(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
In an early-season showdown between two Top 25 teams, No. 22 Arizona State proved that they belong amongst the top-tier programs in the country, while sporting a new style of play.
Charli Turner Thorne’s squad narrowly lost by a score of 65-59 to No. 4 Baylor in Sunday evening in a game that showcased the two team’s contrasting styles of play.
Dubbed the “Showdown on the Rez”, Navajo basketball fans were treated to a game featuring a bully-ball style from the Bears, while the Sun Devils did their best “Rezball” impersonation. ASU pushed the pace, running the floor on the fast break and taking 30 three pointers in the game, much to the delight of the spectators at Bee Holdzil Fighting Scouts Event Center.
“We’ve had a lot of ASU women’s basketball teams that have just been pound it inside, paint touch, paint touch, we want 60 paint touches a game,” Arizona State head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “That’s not this team. We’re more Rezball. We’re letting it fly. We can shoot it.”
The Sun Devils offensive attack was predicated on the success of the three-point shot, with a hot first half from beyond the arc fueling an 11-point halftime advantage. Arizona State opened up a 26-12 lead after a quarter and led 35-24 at the break.
“They were lighting it up, and I think kids that we didn’t know about were making threes,” Baylor head coach Kim Mulkey said. “You can live and die by the three, and I think the first half the three got them the lead, and I think in the last part of the game… the shots they were making in the first half they started missing in the second half.”
While the Sun Devils relied on three-point shooting for their offense, Mulkey’s squad took a different approach. In an extreme contrast in style of play, the Bears outscored the Sun Devils 46-8 in the paint while only attempting three three-pointers in the entire game.
Despite the statistical advantage inside, Turner Thorne attributed the Sun Devils failure to finish the job to a lack of focus.
“Our focus changed,” Turner Thorne said. “We just stopped doing what we were doing. We just took our foot off the gas and that’s a teachable moment.”
Despite ASU’s experienced roster, Turner Thorne said the Sun Devils are in the process of learning how to play like a Top Five team for 40 minutes.
“[Baylor] is a team that comes in here thinking their goal is to win a national championship, but our goal isn’t too far behind that,” Turner Thorne said. “The difference is we haven’t been there before. We’re trying to get that mindset and get that killer instinct for 40 minutes, and I think when we get that we’ll be on the other side of these battles.”
With ASU relying on multiple freshmen to play big roles, and with returners Jamie Ruden and Robbi Ryan coming back from offseason injuries, Turner Thorne said her team is still adjusting to the new season.
“We’re probably two or three weeks away just from being in game shape and having the rotation that we needed,” Turner Thorne said. “Tough game first week of the season, but [the freshmen] are going to be so good… We know what we can do now. If there was ever any doubt.”
As it currently stands, the Sun Devils matchup with the Bears is the first of eight games against Top 10 opponents for Turner Thorne’s squad this season. And with the Sun Devils sliding up a spot in the latest AP Top 25 to No. 22, the team has high hopes for those upcoming games.
“[We just have to] play consistent, work our butts off, and play together as a team,” freshman guard Taya Hanson said. “We have the capability to do so much this year and coming out here tonight and seeing that I think gave us a lot of confidence.”
If Sunday was a sign of anything, it was a sign of just how good this Arizona State squad can become, and just how far this Arizona State squad still has to go.
Arizona State goes on the road to play Arkansas next Sunday before another showdown with a Top Five opponent in No. 5 Louisville on Nov. 23.
