(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
The scene was set and the fight ready to begin. The favorite, No. 15 ranked Mississippi State University was fighting to maintain their place in the standings and avoid defeat. The underdogs, the Arizona State University Sun Devils came to the MGM Grand Main Event looking to play spoilers.
The first round was what prominent forward, Zylan Cheatham would call, “a gut punch” words he used to describe his team’s dominance in a win against McNeese State just a week before this game. Not only did the Devils deliver blows that would leave any opponent wincing, they did it time and time again.
By the time the clock hit halftime the Devils had played like they were surefire to win a game they were not expected to win. Kimani Lawrence, a player who had, up until now, quietly helped dot the teams I’s and cross their T’s broke out a 14 point first half.
“It’s amazing how life works,” Hurley said of Lawrence. “He was very efficient on both ends of the floor and very clutch tonight.”
Zylan Cheatham put up 10 points accompanied by eight rebounds, all captaining an offense that had 37 points on 14-of-31 shooting. While the team shot well and dominated in their offensive game, it was the first half defense that told the real story.
“Our defense has had this real carryover effect from last game,” Hurley said. “We rebounded at a ridiculous clip and looked fantastic on defense in the first half. We made them shoot contested shots and collectively, we did really well on that end of the floor.”
Bobby Hurley had made it abundantly clear before the team’s first road trip that they would have to focus on limiting lazy defense on the perimeter and locking down the opposing offense from mid-range. They did just that. The Bulldogs only managed to make 2-of-15 shots from behind the arc in the opening half while the team’s overall shooting percentage was just 30.3 percent. Hurley’s wish became reality to start the main event and the Devils easily took round one by a score of 39-24.
The Devils knew what they needed to do in the second half. They entered it with a 15 point lead against the toughest opponent they have faced to date and there was nothing more this young group of talented players wanted than to come away victorious.
As the half got underway, so to did the defense that Hurley has tried tirelessly to avoid. The Bulldogs outscored the Devils 43 to 33 and outrebounded ASU 22 to 13. The Bulldogs took what was a dominant performance from ASU in the first half and put the Devils into survival mode in the second.
Like with any good fight, the Devils survived the counterattack. They held off a valiant effort from the Bulldogs to come away victorious in the team’s first matchup against a ranked opponent by a score of 72-67.
“We expect ourselves to win these types of games,” Hurley said.
And with those expectations, the team is well on their way to building something else, an identity, an identity that will separate this squad, filled with size and power, from the teams of year’s past- Gaurd U. This team will work to dominate on offense not from behind the arc but from the interior using their NBA team like size to their advantage.
“Everyone talks about what this team lost,” Lawrence said. “Nobody talks about what we’ve gained.”
The Devils have in fact gained. They have gained size, sure. But this team has also gained a dominant identity, one where no team is too good to dominate the Devils. This team has gained resilience through the face of hardship- Rob Edwards, one of the team’s best shot creators has not played since week one. And, most importantly, the team kept something from last year. They kept a coach willing to keep the team honest, pushing them to be better even in a victory.
November 19 was a fight for the Devils. But, like in any main event in Vegas, when the underdog wins, it comes out of the match with an identity, a dangerous identity to be feared by future opponents.
