ASU Men’s Basketball: Hiatus concludes as Pac-12 play continues

(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)

The Arizona State men’s basketball team has played just one game since its December 19 loss to San Francisco – a loss to Pac-12 foe Cal 74-50 on January 2. After a long layoff, the Sun Devils will host Colorado on Saturday where they will also honor former Sun Devil great Ike Diogu. His maroon and gold No. 5 will go into the Desert Financial Arena rafters.

For not playing in a game for more than 12 days and just one game in 26 days, ASU head coach Bobby Hurley pointed out one of his biggest worries heading into Saturday’s game.

“I just see where everyone’s at just with their conditioning level,” Hurley said. “So we’re trying to address that by doing some conditioning yesterday.”

The Buffaloes (11-4, 3-2) are coming off a 21-point loss to Arizona in Tucson Thursday in a game where their leading scorer, sophomore forward Jabari Walker, scored just four points. Thursday’s defeat was the second in conference play for Colorado following a sweep of the Washington schools and a five-game winning streak shortly after the New Year.

The last time these two squads squared off was in Boulder March 4 of last year when the Buffaloes got the better of ASU, 75-61. In that game, it was Colorado’s bench that was the difference, outshooting ASU’s reserves by 13 points. The top two leading scorers from both teams in that game did not return to their respective schools this season.

Colorado is led by the aforementioned Walker, and senior forward Evan Battey. Walker is the leading scorer at 12.7 points per game with Battey right behind him at 12.4 points per game. Shooting has been the conversation all year long for ASU. The Sun Devils have struggled to score while on the defensive end, have struggled to defend teams that score. ASU’s opponents are shooting 41 percent on the year and Colorado shoots a tick better at 44 percent.

Offensively, Hurley is hoping to turn the tide with his struggling offense by making that a priority in their practices leading up to Saturday.

“We’ve been working on our offense, our timing and things that are impacted and get skill work in because they haven’t had the repetitions that you normally would have in preparing to play a game,” Hurley said Friday when speaking to reporters. “We’ve been on a limited timetable where you’re trying to do a number of different things at the same time.”

The long layoff has given ASU the opportunity to evaluate their lone game within that last month and improve in certain areas of the game.

“You get to reflect, certainly and look at the Cal game, and I evaluated that pretty close and had some ideas for certain guys, the things that we could potentially be a little better at,” Hurley said, as the Sun Devils sit at 1-2 in Pac-12 play. “One of the things that I noticed from that game was the times that we shoot early and quick, and our guys don’t expect those shots to be taken and it spreads, and then multiple guys are getting impatient on offense. So, I think just trying to trust what we do in a half court offense, and then the quality of our shot selection has to improve and get better.”

A big problem for ASU this season has been rebounding. Their opponents grab on average three more rebounds per game than the Sun Devils whereas Colorado dominates the glass pulling down six more boards than its opponents. The Buffaloes are 10-1 in games where they grab 35+ rebounds and in games they don’t, are 1-3.

In ASU’s last game at Cal, sophomore forward Marcus Bagley was missed big time. His absence has shortened the depth of ASU’s front court. This problem seemed to allow Cal senior guard Jordan Shepherd to get to the rim at will either for a layup or a chance at the free throw line. When given the opportunity, he did not disappoint, knocking down nine of 10 from the charity stripe. Defensively, ASU will be looking to Enoch Boakye for rim protection to slow the lengthy forwards for Colorado.

“I think he’s progressing well and hopefully he’ll continue to take steps, he’s working extremely hard,” Hurley said of Boakye. “He literally only has had one day of practice since the Cal game, so I have to be careful with him and monitor him for this game on Saturday, and hopefully he’ll get a good day today under his belt, and prepare for tomorrow.”