ASU Men’s Basketball: Improvements across the board against Belmont help Sun Devils earn Bobby Hurley’s first win

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

The Arizona State Sun Devils exercised a few demons in their 83-74 win over the Belmont Bruins on Monday.

Senior guard Gerry Blakes led the way for ASU with a spectacular game. Blakes scored a game-high 22 points to go with his eight rebounds and three assists. Senior forward Savon Goodman tallied his first double-double of the year with a strong 13-point, 12-rebound effort of his own.

There were several weaknesses that needed to be addressed for the Sun Devils after their dismal loss to Sacramento State on Friday and they cleaned it up to get the win over Belmont.

Improvement from three-point range

The most notable improvement for the Sun Devils was their three-point shooting. After going an awful 2-for-19 against Sacramento State, ASU bounced back to go 10-for-21 from behind the arc, an impressive 48 percent. A lot of this had to do with the shooting of junior guard Andre Spight. Spight found his shooting touch in the second half, connecting on three of his four attempts from long-range.

“He’s a very talented guy,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. “ I think he’s going to make a lot of shots here at Wells Fargo (Arena).”

Sophomore guard Kodi Justice did well to complement Spight by going 3-for-6 from downtown. Justice led ASU in three-point shooting percentage last year at 46 percent for the season, so having him knock down shots was a good sign for the Sun Devils.

The shot selection was much better from ASU as a lot of its three-point looks came directly from assists as opposed to in isolated situations. Blakes was active in getting into the lane and creating opportunities for Justice and Spight. The rest of the team did well to find the open man on fast break chances and after rebounds. Open chances are certainly easier to knock down than contested ones and the Sun Devils finally took advantage of their opportunities.

Land of the Free

Although overlooked by most, free throws turned out to be huge for ASU in their victory. The team went 19-for-26 from the line and this was a slight turnaround from the 15-for-27 it shot in their game against Sacramento State. The Sun Devils lost that game by three points and had they done Friday what they did against Belmont, they ultimately would have won that game. Against Belmont, ASU scored 36 points in the first half and 10 of them came from the free throw line.

Glass Monsters

ASU outrebounded the Bruins 45-31 throughout the course of the game, and this led to 14 second-chance points for the Sun Devils. Goodman did most of the banging down low, securing 12 boards by himself. In both wins this season, the scrimmage and the victory against Belmont, ASU won the rebounding battle. In its loss, ASU lost the rebounding battle. It is fair to say that rebounding is indicative of how well the team plays.

“We talked about it a lot more,” Hurley said. “We knew that we could not afford to give them multiple possessions because we don’t block out and rebound.”

Block out and rebound they did, to the tune of a 14-point rebounding margin. If ASU wants to continue winning games, this will be something they will have to do efficiently.

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