The Sun Devils were never able to get in a scoring rhythm as they fell to the DePaul Blue Demons 78-61 Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
“They brought the intensity, and that’s something that we didn’t bring today. Obviously they were the better team tonight. There’s a lot of stuff we need to work on,” senior forward Carrick Felix said.
ASU went 3-15 from behind the arc and shot 42.1 percent from the free throw line. Depth was an issue as the Blue Demons’ bench outscored the Sun Devils’ by a margin of 37-6.
“I don’t think we were able to string any kind of stops together. They got to the paint at will,” Sendek said. “They beat us off the dribble, they beat us curling screens, and I thought they really had their way with us when they had the ball.”
The Devils opened the game with a 9-2 run with DePaul struggling out of the gates. However, the Blue Demons were able to overcome a 1-9 shooting start, and eventually took a 14-13 lead at 11:39.
DePaul maintained the lead throughout the first half and at one point led by as many 14 points. ASU closed the half out on a 7-2 run, but DePaul still led 42-33.
In the second half, ASU came out hot as Felix and center Jordan Bachynski slammed home two straight dunks. However, DePaul never took their foot off of the gas. The Blue Demons were efficient, shooting 55.2 percent in the second half, while ASU shot 40 percent.
The full court press presented problems for the Sun Devils all night, and when they were able to break past it, they hesitated to shoot the ball.
“Offensively, at the end of the press I don’t think we attacked the way we could have, and we got caught in no man’s land and settled,” Sendek said. “When we did have good shots, when we did have open shots, we didn’t shoot the ball well.”
DePaul was able to solidify the win after a 17-4 run that spanned nearly seven minutes in the middle of the second half.
Point guard Jahii Carson, Felix, and shooting guard Evan Gordon all finished with 12 points. DePaul guard Brandon Young led all scorers with 18 points and added 9 assists.
The Sun Devils will next host Dartmouth on Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.
