(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
Discipline. That was the word of the day last Friday for Arizona State women’s basketball after losing to UCLA 73-69.
It was an uncharacteristic day for ASU and the team knew it. The Devils got into foul trouble. They committed costly turnovers. And they were cold from three point range. Somehow, the team only lost by four points. In the end, an uncommon showing of a lack of discipline hurt the Devils from moving on in the Pac-12 Tournament.
“We are not a team that turns the ball over and we are not a team that fouls,” head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “We were not the disciplined team that we normally are. It is a little tough to swallow.”
After a disappointing showing in Las Vegas, the players know that their game with UCLA was incredibly within reach. Outscoring UCLA 25-16 in the third quarter and an aggressive and physical start to the second half by the Devils showed why ASU is one of the most resilient teams in the country.
Down the stretch, though, unusual plays occurred that proved to be everything ASU is not at all about. Ibis picked up her fourth foul with 58 seconds left in the third quarter; a huge blow to the offense without ASU’s game-high scorer. The fouls allowed UCLA to shoot 21-27 from the stripe compared to ASU’s 10-13.
“I would just say that maybe I was just not focused and wasn’t ready most of the time,” Ibis said. “It wasn’t us today. We don’t usually get out of our stance. We don’t usually foul all the time. We just weren’t ourselves.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Arizona State committed 17 turnovers in the contest and seven of them occurred in the fourth quarter. The Devils average 12 turnovers a game.
Junior guard Reili Richardson, who owns the best assist-to-turnover ratio in the Pac-12, turned the ball over five times, a season high. One of her three turnovers in the fourth quarter occurred with 15 seconds left in the game with ASU down only five.
“I think I just wasn’t as poised as I usually am,” Richardson said. “I am not one to turn the ball over a lot, so I need to come back and fix that and I know it would help my team out.”
With that being said, this performance is going to be one the players will be thinking about for awhile. It was a game to potentially boost ASU’s resume for the NCAA Tournament. Instead, the late-game execution lacked, and ASU shot themselves in the foot.
It wasn’t all just in the fourth quarter, however. UCLA looked faster, stronger and overall more physical with ASU inside the paint and that contributed to the first half deficit ASU had to claw back at.
“I think that bothered us a little bit,” Richardson said. “We didn’t come out aggressive and they kept punching us. We fought back a couple of times but it wasn’t enough.”
For Arizona State, all the uncharacteristic elements added up to this loss. If anything, it was concerning to see ASU turn the ball over and foul so much right before the NCAA Tournament. There won’t be any more free passes for a lack of physicality and composure or else it will result in elimination.
On the positive note, Turner Thorne and her players are in the midst of a week-long break to recover and reflect. After all, Turner Thorne knows her girls are capable of executing in late-game situations.
“We do know how to make plays at the end of the game, so we’re going to be very confident going into the NCAA Tournament,” Turner Thorne said.
