(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Coming off of arguably its most devastating loss of the season, ASU bounced back in resounding fashion by handing Washington its first conference loss of the season 75-63.
“It’s a good sign,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “I think bad teams, just average teams, or mediocre teams would go in the tank after a game like that (Washington State), being beaten the way we were beaten.”
The Sun Devil charge was sparked by Romello White, who tallied 17 points and eight rebounds on 8-of-9 shooting.
“It was terrible,” White said of the tone after the WSU loss. “The vibe was terrible. It was just bad. We just knew after losing to (Washington State) we can’t come into this game with our heads down.”
“Guys knew what was at stake,” ASU center Zylan Cheatham said. “We knew how important this game was, and that we didn’t want our season to go down the drain and that Washington State loss didn’t define us as a team.”
The Sun Devils were able to overcome a staggering 23 turnovers that with an extremely hot shooting night. ASU shot 61.7 percent on the game, completely overshadowing the 36.8 percent the Huskies shot.
“We really defended to our ability level and what we are capable of doing in all areas,” Hurley said. “To hold them to 63, we’re going to win a lot of games if we do that.”
The Sun Devils relied heavily on scoring n the paint, outdoing the Huskies 420-20 in that area.
“Naturally, their defense is going to spread out,” Hurley said. “So if you can get it to the high-post successfully, then you’re going to be able to throw it in to Romello.”
White noted that, more often than not, the zone spread out allowing for those high post plays to be made. Cheatham received the ball time and time again in the high-post and made quality decisions with the ball to the tune of six first-half assists.
“I thought I made some really good passes out of there, got some guys going,” Cheatham said.
For the most part, it seemed Cheatham was always finding White.
“We just focused on getting it to the high-post, feeding down low and everything was working good,” White said.
Arizona State was also dominant on the boards, out-rebounding the Huskies 40-23. White, Cheatham and Rob Edwards all recorded at least eight rebounds in ASU’s victory.
Despite the bounce-back win, the Sun Devils still have work to do if they want a shot at the NCAA Tournament.
“I think we need to use this game as a building block as opposed to a high-point in our season,” Cheatham said.
Up next for the Sun Devils is a road trip to Colorado and Utah, where they will look to keep Saturday’s momentum rolling as the Pac-12 Tournament approaches.
