(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
They came, they saw and they conquered. The Arizona State men’s basketball team put together a high flying performance filled with dunks, blocks and a whole lot of threes en route to an 80-52 win over the McNeese State University Cowboys.
The night could be summed up in just two words- gut punch. From the early offense to the explosive second half that saw the Devils take a 20-point lead, ASU put their foot on the gas with no intention of ever touching the breaks. That “gut punch” success came in the offense sure, three of the team’s 14 players posted at least 15 points. But the biggest success against a team the Devils knew they should beat was the defense, something that coach Bobby Hurley did not see from his guys in both the season opener and the exhibition game against Arizona Christian.
Tonight the Sun Devils worked hard to limit the Cowboys’ shooting and make sure every shot was what Coach Bobby Hurley called “a tough one.”
On the night, McNeese was held to just 47 total shot attempts, two less than the number of three-point attempts allowed to Arizona Christian. Of the 47 shots, the Cowboys hit just 15 of them. That was perhaps the biggest triumph for Hurley- shots made per shots taken.
“That was the biggest thing for us tonight, the percentages were down,” Hurley said. “The number of quality shots they were able to get was lower than against our last opponent. I thought early in the game they got in the paint too many times and that was an issue in the second half of last game. But, like we did in the second half of tonight’s matchup, we forced them to shoot the ball. When we force them into uncomfortable jump shots we can turn the ball over and get down the court.”
And get down the court they did. Luguentz Dort, Zylan Cheatham and Kimani Lawrence combined for 57 of the team’s 82 total points and highlighted their high octane offense with slam dunks and deep threes.
Dort continued his offensive explosion to start the season with a 25 point performance. This quarter century-mark performance backed up his last outing of 28 points and confirmed the suspicions of Hurley who said “I’ve been warning you guys about him for months now. I knew he could do this.”
But, for Hurley, this 28-point blowout was just the tip of the iceberg. With health and more practice will come an even better team capable of more than what the Devils have displayed through the first two games.
“I think we’re definitely a work in progress,” Hurley said of his triumphant team. “I’m also pretty happy with the results.”
With three young players playing like vets the future of the team appears to be trending in the right direction. And just two weeks after the lights in the building were the team’s biggest success, the real Sun Devil team appears to be ready to cash in at The Bank.
