ASU Men’s Basketball: Stephen F. Austin preview

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

Looking to continue their strong start in nonconference play, the Arizona State Sun Devils take on the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks in Tempe on Tuesday.

The Sun Devils are coming off one of their most solid performances of the year in their 98-79 win over Houston Baptist on Saturday. Five players scored in double-figures and ASU controlled the boards without junior forward Savon Goodman. ASU scored 21 second-chance points off of their 16 offensive rebounds in the game.

The Sun Devils executed offensively. Sophomore Kodi Justice made six three-pointers in the game for a game-high 20 points and ASU shot 49 percent from the field, its third highest total this season.

Stephen F. Austin is also coming off one of its better games of the season as well, defeating Our Lady of the Lake 95-56 in its last time out. The win is its fifth in a row and a sign that the team is starting to reach its stride as the season progresses. The Lumberjacks have made the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons and are consistent, which makes them a difficult team to play at any time.

Keys to the Game

Stopping Walkup

Stephen F. Austin guard Thomas Walkup is a matchup nightmare and an all-around excellent player. Walkup leads his team in points, assists, rebounds, and steals. While he isn’t much of a three-point shooter or an isolation player, Walkup knows how to score within the flow of the Lumberjack offense. His points come from attacking the basket off of screens and in transition.

While defending Walkup from scoring, ASU will have to limit his facilitating abilities as well. He averages 4.4 assists per game, good for sixth in the Southland Conference. Walkup is not a pure point guard, but is good at finding the open man in space coming off cuts to the basket or off-ball screens. The Sun Devils will need to keep up with Stephen F. Austin’s heavy ball-screen offense to prevent easy buckets from close range.

For ASU to have success in containing him, it will need to stay disciplined and navigate these screens correctly. If it falls asleep on defense, Walkup will burn them. He leads the Southland Conference in field goal percentage at 58 percent because he takes high-quality shots. The Sun Devils will have to keep him away from the paint and force him to take contested jump shots.

Limiting Turnovers

The one area that Stephen F. Austin excels in is creating turnovers. The Lumberjacks are first out of 351 Division I men’s basketball teams in terms of turnover margin at +8.5 per game. They force a lot of turnovers and commit few themselves.

ASU is not a turnover-prone team as they have an average turnover margin of +0.45 per game. The Sun Devils turn the ball over about as much as their opponents. When facing a team as good as Stephen F. Austin is at creating mistakes, the Sun Devils will have to be extra careful with the ball

Inside Presence

Goodman is expected miss the game due to the same personal reasons that kept him out of wins against UNLV and Houston Baptist. Without him, ASU will need to establish itself inside. The Sun Devils are one of the top offensive rebounding teams in the country and generate many second-chance points. This will be critical in putting pressure on the Lumberjack offense to score more.

Junior forward Obinna Oleka and senior forwards Willie Atwood and Eric Jacobsen will need to do their best defending with the possibility of Goodman out. Because of the intricate offense Stephen F. Austin runs, it is imperative to protect the basket and be alert to who is moving where. If ASU can maintain their focus and protect at the rim, it should be able to stifle the Lumberjacks.

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