(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Jaelen House says he doesn’t model his game after anyone. But through the first two games of the 2019-20 season, the son of former Arizona State legend Eddie House has taken on a similar role to that of one of his teammates.
After Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley’s “Guard U” mantra faded last year, the guard-oriented attack is back this year. In a lot of ways, House is filling the role junior guard Remy Martin served during his freshman year, coming off the bench to provide a spark to the Sun Devil lineup.
“His on the ball defense and his instincts on defense [are impactful],” Hurley said. “It’s a big reason why we look at the stat sheet and see 14 steals. That’s a lot for a team, and it’s Jaelen’s impact with his on the ball defense and his instincts off the ball.”
“I feel like if you really wanna play defense, I feel like you can be good,” House said. “But I’ve been doing it since I was a little kid. I’m just used to playing hard on defense.”
On Thursday night in a 90-49 win against Central Connecticut State, House was the first sub off Hurley’s bench. In just 18 minutes of action, the Shadow Mountain product scored 14 points to go along with five assists, four rebounds and a team-leading four steals in his Desert Financial Arena debut.
“Not really, no butterflies,” said House, who is averaging 3.5 steals per game following his first two games as a Sun Devil. “I was just excited to play in front of my family and friends.”
House’s defensive efforts helped Arizona State hold the Blue Devils to 49 points on 29.8 percent shooting from the field. The 49 points were the fewest allowed in the Bobby Hurley era at ASU, surpassing the previous low, set in a 91-53 win over Kennesaw State in 2015.
Fulfilling the sixth-man role Martin occupied as a freshman, House has shown the ability to provide an energy boost off the bench for Arizona State. While House has stepped into the role previously fulfilled by Martin, his offensive impact has yet to reach its full potential.
Junior guard Rob Edwards said the energy that House plays defense with during practice is something that elevates his game.
“He bring it every day,” said Edwards, who scored a game-high 23 points in Thursday night’s win. “He’s like an irritant. He picks up full court during practice so when he does it in a game it’s like ‘do you.’ He brings a lot of energy, and you know that’s what he does. He plays defense hard, and he tries to get as many deflections and steals.
“When something happens, he’s always fist-pumping or yelling super loud, so I feel like that brings a lot of energy toward everybody. We all feed off of him.”
As House gets more acclimated to the speed and length of the collegiate game, it should help improve his shooting numbers. Through the first two games, House has shot just 1 of 8 from 3-point range, an area which Hurley said the entire team can improve.
“I didn’t like that we shot as poorly as we did from three in the second half especially,” said Hurley, whose Sun Devils shot 7 of 29 from deep in the win over CCSU. “Sometimes in a game that’s getting lopsided you can just lose your edge a little bit and not concentrate as much.
“I believe as we grow and develop, we could possibly be the best 3-point shooting team that I’ve coached. It just hasn’t really developed yet.”
House and the Sun Devils will have the chance to continue to develop Sunday when Rider visits Tempe. Tipoff between Arizona State and Rider is at 4 p.m.
