ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils effort finally breaks through in UCLA win

(Photo: Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)

When a combined 171 points are scored in a college basketball contest, even in triple overtime, defense may not be the first thought on one’s mind. For Arizona State Men’s Basketball over the last number of games, though, that has been one of the reasons it has not only competed against Top 25 opponents, but came through and defeated No. 3 ranked UCLA on Saturday night in Tempe.

It started with holding then-No. 3 Arizona to their second-lowest point total of the season at just 67 in a loss to the Wildcats last Saturday. In that game, Arizona shot 32.2 percent from the field and just 11.3 percent from beyond the arc. The problem for ASU? It scored just 56 points and turned the ball over 17 times on the road at the McKale Center.

Next up was No. 19 USC on Thursday. The Trojans came to Tempe as the fourth-highest scoring team in the Pac-12 Conference. They had only scored less than 60 points just one other time before the Sun Devils held them to 58. The defense was superb, as ASU blocked 11 shots as a team and forced 14 turnovers. The problem then? A poor shooting night – 14.3 percent to be exact – from beyond the arc and being unable to hold an eight-point lead with 11 minutes to play.

In Saturday’s 87-84 win over No. 3 UCLA in triple overtime, it was not necessarily the score that made the defense stand out. Stats were inflated thanks to the game’s 55 minutes of action. But UCLA came into the night shooting 44.7 percent as a team and shot just 37.2 percent against the Sun Devils.

Junior guard Johnny Juzang was UCLA’s leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points per game. He ended up with 20 points, but was held scoreless throughout all three overtime periods, going 0-6.

“He’s a great player but I’m pretty sure teams are starting to catch on to how good we play defense,” ASU senior guard Marreon Jackson said. “We had to take our defense to another level and that had to win us games.”

Looking in more deeply, the Bruins missed more than half of their layup opportunities – going just 10 of 22. Most of those were second-chance effort opportunities on the offensive end while they were second chances for ASU to get stops defensively. Junior forward Alonzo Gaffney came up with two blocks from opportunities like that, which carried over from his pair of blocks against USC.

“Both teams had incredible spirit, will to win and a lot of plays were made out there,” ASU Head Coach Bobby Hurley said. “We were fortunate to have something left in a tank in that third overtime. It was very rewarding.”

ASU has played in 10 games decided by five points or less in 2021-22. The “what ifs” have seemingly piled up. On Thursday, DJ Horne’s floater inside the paint down three with 12 seconds left was that moment.

On Nov. 11, it was sophomore forward Marcus Bagley lunging for a steal and giving UC Riverside’s senior forward JP Moorman II a clear look from 75 feet. The odds of making that shot are almost impossible, but what if Bagley was simply a body in front of Moorman II as a shield to his view at the rim?

Fast forward to two weeks ago: What if ASU had shot more than nine free throws against Stanford when the Cardinal took 41 in the Sun Devils’ three-point loss?

The close losses, some of which came in draining fashion, could have easily wain down ASU’s effort and will.

Coming into Saturday’s game, ASU had lost seven of its last eight games, with three of them coming by five points or less. Hurley described it as “determination” from his bunch.

“They were determined and they would not be denied and that was what I was hearing in huddles from the players, [they] were saying ‘Hey, we’re in this overtime, we’re going to get this,’” Hurley said. “They had the right mindset and you knew that they were gonna do what it takes to win.”

Jackson had a career-high in points as a Sun Devil, with 24 against UCLA. But the senior also grabbed three steals – another piece of evidence in ASU’s effort.

“There’s been a lot of games this season where it was down to one play, two, three plays or we could have won and we’ve just been building off that,” Jackson said. “It has built character for games like this and hopefully we’re going to build off of this game and get on a run.”

Now, that effort will be put to the test as ASU concludes their gauntlet of a schedule by hosting No. 7 Arizona on Monday night.