(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)
In the Music City against an unranked Vanderbilt team, the No. 18 Arizona State Sun Devils went down early, trailed at the half and, unlike their last contest, never completed the second half comeback, falling 81-65 in Nashville at the hands of the Commodores.
When the game first tipped, all appeared well for the Sun Devils. They scored their first nine points with no answer from a Vanderbilt team that went scoreless in the first four and a half minutes of the game. Like they have done so many times this year, ASU took a lead at the get-go and came out of the gates blazing hot.
The hot start was in large part due to Luguentz Dort- the first five-star recruit the team has signed since James Harden. Dort has been the facilitator of this very young and high octane offense all year, averaging 20.9 points a contest and, in the eyes of the opponent, he has notoriously gotten his team off to a quick start in almost every game.
“I thought we came out the right way,” Bobby Hurley said. “Our defense was strong then we made plays on offense.”
But, when the clock hit 15:40 in the first half, the Commodores hit their first three-pointer of many, many more to come. They opened their scoring, crept back into the game, took a lead and watched as the 18th best team in the nation crumbled offensively and defensively. Hurley’s “come out swinging” mentality that he preached before the game against the Nevada Wolfpack was in effect in Nashville. But, unlike in Los Angeles, the strategy was quickly realized and conquered by Vanderbilt. They would never look back.
The Dores shot at a 42.9 percent clip from behind the arc and had five players finish the game in double digits as a result. The Devils has just two. For Vandy, playing ranked teams has been kryptonite in the past but, tonight, it was fuel for their fire. The Devils have ranked in the nation’s top 50 in defending the three-pointer but the Commodores made them look nothing like it.
Perhaps the uncharacteristic performance from the Devils was as a result of the odd configuration of Memorial Gymnasium: bleachers and benches behind the baskets with rather empty sidelines.
“It will be a new challenge for us,” Hurley said during the team’s shoot-around on Sunday. “I will have to adjust to it when I see it.”
For the first time, the Sun Devil players did not have Hurley in their ears on both sides of the court. In the first half they did not have him on offense and in the second they did not have his animated coaching on defense.
But, as important as the environment is, the performance on the court was the straw that broke the camels back.
The turnovers started early for the Devils. Dort and Kimani Lawrence gave up the ball three times between the two of them alone in the first half and Dort continued his cold streak from the field, going 1-of-6 to before halftime.
“Teams are going to load up more now,” Hurley said when talking about opponent preparation for Dort. “Part of his development as a player is to see how he can pick his spots. As he draws more attention he’s able to just have the vision and be able to figure out where the basketball needs to go from there next.”
Dort’s shooting struggles were a microcosm for the performance of his entire team, a group that shot a season-low 28.6 percent in the game’s first 30 minutes and finished the night shooting 32 percent from the field.
“We have to get back home, get back to the drawing board, watch the film and see how we can be more effective offensively,” Hurley said. “It’s hard to put that much pressure on your defense especially on the road. We shot 32% and that’s not going to win you any games anywhere.”
The laid-back defense and the inconsistent shooting opened the door for the Commodores. They came, they saw and they conquered the Sun Devils who may have suffered an eye-opening loss as they head into the weekend where they will host the nation’s best team: The Kansas Jayhawks.
