), capitalizing on a plethora of USC mistakes, 22 to be exact, a season-high in forced turnovers. This produced another season-best of 27 fast-break points in an 82-67 win.
Coming into the matchup, USC was missing guards Isaiah Collier and Boogie Ellis, who averaged 15.4 and 18.7 points, respectively. Even though the Trojans still shot 46.6 percent from the field, their offense struggled in long stretches of the contest, especially without a component point guard on the floor.
“Unfortunately for USC, not having Collier and not having Boogie Ellis, you have to try and take advantage of that,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley stated. “It was important that guys really understood that.”
Take advantage ASU did, forcing 15 USC turnovers in the first half alone, as the lack of chemistry for the visitors doomed them as balls flew out of bounds or steals were recorded left and right. In turn, ASU was able to score 19 fast break points in the first 20 minutes, delighting a boisterous 13,743 at Desert Financial Arena.
“We had that segment to end the first half, which was dynamite,” Hurley remarked. “The way we went on that run, I don’t know if I’ve heard DFA that loud in a long time. The spurt that we went on was fueled by our aggression on defense and plays we were making at that end of the floor. It was a part of a necessary game plan in order to beat this opponent today.”
ASU’s full-court pressure, which has confounded veteran backcourts this year, strangled the USC offense, which featured freshmen guards Bronny James Jr. and Kobe Johnson, as the Trojans were called for two 10-second backcourt violations in the second half.
“Coach Hurley did a great job; the whole coaching staff did a great job,” ASU junior Jamiya Neal said. “They watched the Colorado game; Colorado pressured them and flipped the game around. That’s what we did; they had like 15 turnovers at half, we just flipped it around.”
It was clear the most success came from the transition game today. ASU junior guard Frankie Collins, who registered six steals, followed those feats with quick passing to score on the other end. The “Offense is our defense’ mantra was in full effect.
“We don’t really want to run a half-court offense if we don’t have to,” Neal admitted. “So, we rather much get out and show our athleticism, show our talent, show our skills.” “Defense is offense for us, that’s what we preach. There is no better way to score than getting out in transition, getting steals, getting stops and getting out quick.
“We’re all athletic, we all can make plays in the open court as you can see so, I think it helps us. I think we all look good when we do that, share the ball, we don’t really care who’s out there getting a bucket but, again when the ball gets moving a lot of guys can’t keep up with us in transition.”
Collins did have a well-rounded effort, tallying 17 points and hitting two three-point shots. Although Collins added seven assists to his stat sheet, the figure that grabbed all the attention were his six steals.
“He’s smart with the way he reaches (to the ball),” Neal explained. “A lot of people think he’s just out there playing, but he actually calculates when, he’ll tell you when ‘I’m going to wait till he bounces it the second time and I’m going to swipe, or if he does this, I’m going to poke this way.’ It’s just the guy he is and the IQ he has for basketball that he knows when to steal the ball, and that’s why he is so good at it.”
“He’s playing at an elite, all-conference level,” Hurley added. “In terms of production of guys, I’ve had in the past, like Tra Holder and Remy Martin, he is right in the mix in the impact he has.
As well as ASU playing defensively, the longevity of the defensive effort was at one point in question as USC came within three points, 56-53, with 10:55 left in the game. Nonetheless, ASU refused to have a replay of Wednesday night, where they surrendered a 15-point second-half lead.
“They’re too good of a team with players to not make a run at us,” Hurley noted. “They made a couple of runs at us, cut it down to three and five. But we had another response.”
“Just learn from our mistakes, basically, the UCLA game, we couldn’t put them away,” Perez stated. “They made a run, the momentum shifted, and this game felt like we just learned from our mistakes, and we closed it out.”
Effort and communication are significant defensive keys that have manufactured success for ASU, and the Sun Devils players are confident that when these traits are front and center, they can build on their early Pac-12 play momentum.
“Communication is always key for defense because there is a lot going on, basketball is a game you have to do on the fly,” Neal commented. “You have to talk and communicate in order to be successful, and I think we do that on defense a lot with the switches and veers and peel-offs. Stuff we do on defense you have to communicate to be successful.”
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