ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils defense leads vs Alcorn State

(Photo: Max Zepeda/WCSN)

TEMPE — While Arizona State Men’s Basketball has been clicking on the offensive end of the floor, averaging 73.7 points per game and a net offensive rating of 1.027, ranking fifth-best in the Pac-12, its defense has been fueling the efficiency. The Sun Devils’ length and versatility have helped in all aspects of the game, especially in their efficiency from inside the paint, taking 46.7 percent of their shots from around the basket.

The increase in offensive efficiency has taken the spotlight, casting a shadow over the program’s defensive efficiency. In some respects, the lack of defensive recognition is justified, as the Sun Devils have three games of 49 percent or better from the field.

But the opposite was true in the Sun Devils (6-1) 76-54 victory over the Alcorn State Braves (3-4), giving head coach Bobby Hurley and his squad a four-game winning streak.

In Sunday’s match, ASU relied on its defense to get the offense into transition, accumulating 20 assists on 24 made shots. The assist total marks back-to-back games of 20 assists, which happened only twice in the entire 2021-22 season.

“I almost don’t initially talk about it anymore,” Hurley said. “Just because you look at the stat sheet and you see the assist total jump out, and you say ‘that’s great. We’re playing team basketball,’ but we can’t take that for granted. How high level we are playing that end just unbelievable energy. We have a deep team with a lot of guys we could bring in and we got a lot of length around the basket. So, I think we could can hopefully we can continue to play that way at that end of the floor.”

The defense had a historic game, holding the Braves to 27.1 percent from the field. The defensive performance marked the eighth time in 10 seasons ASU held a team below 30 percent shooting. The seventh instance happened on Nov. 22 against Grambling State, holding them to 26.6 percent shooting. Prior to the last week, the previous time the defense limited an opponent to under 30 percent shooting was against Arkansas-Pine Bluff to 29.7 percent on Oct. 10, 2012.

“We get a lot of our offense from defense,” senior forward Alonzo Gaffney said. “So, as long as we’re out there, and we’re focused on our defensive end of the game, all our offensive gonna come to us. We got really good guards too that’s gonna find each other and make sure that we get great shots.”

Senior forward Warren Washington added: “I feel like we have really good shot-makers like I said before, so I feel like shots will fall. That’s something you can’t really control. But defensive is something you can control, as long as that’s a variable that’s constant and given, we’ll be fine. We’ll be able to win games.”

Washington’s defensive intensity stood out against Alcorn State, rejecting two shots. Washington’s length allows him to make up ground on smaller players and take up more room, limiting the offensive players’ space.

The 7-foot forward was also a force offensively, scoring a team-high 14 points on a perfect 5-for-5 shooting. Washington was on the receiving end of multiple alley-oops, mainly coming from sophomore guard Frankie Collins, who tallied five assists.

“I feel like when you’re dangerous on the inside and out, it’s hard to guard that type of team,” Washington said. “And I feel like we have that type of team. We’re deep in the wing position and guard position. And we have bigs who can run the floor and dunk and we have unselfish guards that give up the ball. So I feel like it just works out perfectly.”

The versatility Washington brings to the floor is immense, allowing the guards to find him on fast breaks. The guards also look in the direction of Gaffney, who has a similar length to Washington. The 6-foot-9 forward scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, draining two shots from behind the arch.

“[Washington is] a really big target,” Hurley said. “It’s a matter of getting a feel for playing with him. Him and [Gaffney] could really climb the ladder and go get the ball. He really ran the floor well, and I thought we outran their bigs. Warren was definitely a part of that. So, I was happy to see him again put another solid game together for us.”

Senior guard Devan Cambridge was also instrumental in the victory. Like Washington and Gaffney, Cambridge also has the length to finish at the basket. The 6-foot-6 guard tied Washington’s team-leading 14 points, shooting 5-for-8.

The Sun Devils still have nonconference games left on their schedule but will take a brief hiatus to start conference play on Wednesday against Colorado. The strong start has helped fueled their level of confidence prior to conference play.

“I felt like we had a lot of good battles and a lot of good tests,” Washington said. “And credit to Alcorn State. They’re a really hard-working team. So I feel like the games we’ve had up to here is really gonna help us for Pac-12, and I think we’re ready and prepared.”