(Photo: Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)
Arizona State Men’s Basketball defeated the Oregon State Beavers 73-53 on Saturday, yielding the Sun Devils’ their first three-game winning streak since Dec. 14 after a win over Creighton
“Coming into the game, we just we didn’t want to [give] them any life,” ASU senior guard Marreon Jackson said. “The crowd started to get into it so that definitely helped us a lot. But the biggest thing was not giving them any life.”
ASU opened the game with a layup by junior forward Jalen Graham, which would spark a 10-2 scoring run. Graham would finish the game with 12 points – all of them coming in the paint.
“I thought our approach was very good,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. “Coming out, just the way we played offense and moved the ball and shared it [with] 17 assists tonight, overall it was really good.”
ASU attacked the basket early and often. In the first half, ASU scored 28 points in the paint. Leading the way for the Sun Devils was senior forward Kimani Lawrence, who finished the half with 11 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the field.
“[Lawrence] is a guy you can really count on – he understands the concepts defensively,” Hurley said. “Overall, I thought just our activity was excellent…we were like 11-2 on fast break points in the first half. And that was because of the deflections, anticipation and being in the right position.
“We knew that they were shorthanded with seven guy. We wanted to try and pressure them a little more and to be able to force them to get back on defense. That was something that we talked about pregame.”
ASU had a great night on the offensive end, but arguably its defensive effort was even more crucial.
Oregon State junior guard Jarod Lucas was limited to just four points on 2-for-11 shooting. The three-point marksman also missed all six of his threes. In addition to keeping Lucas’ deep shot in check, ASU also held Oregon State to 2-for-19 from beyond the three-point line.
“The defense I thought was very active,” Hurley said. “The way we focused on Lucas – we knew how lethal he could be from behind the three-point line. So, I thought the guys did a good job of chasing him around to just having an awareness for him [and] making things difficult.”
It seemed that the Sun Devils had figured out the Beavers’ defense, but they would resort back to taking three-pointers and midrange jump shots. In the second half, ASU only scored 10 points in the paint and shot 35.7% from the field.
Oregon State would try to take advantage of the ASU’s slowed offense by going on a 6-0 scoring run. But even with the opportunity, the Sun Devils fought back and eventually shut the window on the Beavers’ chances to come back.
“We weren’t quite as good defensively on the inside and as the game got late in the going – they got too many baskets going to the rim,” Hurley said. “So that wasn’t great – the last like eight minutes, but otherwise, I thought we were outstanding on that end of the court, and then it’s translated into just better movement, sharing the ball and more trust on offense.”
The Sun Devils have now strung together multiple strong performances on the offensive end, which have been key in their three-game winning streak. But Hurley believes ASU’s defense is where the success is starting.
“I wish I could say that we found the secret, you know, magic dust or whatever,” Hurley said. “[But] it starts with defense and how we guard.”
