(Photo: Brady Klain/WCSN)
As Rob Edwards and Alonzo Verge headed to the locker room following Arizona State’s 77-72 win over No. 14 Oregon, the Sun Devil guards were shouting loudly.
“It’s a big one!” Verge proclaimed.
“Ain’t no rebound! It’s going in!” Edwards exclaimed.
It was Edwards’ late way of letting Oregon senior forward Shakur Juiston know that there would be few misses on the night, one that saw the Edwards go 5-for-9 from 3-point range, tying his season-high from beyond the arc.
“The dude who was closing out on me was yelling ‘rebound, rebound,’ so I had to let him know,” Edwards said.
Out of the halftime break, Edwards knocked down a wide open 3-pointer. He followed it two possessions later by draining a jumper with Juiston’s hand in his face, extending the Sun Devils lead to 10.
“I watched his feet and he didn’t come up high enough, so I just let it rip,” said Edwards, a 34.2 percent 3-point shooter this season.
After Arizona State (18-8, 9-4 Pac-12) opened up an 11-point lead with 12:26 to play in the second half, the Ducks mounted a comeback. Oregon senior guard Payton Pritchard got lost in transition, resulting in an open 3-pointer from the wing. Swish.
Out of a timeout, the Ducks forced a 10-second violation leading to another Pritchard 3-pointer, this time from just inside the white Desert Financial Arena logo. Chris Duarte converted an and-one and tied the game at 54 apiece with 7:16 to play.
With ASU in need of a score to stop the run, junior guard Alonzo Verge euro-stepped his way through the lane, converting a layup through contact to give the Sun Devils a 3-point lead. Martin rebounded an Oregon miss and was off to the races, feeding Edwards in transition for his fifth 3-point make of the night to give the Sun Devils a 60-54 lead.
“I had a chip on my shoulder going into this game,” said Verge, who scored a game-high 26 points on 10-21 shooting from the floor. “I knew prior that I didn’t score versus them [in the first contest] and I knew they were playing against a whole different person from the beginning of the year.”
Oregon used the same full-court press that the Sun Devils have used in previous weeks, forcing turnovers and havoc. Along with it, head coach Bobby Hurley said the Sun Devils were able to get out in transition, leading to a higher shooting percentage.
“There were a couple of minor issues with it,” Hurley said. “I thought [Verge] did a nice job with it. He’s like a one-man press break with the ball. It’s like a car weaving through traffic on the 101 or something. He’s really got the ball on a string or something and just did a nice job breaking the pressure late in the game.”
Verge’s ability to dribble through traffic led to Payton Pritchard’s fifth foul of the night, a reach in near halfcourt with 2:15 remaining and the Ducks trailing by five.
Edwards’ scoring effort keyed a night where the “Guard U” Arizona State offense of old returned in full force. The Sun Devils’ trio of guards combined for 61 of ASU’s 77 points, despite Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate Remy Martin only scoring 11.
“My job is to find him and get him open shots and I did that today,” said Martin, who had five assists in the win. “I didn’t score as much as I usually score and I’m perfectly OK with that. The guys stepped up.”
The much-anticipated Pac-12 Player of the Year battle saw Pritchard plagued with foul trouble, and Martin take just eight shots, one off his season-low for attempts in a game.
The Sun Devils extended their six-game winning streak with the win. It’s the program’s longest win streak in Pac-12 play since Arizona State won 11 consecutive conference games in 1981.
As it has over the course of the winning streak, ball movement helped pave the way for better offense again Thursday night. Against the Ducks, Arizona State assisted on 17 of its 29 made field goals.
Sitting at the top of the Pac-12 standings with a tie in the loss column, Edwards said the Sun Devils have more to do as they prepare for Oregon State to visit Saturday at 6 p.m.
“I still feel like we’ve got work to do,” Edwards said. “I ain’t going to go home and be all excited about it, it ain’t really nothing. We’ve still got practice tomorrow and we’re focused on Oregon State.”
