ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils look to improve after narrow win against Tarleton State

(Photo: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)

TEMPE – A look at the box score for Arizona State Men’s Basketball’s opener against Tarleton State Texans, would show flashes of dominance from ASU, outrebounding its opposition by 15 and holding the Tarleton State to 2-14 from three and 19-32 from the free throw line.

All of those stats would suggest a Sun Devils blowout, but the opposite was the case, as ASU (1-0) squeaked out a victory over Tarleton State (0-1) 62-59 in the team’s return to action.

“It wasn’t appealing to watch, I would imagine,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “It wasn’t a pleasing game on the eye I wouldn’t say.”

Hurley was right, and nothing encapsulates that more than junior forward Marcus Bagley’s go-ahead basket.

With 18 seconds to go in the game and the Sun Devils were down one. Junior guard DJ Horne stole the ball and tossed it to Bagley, who stood under the basket ready for a layup. He was unsuccessful on his first attempt but got the offensive rebound and put it in the basket, drawing a foul in the process.

Bagley converted the and-one opportunity, sealing the deal for ASU. But the focus was on improvement, rather than celebration.

“We know the type of team we are and we didn’t play up to that level tonight,” Bagley said. “So it was just kind of like we won but everybody in the back of our heads are like ‘oh yeah, we gotta we gotta we gotta play better.’”

ASU is going to have to play better, specifically on the offensive end, if they want any hope of dancing in March. Percentage-wise, the numbers are ugly for the Sun Devils as they only shot 33.9 percent from the field and a paltry 25 percent from three. ASU also failed to capitalize on the 28 fouls the Texans committed, converting 48.3 percent of their 29 free throw attempts.

Tarleton State’s tough defense made ASU fight on every possession, but Hurley and his squad understand building on Monday’s game will be critical to the program’s success.

“I just think we got to get better, better balance to our offense, better flow to our offense,” Hurley said. “We couldn’t really go inside a whole lot today. So everything was outside in, they took a lot away in terms of denials, that’s how they play. So it became a player’s game to kind of break down a defense and try and make a play. So we just weren’t real efficient at that end of the floor.”

With the team switching to a more isolation style of basketball, sophomore guard Frankie Collins shined in his first game as a Sun Devil. Collins ended the game with a career-high 21 points, drilling four 3-pointers, adding three rebounds and four assists.

The Sacramento native didn’t expect to play that big of a role on offense but felt comfortable attacking the Texans due to playing them last year as part of the Michigan Wolverines.

“I mean, I was just doing whatever I had to do for us to get the win,” Collins said. “Last year playing them, they were the exact same, take you out of your offense and just be in the lanes and stuff like that. So I was really prepared for it.”

Collins was not the only newcomer making an impact on the season opener as senior guard Devan Cambridge led a defense that recorded ten blocks and held the Texans to 34.5 percent from the field. Cambridge was a force on the defensive end, leading the team in rebounds and blocks with 10 and four respectively.

Despite committing 21 turnovers on the night, ASU forced 17 of their own, with two coming in the last minute of the game that sealed the deal. One was the aforementioned Horne turnover, the other a steal by Collins that turned into a ferocious dunk by Cambridge to seal the game, marking Cambridge’s only bucket of the night.

Monday night’s showing was not the best the Sun Devils can play, but if they don’t improve a supposedly light non-conference schedule could become highly problematic as the season continues.

“They outplayed us really,” Hurley said. “I think we just were fortunate to make plays down the stretch and close the game out.”