ASU Women’s Basketball Preview: ASU (2-0) vs Miami, FL (3-1)

(Photo: Sun Devil Athletics)

Arizona State women’s basketball travels to Florida this week for their Thanksgiving tournament, the Gulf Coast Showcase, but before that they take on Miami (FL) on Tuesday night. Coming in to the game, ASU is posting a 2-0 record in this young season, and Miami is 3-1 with their only loss coming to Middle Tennessee, 53-48. ASU’s first win of the season came over that same Middle Tennessee team, 81-67. Looking at the stat sheet, these teams are pretty evenly matched, except for some outliers. If ASU is to win, they need to capitalize on those outliers.

Keys to the game:
-Force Turnovers
Last year, both of these teams put up a positive turnover ratio, with Miami at +2.5 and ASU only at +.9. This season ASU has improved to a +4.5 turnover ratio, which is probably skewed by only having played two games this season. With that being said, in the first two games ASU has been good at knowing when to be aggressive and attack on defense, or when to wait patiently for their opponent to make a mistake with the ball, and if they want the victory Tuesday night, this has to continue. Miami averaged 15.2 turnovers last season, and in their first four games of this season that number’s jumped to 17 turnovers per game, which is the same average ASU has forced against opponents this season. Forcing 17 turnovers would certainly help make it harder for Miami’s defense to slow down an  ASU offense with extra possessions.

-Keep Sophie Brunner Involved
With the way that Coach Charli Turner-Thorne sets up her offense, it’s extremely optimistic to think that sophomore power forward Sophie Brunner will continue to average 21 points a game this whole season, but Sophie Brunner does look like she’s being set as a key piece of this team both offensively and defensively. Brunner has been playing exceptionally well so there is no reason for this ASU team to shy away from her now.

-Adapt to Miami’s Substitutions
Miami is a lot like ASU in the sense that there is no such thing as a bench player. Mass substitutions and evenly spread minutes are something both ASU and Miami have in common, and it’s not something ASU sees a lot in other teams. While it’s usually up to the opposing team to keep up with constant new comers on the court, ASU will be facing this problem Tuesday as well. Miami understands that they don’t have one to two star players that they can keep on the court a majority of the time, so players will be coming and leaving all night. If ASU can maintain a stout defense when this happens and is able to adapt to the personnel change, they will be that much closer to victory.

X-Factor:
While sophomore Sophie Brunner has been excelling, her fellow sophomore teammate Kelsey Moos has been a bit invisible thus far. Moos needs to have more of a presence on the court, especially when it comes to crashing the boards. If Kelsey Moos can have a strong outing Tuesday, then ASU will be in even more of a position to come away with the win.

Prediction:
ASU has been averaging over 80 points per game in their first two games, while Miami has only been averaging 65, it’s going to be hard for Miami to slow down this ASU offense that has looked stunning the first two games this season, and I don’t think they’ll be able to. If ASU can keep up the ball movement they’ve had the past two games, I see them pulling away with a double digit victory over Miami.

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