(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
Last weekend, No. 16 ASU pulled off the Top-10 victory they desperately needed. Against a stingy Oregon State Beavers team, it had all the components of an amazing win: double overtime, high-scoring and it silenced the home crowd. After having lost to four Top-10 schools by only single digits this season, the Sun Devils finally got over the hump last Sunday in a 79-76 win over the Beavers.
But on Friday afternoon, ASU didn’t bring the same intensity in its upset loss to UCLA 61-59. Against a 9-9 Bruins team that was only 2-4 in conference play, ASU didn’t take control of the game and allowed UCLA to hang in there. Japreece Dean’s go-ahead three-pointer with seconds remaining sealed a UCLA road victory in Tempe. Compared to the win over Oregon State, Friday’s loss for the Devils was a clear letdown.
After ASU played very competitively in arguably its toughest two-week stretch of Pac-12 play against Stanford and California at home and Oregon and Oregon State on the road, Friday’s game begs a valid question. Why has ASU been playing to its opponent in conference play as of late?
Frankly, it seems like head coach Charli Turner Thorne is not quite sure why this trend is happening.
“I have not figured it out with this team if it’s just we have to get more consistent or they are looking at their opponent and saying how much do I need to do to win,” Turner Thorne said after Friday’s loss. “I think it appears that way so it’s a valid question.”
Of course women’s basketball in the Pac-12 is never easy, characterized by five Top-25 teams in the conference. But for Turner Thorne, who has high expectations for her team and does not settle for just good enough, the recent performances of ASU playing to its opponent is obviously something she is not happy about.
“It’s not who we are. It’s not who we have ever been as Sun Devils of how much do we have to do,” Turner Thorne said. “But I think there is a little bit of that going on.”
However, junior guard Reili Richardson downplayed the notion of UCLA being a “trap” game after coming off such a rewarding victory over Oregon State last weekend.
“I think we just go into every game focused on that team, not on the past or what is ahead of us,” Richardson said, who missed a contested game-tying layup on the Devils’ final possession. “We got away from a few things today.”
Perhaps Friday’s loss was simply a lack of determination in the second half with the Devils unable to grab rebounds and really break away from the Bruins. But the fact of the matter is that ASU has not made it easy on itself ever since conference play started. No matter who the opponent is, there’s a pretty high likelihood it will be a close game. For Turner Thorne and her Devils, they need to put away opponents they are supposed to put away without any more inconsistency.
“It needs to stop,” Turner Thorne said.
