ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils test reigning champs Baylor, lose 75-63

(Photo: Dom Contini/WCSN)

Arizona State Men’s Basketball (2-3) dropped its first matchup in the Battle4Atlantis Tournament, but in digestible fashion to heavily favored Baylor (5-0), who came in as the defending national champions.

With the Bears coming into the contest ranked No. 6 in the country and winning each of their first four games by margins of 25-plus points, many may not have expected Wednesday night’s final to read 75-63. But the Sun Devils gave 19th-year head coach Scott Drew and his Baylor club their first real minutes of tight, back-and-forth competition, especially in the early going.

The first seven minutes of play treated viewers to a fast-paced brand of basketball.

A missed second-chance opportunity near the rim by senior forward Kimani Lawrence on ASU’s first possession brought the ball into the hands of Baylor senior guard James Akinjo, who sprint-dribbled down to Baylor’s own three-point line, ultimately setting up trailing senior forward Matthew Mayer to step into a wide-open right-wing three.

Only three seconds elapsed between Akinjo’s defensive board and Mayer’s sunken shot from distance. In the blink of an eye, two possessions screamed by, providing an obvious look at how blistering the pace of the game was.

Mirroring this tone was the play of ASU sophomore guard DJ Horne, who tallied the first eight Sun Devil points.

The Illinois State transfer’s first bucket came on a broken possession, as he received the ball deep in the shot clock and quickly sent up a long two from the left-corner.

Following a glass-cleaning finish from Baylor 6-foot-10 senior forward Flo Thamba, Horne would almost immediately answer, draining a lightly contested attempt just steps off the left-wing.

Some empty back-and-forth action prefaced his third straight make from the field, which was a looping, heavily contested heat-check that somehow found the bottom of the net.

While Horne’s hot start could have been proven temporary, the guard never really cooled off from beyond the arc, finishing the game with a stellar 6-9 mark from deep and a game-high 20 points.

At the 13:22 mark of the first half, the Sun Devils found themselves ahead 18-12. Most of this was due to their early fortunes from deep. Next to Horne’s long-range production, freshman guard Jamiya Neal banked in a three from the top of the key and senior guard Marreon Jackson drew a foul call on a perimeter attempt of his own, converting his three from the unguarded stripe.

For the remainder of the period, however, their efforts from distance would result in just one additional three-point make, entirely changing the perception of the pace.

After the first seven minutes, it seemed Hurley and ASU could plausibly keep up with Baylor’s up-tempo play. But once the Sun Devils’ shooting slowed, it was clear the method behind the madness was only suited for Drew and company.

Baylor’s initiative was focused on speeding up and forcing ASU into bad, contested shots and creating turnover opportunities. By the break, they’d done just that, cooling off their opposing net to the tune of a 37% clip from the field and generating 11 first-half turnovers from Hurley’s group.

This defensive success inevitably led to easy offense on numerous occasions, and Baylor head into the locker room with 12 fast break points compared to just two such points for ASU.

But aside from these developments for the Bears, the Sun Devils also suffered mightily in defending their opposition’s backcourt weapons off bruising on-ball screens from Thamba and junior forward Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua.

For the most part, the Baylor big men wouldn’t go a possession without setting a pick. And it was difficult for ASU to counteract the sets – they came from nearly everywhere on the court. Without hesitation, either of the 245-pound forwards on Baylor’s roster would set up near the top of the key, wings, corners, elbows, and especially up near mid-court.

Down 20-19, one of ASU’s 11 turnovers through the first 20 minutes set up junior guard Adam Flagler for a high-ball screen from Tchamwa Tchatchoua, which freed up a clear lane resulting in an eventual off-legged finish high off the glass.

Later, with Baylor up 29-23, sophomore guard LJ Cryer was being tightly guarded just off the left elbow before Tchamwa Tchatchoua came to set up with inside position, allowing Cryer to come off and immediately rise up for a clean look at the stripe.

And in rather fitting fashion, Flagler and Cryer finished out the half for Baylor with two open long-range pullups coming off of similarly positioned picks between the top of the key and half-court.

Up 45-31 at the start of the second half, Baylor didn’t have any reason to adjust its game plan in the half court.

The only difference in the opening minutes was that Baylor’s rollers were now getting fed for high-percentage looks around the rim. Case in point, Thamba registered six straight points, four of which came off pick-and-roll assists from Akinjo and Flagler that were initiated by big-to-guard handoffs.

While ASU continued to struggle with Baylor’s half-court concepts in the second half, they did make a key adjustment relative to their play in the first.

The Sun Devils turned the ball over on just four possessions in the final 20 minutes, limiting the Bears’ fast-break scoring to a mere two points. This combined with a return to grace behind the three-point line enabled ASU to stand toe-to-toe with the reigning champs.

Horne poured in four of his six connections from deep in the final frame, next to Jackson who took up a role to facilitate, passing out six of his ten assists on just one turnover.

Under the context of sophomore forward Marcus Bagley’s absence, these small victories justify reason for optimism regarding the team’s chances in Pac-12 Conference play, but the struggles seen from Lawrence in his 26 minutes on the floor could foreshadow a major negative with the Sun Devils’ offense on Wednesday night.

Though aggressive in the opening stages of the first half, a couple of missed second-chance layups and a wholly unsuccessful trip to the line encompassed nearly all of his offensive activity in the frame. In the second, Lawrence didn’t fare much better, recording just two points on three shot attempts to go along with one rebound.

Part of Lawrence’s inactivity could very well be chalked up to the high defensive energy put forth by Baylor’s discipline. But the manner in which most ASU possessions were structured may have its due, too. In shooting 27 threes throughout the contest, a notable amount of these threes came after just one or two passes, effectively icing out Lawrence’s impact on those possessions.

Grappling with how to oblige their perimeter output whilst maintaining an interior presence through players like Lawrence, freshman center Enoch Boakye and even Bagley when he returns is likely a focal point for the Sun Devils as they progress through their non-conference schedule.

In light of the loss, ASU is set to face off against the Syracuse Orange back in Imperial Arena at 5:30 p.m. MST on Thursday.