(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
In the another one of Arizona State’s rigorous nonconference stretch, the Sun Devils face the No. 18 Texas A&M Aggies, who was projected to place third in the Southeastern Conference preseason poll.
Before the matchup with Creighton on Wednesday, the Sun Devils’ next three opponents (TAMU and No. 1 Kentucky) were a combined 17-3, but they passed the first test defeating the Blue Jays 79-77. Thanks to late game heroics from sophomore guard Tra Holder and clutch free throw shooting, ASU holds a 5-2 record going into its face off with the Aggies.
The Aggies have recently come out of a difficult stretch of games having played Texas, Gonzaga, and Syracuse in the Battle for Atlantis preseason tournament. Despite losing in the championship game to Syracuse, they managed to snag a huge victory over then-No. 10 Gonzaga.
This was the Aggies’ first victory over a top-10 team in their last 26 attempts, and with the win, they may have proven themselves to be in contention for their conference championship with Kentucky.
With four players averaging double-digit scoring and a team field goal percentage of 50 percent, ASU has an efficient offense to deal with. This will be ASU’s biggest challenge thus far, and due to similar styles of play, it could be a great rehearsal game for its matchup with Kentucky.
Keys to the Game
Frontcourt Play
Senior center Eric Jacobsen and sophomore forward Savon Goodman have had great starts to their 2015 campaigns when they’re on the floor. Both have shown to be very susceptible to foul trouble, and it has at times been detrimental to ASU’s chances.
Texas A&M has two players standing at 6-foot-10 in its starting lineup, similar to what the Sun Devils saw with Marquette. Marquette’s duo of big men combined to score 36 points (18 each) and grab 19 rebounds. The scary thing is, the Aggie bigs might cause even more trouble.
Marquette’s sophomore center Luke Fischer and freshman forward Henry Ellenson missed a lot of easy buckets in the paint in the first half, but Texas A&M’s freshman center Tyler Davis has made making baskets look easy. He is shooting 72.7 percent on the season, only missing 12 shots.
His partner in crime, sophomore center Tonny Trocha-Morelos, is averaging 10.8 points per game as well as five rebounds.
Jacobsen and Goodman have proven to be capable of rebounding against taller opposition, but if they get into foul trouble, a crucial part of frontcourt performance will have to come from junior forward Obinna Oleka off the bench, much like he did against Marquette.
Controlling the Pace
The Aggies have scored at least 95 points in three games this season, and two of their bench players have recorded 20-point games. While ASU senior guard Gerry Blakes will likely be matched up with Texas A&M’s senior guard Danuel House for most of the game, everybody else is going to have to do their job all game.
Having run as deep as a nine-player rotation this year, the Aggies are capable of putting up points with whomever they put in the game. ASU’s fresh legs are going to have to be equally as productive and may have to have a similar performance to their win over Kennesaw State where the bench scored 42 points.
While pace has been an emphasis of change for this new era of Sun Devil basketball, head coach Bobby Hurley is going to have to show it tonight against a deep and athletic Texas A&M team.
