ASU Men’s Basketball: Clutch play lifts Sun Devils to first win in a month

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

A game that saw considerable parity came to a head with one minute to go.

Junior forward Jalen Graham controlled possession for Arizona State at the right elbow. Guarding him was Utah’s senior forward Dusan Mahorcic.

With his back to the basket, Graham found the slightest of separations with a one-dribble, cross-key hook shot.

The scoreboard read 62-60, 56 seconds.

Utah’s response could have been demoralizing – senior guard David Jenkins Jr. shot-faked Graham off his feet, nailing a long mid-range jumper deep in the shot clock. But, the Sun Devils had been here before.

“We didn’t let that discourage us. The team’s been through a lot of adversity and we’ve been in a lot of close games – and we found ways to win close games. So, we knew we could do it,” head coach Bobby Hurley said of his team’s mindset heading into their final offensive possession.

Coming out of an ASU timeout, senior guard Marreon Jackson spearheaded Hurley’s play call to perfection, dishing the rock to Graham following his pick-and-pop to the right elbow. With space to work, the 6-foot-9 Phoenix native pounded a quick dribble before tossing in the game-winning floater.

“We saw that in ball screens, they were really aggressively staying with the guard once we set it, so we wanted to get a little pocket pass to (Graham) at the elbow,” Hurley explained to reporters postgame. “And we wanted (guard DJ Horne) in the right corner just because I didn’t think they would rotate off him. So yeah, it worked out well.”

With no timeouts and just over four seconds remaining, Jenkins Jr. sped past the timeline in hopes of a running buzzer-beater, but sophomore guard Jay Heath’s active hands turned away the Utes’ final effort and secured a 64-62 Sun Devil victory to snap a three-game losing streak.

“I thought we persevered well through the game and I was very pleased with our offense in the second half. We were 17-32. It was just such a good feeling to look at the stat sheet after the game and see that because we’ve struggled to score. To see guys make plays, make shots – it was rewarding for these guys to work as hard as they do.”

Behind Arizona State’s 53.1 shooting percentage in the final half of action was an asserted effort to frequent the key. By the final horn, ASU managed a 14-point advantage in the paint, scoring 26 of their 38 second half points by that variety.

“There was more of an emphasis on scoring inside and getting the ball to Kimani Lawrence inside,” Hurley told reporters. “And just getting more high-percentage shots in the paint overall – I thought we did a pretty good job.”

Lawrence finished the contest with 18 points, 14 of which were turned in throughout the final 20 minutes of play. And though the Arizona State veteran gathered just four rebounds in the latter half, three of them came on the offensive glass in timely moments.

“He made a lot of effort plays for us in that game to help us win,” Hurley said.

For the game, Lawrence tallied four offensive boards alongside five more combined from Graham, junior forward Alonzo Gaffney and freshman center Enoch Boakye. Such results correlated with Hurley’s seemingly drastic shift for Monday’s starting lineup, having slotted in Boakye for his first start of the season next to Lawrence and Gaffney.

“I wanted to start the game just a little bigger, initially,” Hurley reasoned.

“I felt like with (Kimani Lawrence), (Enoch Boakye) and (Alonzo Gaffney) in the game, it was a bigger group. We were crashing the boards in the first half,” Graham further commented.

Graham didn’t find himself in the starting lineup and didn’t play considerably big minutes, but his intensity, assertiveness and efficiency while on the court seemingly left a great impact on the final result.

“Jalen Graham – I’m happy for him. You know, he had COVID right before the season and he’s had some stuff he’s been going through. This is only his fourth day in like the last 20 days of playing basketball, so for him to deliver with big plays on offense late and I thought he battled their big guy under the basket.”

“He knows I’m a good player. He believes in me,” Graham said of Hurley. “So, I’m gonna get put on the floor – I just need to produce. We talked about it and that’s what I decided to do.”

In just 14 minutes, Graham collected 12 points on 5-8 shooting, five rebounds, one block and a steal, with three of his own scores coming up huge down the stretch. Not to mention, all of this came amidst a season that never really got off the ground.

“That kid means a lot to me. He and I have built a good relationship this year,” Hurley gushed when asked about a recent conversation he had with Graham. “We sat down and talked just about the whole season and it hasn’t been easy for him – we both came into this season with high hopes.”

Similarly to Graham, Jackson had also been subject to a rough-and-tumble season heading into Monday afternoon. Following many poor shooting performances and dry nights in the scoring department, Jackson was removed from the starting lineup for the first time this season against Utah.

In the postgame presser, Hurley made sure to discount its permanence following Jackson’s improved performance, which included a crucial late-game three to knot the score up prior to the aforementioned end-of-game sequence.

“I don’t think you’re necessarily gonna see that the whole way, because I think he’s gonna find himself,” Hurley said. “He was playing well and leading our team and playing good defense.”

Jackson’s final stat line was not awe-inspiring, but his late-game steadiness and timely plays certainly backs Hurley’s hopes for Jackson’s promise moving forward.

“He just had a different way about him today. He was very determined and he was way more decisive – he got in the lane, got a couple of nice finishes. You know, he didn’t play perfect, but you could see signs that this is the guy that we had watched a lot through the summer and the fall. It was good to see him get a positive result and that certainly could’ve led to him having more confidence to make that one late.”

These standout performances have not been par for the course this season, but they couldn’t have come at a better time. ASU’s Monday win snaps a three-game losing streak that included an initial nail-biting defeat to San Francisco and two consecutive blowout losses to California and Colorado. And though a 2-3 record against conference foes is certainly far off from the Sun Devils’ early-season expectations, Hurley believes continuing the momentum from his team’s close win could change the tide and carry his squad into better position moving forward.

“I think you’re seeing a lot in the standings right now – there’s some congestion. A lot of 2-3, 3-2. So, this was a big game for us to really get our feet under us again and then get a good feel heading onto the road.”