ASU Men’s Basketball: Hot shooting from Gilling and Barnes not enough to beat Maryland

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

 

In a back-and-forth affair, the Maryland Terrapin snuck away with the victory in Kansas City to hand Arizona State its first loss of the season, 78-73.

The Sun Devils got out to a quick start, making seven of their first 10 three-pointers, all belonging to seniors Bo Barnes and Jonathan Gilling, and junior Gerry Blakes. Blakes in particular had the hot hand in the first half for ASU, scoring 14 of the first 25 points. However, he would not score a point in the second half.

It wasn’t just those three who shot well to start the game as ASU shot 56.5 percent from the floor as a team, making 13 shots on nine assists.

Drawing 11 first-half team fouls, the Terrapins collected eight points off of free throws in the first half, mostly coming off of free throws while in the bonus. They were also paced by the stellar play from freshman guard Melo Trimble, scoring 18 of his game-high 27 points in the first half

Turnovers also continued to be an issue for the Sun Devils in the first half, turning the ball over nine times compared to Maryland’s five.

In the second half, Maryland tried to take advantage of the Sun Devils shooting struggles by jump-starting their leading scorer Dez Wells. Wells, who averages 17.7 points per game, only had two points in the first half, but picked it up in the second finishing with 14 points.

The late-game management for Maryland prevailed as Dez Wells hit a crucial go-ahead bucket, and the Sun Devils frankly didn’t seem like they knew what they were doing at the end of the game.

Players of the game: Jonathan Gilling and Bo Barnes

The “Splash Brothers” of ASU kept the Sun Devils in this game. Their three-pointers were momentum killers for Maryland and large momentum boosters for ASU. One thing kept ASU in this game, and that was their relentless three-point shooting, specifically from Barnes and Gilling. Whenever it seemed that Maryland would begin to pull away, one of those two would calm the storm with a dagger from beyond the arc. They combined for 12 three-pointers and 38 total points for the game.

Stat of the Night: 14 three-pointers made

For a team that started out struggling to score, seeing all the shots fall from deep has to be a confidence boost for anyone on the team. However, living and dying by the three-pointer is playing with fire, and depending on that to open up everything else on the offense end in the future.

Biggest Concern: Free-Throw Shooting

In such a close game, the Sun Devils went 9-14 from the charity stripe, only 64.3%. Leaving that many points on the board in a late-game situation like this game isn’t something you like to see for future games.

What’s next?

ASU will play the loser between No. 13 Iowa State and Alabama in the consolation game in the CBE Classic.

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