ASU Women’s Basketball: Back from Cancun, ASU set to take on UTSA, Harvard

(Photo: Brendan O’Keefe/WCSN)

Most trips to Cancun are full of blissful experiences. For Arizona State women’s basketball, it was a different experience. The Sun Devils (3-4) played three games at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya, but only claimed one victory. The trip began with an eight-point loss to Houston and a 10-point loss to No. 6 Baylor before a dominant 29-point victory over Fordham. With a less than ideal trip in the past, the Sun Devils are now focused on their next challenges, UTSA and Harvard. 

Arizona State will host UTSA (1-4) on Saturday and Harvard (2-4) on Sunday. The pair of games will provide an opportunity for the Sun Devils to get back on track and improve to a winning record. After its game against Harvard, Arizona State will hit the road and not play another home game until Dec. 21. 

Ironically for a team called the Roadrunners, UTSA has not gotten off to a fast start. The sole win for UTSA came Nov. 21 over Incarnate Word. Aside from that, UTSA has struggled to stay competitive, with an average margin of defeat of 22.8 points in its four losses. 

The most important of those losses to the Sun Devils happens to be the Roadrunner’s most recent game where they visited Minnesota on Nov. 28. Arizona State fell to Minnesota in an overtime thriller on Nov. 12 at Desert Financial Arena. With a common opponent, the film from the Minnesota-UTSA game should give ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne and the Sun Devils coaching staff a good idea of what to expect. The Roadrunners did not perform well in Minnesota, suffering an 81-52 loss at the hands of the Golden Gophers. 

Despite the blowout loss in Minnesota, UTSA started off the game on a 7-0 run. That lead quickly disappeared, but the Roadrunners showed they have the ability to keep bigger schools on their toes. A huge part of UTSA’s success is guard Lapraisjah Johnson, a grad transfer from Nevada. Johnson had a season-high 15 points against Minnesota while also making an impact on the glass, grabbing nine boards.

Arizona State struggled to dismantle Baylor’s inside offense, and Johnson poses a similar ability to get to the rim, averaging 9.8 free throw attempts  per game this season. The route to victory for UTSA may come through getting Arizona State in foul trouble through the use of Johnson’s drives. However, it’ll be an extremely tough ask for Johnson to lead the Roadrunners to a victory in Tempe.

The Sun Devils will enter Sunday’s game against Harvard with an advantage on the defensive side of the ball. While ASU has held its opponents to 55.4 points per game, Harvard has struggled to limit its opponents, giving up an average of 72.7 points per game. Harvard’s defense showed potential against Northern Illinois, limiting the Huskies to 53 points, but has since regressed.

Outside of its game against NIU, Harvard has yet to hold an opponent under 68 points while giving up more than 79 in three of its six games thus far. Arizona State has struggled from behind the arc this season, shooting only .274 from deep, but Sunday’s game may be the perfect time to turn things around as Harvard’s opponents have shot 35.3 percent from deep this season. The sole bright spot on the Harvard defense may be freshman guard Harmoni Turner, who has already tallied 15 steals in her first six collegiate games.

Saturday’s game with UTSA tips off at 1 p.m. Sunday’s contest against Harvard will tip-off at noon in Tempe.

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