(Photo: Brendan O’Keeffe/WCSN)
Arizona State Men’s Basketball traveled north to Salt Lake City, Utah, for its final road game of the 2021-22 season on Saturday night. In the finale, the Sun Devils managed to clinch their fifth road win of the year and their fifth win in their last six games with a 63-61 victory over Utah.
The Utes (11-18, 4-15 Pac-12 Conference) entered Saturday night’s bout as a bottom-three defensive team in the Pac-12 Conference. Allowing their opponents to score 70.3 points per game meant that ASU (12-16, 8-10 Pac-12) had the potential to be lethal on the offensive end.
Right from the opening tip, the Sun Devils attacked the basket often, resulting in their first four baskets coming off layups. ASU would venture behind the arc but would eventually find their way back to the paint. In the first half alone, the Sun Devils had 18 points in the paint and had taken 13 layups.
Leading the attack was junior forward Jalen Graham, who had 10 points in the first half. Graham took advantage of the Utes by posting them up on the elbow and drilling turnaround hook shots. The shot quickly became the bread and butter of the offense as the 6-foot-9 forward went 5-8 from the field.
The offensive outpouring helped give ASU head coach Bobby Hurley and his squad a 33-30 lead at the half.
The success inside the paint continued for ASU as senior forward Kimani Lawrence made back-to-back layups. Senior guard Marreon Jackson also pitched in by scoring a layup of his own and nailing a step-back jump shot.
Although the Sun Devils’ attack was clicking inside the arc, sophomore guard Jay Heath, who started the game over sophomore guard DJ Horne due to an illness, added a layer to the offense by getting hot from downtown. Heath drained all three of his second-half attempts, which forced the Utes to defend the three-point line. The 6-foot-3 guard finished the game with 20 points, setting a new ASU career-high.
At this point, ASU found itself up 13 points with just 7:24 to go in the game. It appeared the game was out of reach for Utah, but it wasn’t. The Utes dug in and found their groove on both ends of the floor. To close the final 6:20, Utah forced four consecutive Sun Devils turnovers, stalling their offense.
With their attack lacking, the Sun Devils would turn to their defense to hold the lead. But the Utes would go on a 14-1 run in the final 6:03 stretch of the game. The scoring outburst was bizarre in and of itself, but became even more impractical as 11 of the points scored came in the final three minutes of play.
Utah senior guard Marco Anthony led the way for the Utes with 19 points and four rebounds. Anthony helped lead the late-game surge and tied the game at 61 for the Utes. Unfortunately for Anthony and Utah, those would be the final points scored by the home team.
After Anthony’s game-tying dunk, Jackson found the ball in his hands. With under 30 seconds to go, Hurley could be seen on the sideline telling his guard to slow down and chew the clock. Jackson did just that until 10 seconds read on the game clock.
Lawrence set a pick, which revealed a path to the basket. Jackson drove to the basket and took the game-winning shot attempt – a layup which saw the ball rattle around the rim until it eventually found its way through the net.
The Utes were given 6.2 seconds to go the distance of the floor, which they nearly converted on. Utah sophomore guard Rollie Worster went coast-to-coast but would miss the floater at the buzzer.
ASU will return to Tempe for its final two home games of the season against California and Stanford, which take place on Thursday at 6 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m. MST respectively.
