Zylan Cheatham records triple-double in ASU's win over Texas Southern

Arizona State (7-0) coach Bobby Hurley started raising his arms, trying to get the Wells Fargo Arena Crowd on their feet and acknowledge the history they just witnessed.

They listened.

The 10,085 on hand rose to their feet as Hurley subbed out ASU forward Zylan Cheatham with 1:44 left in ASU’s 83-71 over Texas Southern (3-5). It was only the second time in ASU history a coach was able to embrace a player following a triple-double performance (The first was Jordan Bachynski in 2012.)

“These things don’t happen too often and he was one assist shy of doing it the other night, too,” Hurley said. “When you’re talking about unselfish statistics: his rebounding, his passing. When you have a triple-double, it’s pretty special.

“I wanted everyone to know how excited we are for him that he’s here.”

About 30 minutes after his historic night, Cheatham walked down the Wells Fargo Arena hallway with the game ball tucked under his left arm, uttering on the way to his press conference, “It’s been a long time coming.”

But as Hurley alluded to, it hasn’t been an anxious wait since Cheatham’s name has been brought up with a triple-double. On Wednesday against Nebraska Omaha, he finished an assist shy of the mark.

For the entire week, Cheatham had been “teasing” freshman Luguentz Dort about missing an alley-oop that would have brought him to 10 assists. On Monday, though, Dort redeemed himself, catching the pass from Cheatham and hitting a triple on the right arc to secure the milestone.

“I almost couldn’t believe it. ‘There’s no way I’ve got a chance for another triple-double,’” Cheatham said. “I think it was like the six-minute mark of the second half, one of my teammates was like, ‘Two more assists,” I was like, “What?’ And I looked up and I needed two more assists.”

From there, though, Cheatham needed a little bit of help. He walked up to his head coach with a plea.

“Hey, I’m two assists away. Help!”

So Hurley drew up a play where Cheatham would hit Dort on a lob. No dice. Cheatham wasn’t getting the triple-double on any drawn up plays.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hurley told Cheatham. “You’re a natural passer, just play your game and it’s going to come.”

Three minutes later, it did.

~~~

With Romello White’s 19-point night, Saturday marked the fifth-straight game that the Sun Devils have had a different leading scorer (Dort and Taeshon Cherry both had 19 points Wednesday.)

With the injuries to Remy Martin, Rob Edwards and Mickey Mitchell -- all of whom Hurley says are day-to-day -- the depth of ASU has been stretched. Hurley and Co. have been using just eight scholarship players since Martin and Mitchell went down two games ago. Yet, a new guy seems to emerge each game.

“It could be in practice where this guy can’t miss and he’s dominating every drill, he’s got it going,” Cheatham said. “And the next practice it could be someone completely different.”

Added White: “It’s scary to know what we look like when we’re all together.”

That seems to be the verdict of every player and coach in the Arizona State locker room. They’re not concerned with how the offense will flow and gel when three new players are just ‘added’ midseason.

Asked why, they all give relatively the same answer.

“Nobody on this team is selfish,’ White said. “Everybody moves the ball. If it’s somebody’s night they give them the ball and keep going to him. Nobody is going to get mad if they’re not getting the shot they need.”

White is perhaps the best representative of that notion. Before Saturday, the sophomore forward, who averaged over 10 points last season, had yet to find his offensive groove. He was averaging 5.8 points and five rebounds per game.

Though he started every game, White has basically had to play third-, fourth-, or fifth-fiddle to the surging Sun Devils, watching a new player go off for a career night as he failed to score in double-figures.

But, he made up for it.

“Offensively, I feel like I’ve been in like a slump,” White said. “I haven’t been doing what I was doing last year. But defensively, I was still playing good.”

His head coach saw the same attributes.

“He’s been a great teammate though this because other guys have had big statistical nights and throughout our whole win streak here, even though some nights he may not have put up great numbers, he’s played great defense, he’s done all; the little things. If he wasn’t in the game, he’s been real positive with his teammates. He’s really been a great guy to coach.”

White’s situation provides the hope for ASU: an unselfish player doing his job and flourishing at the right time.

When Martin, Edwards, and Mitchell come back -- whether it be for Nevada on Dec. 7, or Kansas on Dec. 22, or the conference season on Jan. 3, or whenever -- the Sun Devils’ rhythm will be thrown off slightly.

The scoring will be much more evened out. Knowing when to sub guys in and out will become much tougher. Finding what lineups mesh will take time.

On the surface, it seems like a problem that will take time to work out. But the Sun Devils see it as , adding more athleticism and depth … and why wouldn’t they want that?

As Cheatham put it: “We’re so talented as a unit, once we put it all together and clean up the little mistakes and get our timing right on little stuff, I think it’s going to be a show.”