(Photo: Tyler Rittenhouse/WCSN)
Through the first nine games of their young season, the No. 17 Arizona State Sun Devils are sitting at 7-2 with their only two losses coming at the hands of No. 4 Baylor and No. 5 Louisville. This early season success can be accredited to the team’s ability to rebound the basketball and outhustle their opponents on the offensive and defensive end. Arizona State has averaged 43 rebounds per game, out-rebounding their opponents by 11.
Arizona State’s rebounding has led to extra possessions and opportunities to score offensively and has restricted opponents to just one possession defensively.
All of this despite the fact that Arizona State only has one player over 6 foot 5 inches on their roster, sophomore Eva Rubin. While Rubin is the tallest player on the roster this season, she has only played in five of the Devils nine games and has averaged just six minutes in those games.
In comparison, Pac-12 rival and eighth-ranked Oregon State has three players ranging in height from 6 foot 7 inches to 6 foot 9 inches. But for the Arizona State Sun Devils, height is but a number. 6-foot-1-inch senior Kianna Ibis has averaged 12.1 points and 5.2 rebounds this season, while fellow six-foot-1-inch senior forward Sophia Elenga has averaged 7.0 rebounds per game off the bench.
Head coach Charli Turner Thorne said the team has benefitted from their strong post play but still isn’t playing to their full potential because of injuries.
“We’ve got some pretty good posts, especially our seniors,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Jamie Ruden is really getting healthy, Jayde the Jet (Jayde Van Hyfte) gets in there and just gobbles up rebounds and I think we’ve got some good inside presence.”
When Arizona State hosted the 2018 ASU Classic two weekends ago, their dominant inside play was on display.
Kianna Ibis won MVP of the tournament, putting up eight rebounds to add to her 14 points in ASU’s 70-52 victory over Tulsa in the championship game. The Sun Devils racked up 15 offensive boards and 11 blocked shots in that game, which is emblematic of their athletic ability and hustle.
Arizona State only shot 35.6 percent from deep, but the Sun Devils outrebounded Tulsa 44-31, showing that hustle can win them games even when their offense isn’t firing on all cylinders.
Even during games where their shots are not falling, ASU’s focus on playing staunch defense suffocates opponents in the paint and limits them to only one possession on offense.
“Rebounding is definitely a big focus for us,” senior forward Courtney Ekmark said. “I thought we did a great job of that today. That definitely helped us a lot because it gave us extra possession and we were able to finish.”
Since the ASU Classic, the Devils have picked up blowout wins over Southern University and Colorado State by 22 and 31 points respectively. The Devils have two more non-conference games remaining, with games against Kansas State in La Crosse, Wisconsin on Sunday Dec. 16 and Fresno State at home on Dec. 20.
