(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
After defeating Cal Poly by a score of 66-41 on Sunday night, the Arizona State Sun Devils (3-1) have had plenty of time to prepare for their games this Thanksgiving weekend at the Florida Gulf Coast Showcase.
Head coach Charli Turner Thorne said that freshman forward Eboni Walker is still adjusting to the role that she is playing on the team right now.
Standing at 5-foot-11 Walker is undersized as a collegiate center, but with 6-foot-1 senior center Jamie Ruden missing games with a foot injury someone has to step up.
“I think it is a bit overwhelming for her at times because she just works her tail off and then here comes some 6’3″ kid that can kind of play over the top of her,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s clearly not used to boxing out and she’s going to have to learn how to put her body on people a little bit more aggressively for us and she will.”
Even though she needs to work on her physicality and rebounding, Turner Thorne believes that Walker and Ja’Tavia Tapley are giving her team something she has never seen before and will give teams a hard time this weekend.
“I’ve had posts that could start the break and get a run out, but those two can actually make decisions off the dribble,” Turner Thorne said. “While [Walker] gives up stuff at this level I mean, people are gonna have to match up with her and that’ll be kind of our fun challenge this year, it’s like yeah you have size or you have this, but good luck guarding our posts who are running our break a third of the game.”
This weekend the Sun Devils will head to Estero, Florida, where they could play a plethora of teams depending on how they do.
ASU’s first game will be against Maine, a team that according to Turner Thorne has played numerous different defenses throughout the year. This has caused the Sun Devils to practice their offenses many different defenses they believe they could see this weekend.
Maine runs their offense through 6-foot-1 senior Blanca Millan. In their last game against Navy, Millan scored 25 points and added another 11 rebounds. The Bears also have junior Maeve Carroll who finished with 10 points and 14 rebounds in their win versus Navy.
The Sun Devils will need to do exactly what Turner Thorne said, in making the Bears’ bigs uncomfortable by pushing the tempo with Walker and Tapley, if they want to win.
After they play Maine, the Devils will either play Drake or Purdue on Saturday and then depending on how the rest of the games play out, they could play Auburn, Dayton, Gonzaga or Middle Tennessee on Sunday.
Even though the Sun Devils will be playing three games in three days, Turner Thorne believes they are hitting their stride at the right time and that her team is ready for anyone.
“When you’re playing back-to-back-to-back games usually you don’t shoot as well. For that reason, people might play a lot of zone,” Turner Thorne said. “We definitely feel good about our defense going into this week and I feel good about our depth to be able to use our team. We’re talented enough, we’re good enough to play well and beat whoever we’re playing.”
