ASU Men’s Basketball: Offensive surge leads ASU past San Diego

(Photo: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)

TEMPE – Arizona State Men’s Basketball is in transition, following a steal by sophomore guard Frankie Collins. The Michigan transfer is running in transition, where he finds senior guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. in the corner, who drained the 3-pointer, putting the exclamation point on a late 10-0 run.

The San Diego Toreros called a timeout as Collins played to the crowd asking the already rowdy Sun Devils faithful to get louder. The Collins to Cambridge Jr. connection perfectly highlights ASU’s (11-1) Sunday night offensive onslaught, defeating San Diego (6-6) 91-67. The duo led ASU starting five, which all scored in double figures for the first time in 100 games.

“When you see everybody having success, it’s the best feeling in the world,” Collins said. “If the whole team is going, then who’s going to stop us, honestly.”

The win increases the Sun Devils’ win streak to nine and an 11-1 record, which is the program’s best start since the 2017-2018 season. While winning by over 20 points and holding San Diego’s near nationally ranked top-50 offense to under 70 points, head coach Bobby Hurley and the players understood which facet needed to be improved on after a slow first half.

“It wasn’t our finest work, and hopefully, we can chalk it up to playing a number of big games and then having a little bit of a letdown,” Hurley said. “We got to play better on both ends, sloppy on offense and just giving up too many offensive rebounds and didn’t guard them the way we’ve been guarding teams all year.”

The first half was the Cambridge Jr. show, illustrated by the senior hitting his first two 3s. Once he saw the bottom of the net, Cambridge Jr. started to let the ball fly as soon as it touched his hand, pleading for the ball from half-court before going to work.

Cambridge Jr. finished the half with 18 points shooting 6-of-10 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the arc. While the former Wolfpack was shooting at an efficient clip, the rest of the offense struggled from the floor, finishing the half 8-of-22 from the field. Most of the credit goes to San Diego for adjusting to ASU’s game-opening 11-3 run.

Once the Toreros went to a 2-3 zone, the Sun Devils struggled to establish an offensive rhythm outside of Cambridge Jr.’s shotmaking. ASU only turned the ball over six times in the first half, but San Diego defenders made many deflections, as the aggressive ball pressure forced many ill-advised shots.

“I thought we did some uncharacteristic things. We only had ten turnovers, but we should have had five,” Hurley said. “Then we took some quick shots that I didn’t think were great at times because if we moved the ball and made them work, we’d get a good look.”

The Sun Devils went through multiple short-scoring droughts, but it was enough for the high-octane Toreros’ offense to stay within striking distance with their prolific 3-point shooting. The offense found open shots by driving in the paint and kicking to the perimeter, where they swung around the arc to find the open shot, shooting 37.5 percent.

“Defensively, we sucked,” Collins said. “This game, we sucked defensively compared to all of our other games. I don’t think we were as aggressive as we usually are, as far as attacking the glass [and] second rotations, third rotations.”

ASU tried to counteract this by staying connected, switching defenders one through four, and staying attached to perimeter shooters. However, San Diego still found a way to force senior forward Warren Washington to close out against shooters, getting him out of the paint and opening up the lane for penetration.

“[San Diego] has a 3-point shooting five men, so you have Warren out there trying to contest three-point shots, and then now, like, alright, who’s going to rebound,” Hurley said. “We have to make sure everyone else is focused on that when the ball goes up.”

Even when the Toreros missed, they followed their shots and get many second-chance opportunities, accumulating nine offensive rebounds in the first half, leading to 12 second-chance points.

“We gave up too many offensive rebounds,” Hurley said. “[We] didn’t guard them the way we’ve been guarding teams all year.”

ASU entered the second half with a modest seven-point lead, and with San Diego’s hot shooting looked to be in jeopardy. However, the stellar composure and playmaking of Collins ballooned that lead well into the double digits. Collins fueled an early 7-0 run and a late 16-2 run with his passing and defensive abilities.

“That game didn’t faze him. He came back with the same attitude, practice hard,” Hurley said. “He’s got great leadership qualities, and the guys respect him, and they know how hard he works. He plays both sides of the floor.”

The sophomore guard’s fingerprints were all over the second half with his ability to facilitate the offense against the Toreros’ zone. Collins’ gravity opened up the floor for teammates to knock down easy shots near the rim or beyond the arc. With seven second-half assists and 11 overall, Collins illustrated his importance to ASU’s offense without needing to score.

“I understand the team very well, but I think it also has a lot to do with the defense they threw at us,” Collins said. “Sometimes I have to slow down and read the low man. But as far as getting everybody’s shots, knowing where they’re going to be and knowing the spots they like to shoot at.”

His impact wasn’t just offensively as Collins stuffed his stat line with four steals, leading the Sun Devils to get out in transition to catch the Toreros’ defense scrambling. Collins ended his night with 12 points, 11 assists and five rebounds, stamping ASU a 91-67 win over San Diego.

At an 11-1 record and victors of its previous nine games, ASU was ranked No. 25 in the AP Poll, marking its first ranking since Dec. 7, 2020. However, Collins said after Sunday’s game that being ranked “doesn’t matter” as the program needs to be ready to play every night, and being a top-25 program doesn’t change that mindset.