(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
Arizona State men’s basketball (8-3) started slow and never recovered in a 96-56 loss to St. Mary’s Wednesday at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
Coming off a thrilling 79-59 victory over Georgia, in which ASU locked down potential top draft pick Anthony Edwards and the Bulldogs, the bar has been set high defensively for the Sun Devils all season.
But on Wednesday, ASU’s defense allowed its highest scoring output of the season, with the Gaels scoring 15 more points than Colorado, who put up 81 points against ASU in the season opener. The 96 points allowed is also tied for fifth most in the Bobby Hurley era.
St. Mary’s point guard Jordan Ford was a major catalyst for that hefty scoring output. The senior had a field day in the first half, making his first six attempts from behind the arc.
Ford was named the MVP of the game, finishing with 34 points on the night on 12-of-17 shooting. He single handedly out-scored the Sun Devils 22-19 in the opening 20 minutes.
Ford’s performance underscored an electric long-range explosion from the Gael offense. St. Mary’s collectively shot just over 60 percent from deep while holding the Sun Devils below 15 percent in the same category.
“I had a ton of respect for them coming into the game,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “[Ford] was phenomenal. Everywhere, guys were draining shots. They played off him very well. They were outstanding.”
From a Sun Devil perspective, ASU never got much going offensively whatsoever, with Alonzo Verge Jr. being the lone bright spot. The junior dropped 43 points, the fourth highest individual single-game scoring performance in ASU history. Verge shot 18-of-29 from the floor with a number of good slashes to the basket and midrange jumpers.
Since a breakout performance against Prairie View A&M, the Chicago native has put a string of good performances together. Despite his career night however, he finished with a -38 plus-minus, the worst such number among any player from either team.
“He’s just one of a few guys that had a rhythm on offense,” Hurley said. “Once he got going, we knew we had to keep riding him, just give him the ball about every time down the court.”
Take Verge’s scoring output out of the equation however, and ASU shot just 14 percent from the field. Only two other players tallied points in the scoring column for the Sun Devils. Romello White had five points and Taeshon Cherry tallied eight.
With a 40-point loss in tow, Hurley put most of the blame on himself for not getting his team ready to play.
“I gotta do a better job. I gotta have my team ready to play,” Hurley said. “You lose this decisively, and it’s on me to make sure we are practicing better, prepare better, and ready to play.”
Now with three losses in non-conference, ASU returns home to Tempe this weekend for a matchup with Creighton at Desert Financial Arena. Tipoff is at 6:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Network.
