ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils pull out a close-win over UCLA behind Savon Goodman’s double-double

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

 

Arizona State took home a 68-66 victory in thrilling fashion Wednesday night under the retired jersey of James Harden who jumped to his feet as his alma mater took down the UCLA Bruins in the final minutes.

In a game where the Bruins had much more on the line, the Sun Devils came out fast and furious. After a three by freshman guard Tra Holder, the Sun Devils made the first half about getting inside the paint. Twenty of their 32 points at halftime were inside the paint, 13 of which belonged to sophomore forward Savon Goodman.

“Your team in not going to be really good if the only way your team wins is if you make ten threes,” Coach Sendek said. “I think we’re finding ways other than making a lot of three point shots to win a game.”

The teams traded baskets for the first nine minutes. UCLA went ahead after the Bruins converted two consecutive, uncontested threes, at which point Goodman worked his way through the lane and avoided the defender at the post to put in a textbook reverse-layup.

“The way our team is built, we could have a very perimeter oriented team on the floor, and (having Savon and Eric) play well together fortified our rebounding and our defense tonight,” Sendek said.

Just when it seemed like UCLA was about to pull away, going up by as much as 10 with three minutes left in the first half, ASU was able to pull itself back in the game behind several McKissic three-point plays and Goodman bulldozing his way to the basket.

With a little over a minute left in the first half of play, Holder dished it to Goodman for an alley-oop, but not before Goodman drew the foul to set up another three-point play.

ASU came into the second half just as tough as the first, despite trailing 32-26. The Sun Devils took the lead they had not held since the 14 minute mark in the first half, with eight minutes to go in the game.

The teams traded the lead back and forth, staying within a point of each other for the majority of the second half.

Once again, however, senior forward Bo Barnes sank a three from no-man’s land with three minutes left in the game to put his team ahead 61-57 and put James Harden, as well as the rest of Wells Fargo Arena, on his feet.

“Bo Barnes made a big shot and tonight was the first time he was out on the floor since he got hurt in the game against Washington State,” Sendek said. “To be able to not participate in practice and then go out and play in a game of this nature, that just shows what type of player he is.”

Up two points, Holder drove to the basket, picked up the foul and made both of his free-throws after which a Goodman rebound on a Bruins miss with 1:41 left put the team up 66-62.

“They’re the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in our league,” Goodman said. “Our whole thing was we gotta hit them before they hit us. We just tried to make a consistent effort of hitting them before they got to the boards.”

But the Bruins would not say die. Senior guard Norman Powell, who had 16 points in the losing effort, quickly banked one in with 1 min left to put the game back within four.

When UCLA got the ball back on a Barnes turnover, it was Powell again. He converted a jumper to make it a one-score game, 66-64.

With less than a minute left, Barnes put up another three and missed, but Goodman picked up the rebound, dishing it out to Gilling who was fouled immediately. He went 1-for-2 at the line to put the Sun Devils up three. Five seconds later, guard Isaac Hamilton laid one in to put the Sun Devils up one with 10 seconds left.

Holder kept it exciting by missing one of his free throws to put the ball back in the Bruins’ hands who missed the last-second, buzzer-beating three to give the Sun Devils the hard-fought win.

Player of the Game: Savon Goodman…again

Without Goodman’s explosive rebounding tonight, the Sun Devils would not have pulled this one out. Goodman posted his third consecutive double-double, collecting 20 points and an even more vital 12 rebounds in the win, roughly a third of ASU’s total rebounds.

Stat of the Game: ASU outrebounding 39 to 27

Given ASU’s much smaller size, outrebounding a bigger UCLA team was something that was unexpected, but vital in this victory.

Biggest Concern: ASU’s 5-for-17 from three-point land

Despite the five threes that many could argue handed ASU the momentum in this matchup, ASU has to be better from beyond the arc, especially when it can be the catalyst for a run, as fans saw with the few tonight.

What’s Next:

The Sun Devils will take on the USC Trojans in Wells Fargo Arena Sunday at 6:30 p.m.

You can reach the author on Twitter @KristinaV_18 or by email at kvicario@asu.edu

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