ASU Men’s Basketball: Inconsistent defense, effort costs Sun Devils late

PHOTO: (Dom Contini/WCSN Photo)

Fourteen made three-point field goals in a game is seemingly impressive. Ten made in the first half is perhaps even more so. If the last one is from 65 feet to seal the game, that just might take the cake.

“It shouldn’t have to come down to that,” sophomore forward Marcus Bagley said.

In Arizona State Men’s Basketball’s 66-65 buzzer-beating loss to UC Riverside on Thursday night, there were a dozen things to point to that turned the tide of the contest to where it came down to a miracle shot.

With 9:50 to go in the game, redshirt junior guard Luther Muhammed grabbed an outlet pass with nothing but space in front of him. Primed for a dunk, he lost the ball and turned it over.

Five minutes later, freshman center Enoch Boakye missed a dunk which turned into a lost possession for the Sun Devils.

ASU head coach Bobby Hurley preached defending the Highlanders’ three-point shooting leading up to Thursday’s game. Not that UC Riverside made a ton of them, but that it shot them like it did. In the Highlanders’ season-opening loss to San Diego State, they went six for 22 from beyond the arc.

“One of the focal points coming into the game to run them off the line,” Bagley said.

That was nowhere near the case in the first half. The Highlanders shot 10-20 from three-point range, and all but four of their 34 first-half points came from downtown.

“I just didn’t feel like we were we were locked in and ready to play from the jump,” Hurley said. “We had several mental breakdowns. We didn’t do a good job of guarding the three-point line and didn’t do that consistently.”

Bagley echoed similar frustrations with the lack of defensive consistency.

“We were not talking, no communication, not making the right rotation, including me,” Bagley said. “We’ve just got to be better.”

What was more troubling was the fact that UC Riverside’s barrage of three pointers came in bunches. It hit its first three from above the perimeter and four of its first six. Then the Highlanders would miss their next six in a row before hitting three more in a row to close out the half.

Once UC Riverside got on a roll shooting wise, the intensity seemed to pick up. The Sun Devils’ defense locked down and kept the Highlanders off the board for more than three straight minutes. After that, the defense seemed to faltar.

“We should have more urgency to close out harder get these guys off the line,” Hurley said. “We didn’t do that and I think some of it was miscommunication.”

Hurley praised the defense in their season opening win over Portland. It forced 21 turnovers in that game compared to just 13 in Thursday’s game.

“If your defense shows up and you’ve got guys playing hard on that end, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win,” Hurley said postgame Tuesday.

The perimeter defense improved in the second half as the Highlanders made just four shots from beyond the arc. However, the improved performance wasn’t enough.

“We didn’t do our job early in the game and and that’s what led to the result,” Hurley said. “In a close game, you can’t impose your tempo and you can’t force them to play faster.”

The energy and intensity seemed to come and go at times for the Sun Devils, and Bagley took notice.

“Energy was flat,” Bagley said. “We deserved to lose that game.”