(Photo Credit: Evan Barcanic/WCSN)
“We’re no stranger to close games” were the first words head coach Bobby Hurley uttered in his postgame press conference.
Arizona State men’s basketball has found itself in a litany of one-possession games, typically trailing until the final few minutes before squeaking out another nail-biter victory. This time was different however, as ASU (10-5, 4-0 Pac-12) had a lead at several different parts of the game, but Colorado (11-4, 2-2 Pac-12) refused to go away. It took late blocks from graduate forward Alonzo Gaffney and junior forward Bryant Selebangue to seal the 76-73 victory, giving the Sun Devils their first 4-0 start in Pac-12 play since the 2007-08 season.
ASU averaged just above four blocks a game as a team entering Saturday, but they doubled that total against Colorado, including three rejections from Gaffney. The graduate student was in foul trouble with only three points, but Hurley does not care about that when Gaffney has the defensive effort he showcased against the Buffaloes. In fact, the bench boss voiced loudly that he is tired of the criticism his starting forward receives for his lack of offense.
“Alonzo Gaffney’s block was huge, “ Hurley said. “Sometimes people in this building get frustrated when he misses a shot. Just yell at me then. Tell me I’m terrible at my job if Alonzo Gaffney misses a shot…Please avoid the gasps when Alonzo Gaffney misses a shot because Alonzo Gaffney just helped us win a basketball game by blocking a shot and securing the ball.”
Selebangue played exclusively in the second half with sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. and Gaffney both accruing four fouls. The Canadian has seen his playing time diminish with redshirt junior Adam Miller and Phillips Jr. in the fold, but he dropped seven points and two blocks in seven crucial minutes of action down the stretch.
The forwards were key defensively in the closing minutes, but ASU’s guards generated the bulk of the offense throughout the game. Hurley has been rolling out a four-guard lineup since Miller has been eligible to play despite the size that Utah and Colorado present.
Miller and junior guard Jamiya Neal provided enough early offense — scoring 18 and 19 points respectively — to keep the Sun Devils ahead for most of the game. Not only did Neal pace the team in scoring, but he was also the team leader in steals with four takeaways. The junior admitted in the postgame presser that he has not been off to the start he wanted to have, but he and his team can use some of the struggles in the past to help win games against teams like Colorado and others in the future.
“I think we just had to take a deep breath,” Neal said. “Since I’ve been here, we’ve never been a team — that I would say — that starts off slow. We’ve had a lot of close games. A lot of comebacks. I think before we were overreacting a little bit… Just seeing what we did that helped us win and just try to keep doing that the next game.”
The defensive ability of the forwards has been well-documented, but the guards are honing in on that end of the court as well. Entering Saturday, junior guard Frankie Collins was third in the country with 3.14 steals per game, and the point guard added another three thefts against Colorado, giving him 47 total on the season.
Even though the Sun Devils continue to work on their defense, they had their hands full with the backcourt of junior guard KJ Simpson and senior guard J’Vonne Hadley. The Colorado guards and senior forward Tristan da Silva combined for 59 of the team’s 73 points, which is notable considering that the Buffaloes are still without freshman forward Cody Williams — a five-star recruit who hails from Perry High School in Gilbert — despite ESPN reporting he was likely to play on Saturday. Even though some of Colorado’s players had big games, the Devils came out on top because of clutch defensive plays, and Miller knows that he and his team need to lock in on that side of the ball to have success.
“All of us watch our own film,” Miller said. “We watch our mistakes. Defense has been a big emphasis. That’s what we’re going to continue to do. We get a lot of buckets off of that. We’ve got to have fun on that end. For me, I just try to be a junkyard dog out there honestly. Be the big brother. We’re going to punk everybody…”
The Sun Devils are tied for first in the Pac-12 with Oregon at 4-0, which seemed unrealistic before Christmas when ASU lost to both TCU and Northwestern by 20 or more points in consecutive games. It may not always look pretty, but the Devils find ways to win with their rotation close to full strength. Hurley is feeling confident about his squad after the first two weeks of conference action, rightfully so.
“We have something good happening right now,” Hurley said. “We’ve just got to bottle it and try to strive to play the kind of basketball we’ve been playing the last 10 days or so.”
