(Photo: Susan Wong/WCSN)
In a late non-conference addition to its schedule, the Arizona State Sun Devils (9-6, 4-6 Pac-12) defeated the Southern Utah Thunderbirds (8-5, 3-2 Big Sky) 55-44 Monday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena.
Plans for the game were made on Saturday after both of Arizona State’s games against the Oregon schools were postponed due to COVID developments. Arizona State reached out to several programs for an impromptu matchup, and was able to set up the Monday matinee against the Thunderbirds, who had their Saturday game against Northern Colorado canceled.
The Sun Devils have had seven postponed games to date, and have played just seven games in the past 52 days.
“I just really wanted to thank our administration for letting us pick up this game today,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “Every game we can get in with this young team makes a difference, and we’re definitely still trying to get better. We’re not obviously where we need to be offensively in any realm.”
The lack of preparation for their new opponents showed as the Sun Devils scored just 12 points in each of the first three quarters. While they stayed in command of the game for all 40 minutes, they were able to jump ahead in the fourth quarter on the heels of junior guard Taya Hanson.
Hanson led the Sun Devils with 15 points, and made three shots from behind the arc in the second half, continuing to be the team’s most efficient scorer from long range.
“We struggled to make some shots in the beginning, so that definitely plays a factor,” Hanson said. “But I think we stepped it up on our defense come the fourth quarter and second half. And you know, defense is a huge part of contributing to offensive flow.”
The energized second half came with a change of pace for the Sun Devils. During a timeout huddle in the third quarter, Turner Thorne instructed her team to “just shoot it”.
“It was basically both teams daring each other to shoot,” Turner Thorne said. “Neither team has been shooting the ball great all year long…We talked about it at halftime and then we came out and got a couple 30-second shot clock violations to start the third quarter. I was yelling at them to shoot it…especially at the end of the shot clock, we didn’t need to do anything except shoot it because they weren’t really guarding us.”
The Sun Devils’ hottest area was under the basket, using their size to put up 24 points in the paint, and drawing fouls that led to 12-17 from the free-throw line. Undeterred from the team’s time off, freshman guard Jaddan Simmons capitalized from both areas, finishing with 13 points.
“I would say that just controlling, slowing down and seeing open players, and just poise is honestly one of the biggest things that I’ve been working on,” Simmons said. “Still working on getting shots off quicker and setting things, just getting my teammates open is my biggest goal.”
Arizona State will resume the final month of conference play this weekend when they host the Washington schools in Tempe. They’ll take on the Washington Huskies (4-10, 1-10 Pac-12) on Friday at 5 p.m. MST and the Washington State Cougars (9-7, 7-7 Pac-12) Sunday at 12:00 p.m. MST.
