Five takeaways: ASU snaps five-game losing streak against Utah

(Photo Credit: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

Entering Saturday night, it was difficult to spot many positives when looking around at the Arizona State men’s basketball team. Losers of seven of their last eight — including the last five — the Sun Devils have been desperate for a positive swing in momentum, and they turned it around to deliver arguably its best performance of the season to get back to .500.

Scoring a season high 85 points, ASU (12-12, 6-7 Pac-12) defeated Utah (15-9, 6-7 Pac-12) 85-77, sweeping the regular season matchup with the Utes and snapping a five-game losing streak.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

Tinkering With The Lineups

ASU head coach Bobby Hurley has deployed a starting five with four guards for the majority of the season, but struggles in Pac-12 play has forced the bench boss to make changes to his lineup. It started when the head honcho benched graduate guard Jose Perez — second on the team in points per game with 12.4 entering Saturday — in the second half of a loss to California on Feb. 3.

This seemingly resulted in Hurley starting sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. over Perez against Colorado on Thursday, but the graduate student still played 30 minutes despite only making one field goal in nine attempts. Perez scored three points in the past two games, but Hurley put the Bronx native back in the starting five, which resulted in redshirt junior guard Adam Miller coming off the bench for the first time this season.

Despite the rotating door of these three players in the lineup, all three found success against Utah, especially Perez and Miller. Both players hit seven of their 11 shots, including two threes each, but Perez was the leading scorer with 21 points after hitting all five of his free throws. – Justin de Haas

Exciting Basketball:

It is difficult to measure how much the Sun Devils needed this win. Across the team’s five-game slide, only one loss was by single digits and that was a nine-point loss to Stanford. However, it is not just the team’s results that have been disappointing, but also the way those results have come about.

ASU has been playing some ugly basketball. The Sun Devils have shot just 39% from the field across their five losses, and even worse, ASU was just 24.8% from three on over 24 three-point attempts per game.

That’s why Saturday’s performance was so refreshing. Not only did the Sun Devils score a season-high 85 points, but they did it extremely efficiently, especially from three. ASU hit 10 of its 22 threes, good for a 45% field goal percentage. It was also able to consistently convert Utah’s mistakes into points, turning 13 Ute turnovers into 21 points. – Sammy Nute

Jose Perez Bounces Back:

While the Sun Devils five-game losing streak has been difficult for the entire team, Perez has struggled as much as anyone else. Across the last five games entering Saturday night, Perez averaged 11.2 points-per-game on horrendous efficiency, shooting 36% from the field and just 30% from three.

Perez’s struggles have really come to the forefront, especially over ASU’s last two games against Cal and Colorado. After ‘a tough moment’ at the end of the first half against Cal, Hurley benched Perez for the entire second half. The next game against the Buffaloes, Perez scored just two points on nine field goal attempts.

It seems like Perez heard the doubters. Scoring his most points his 26-point performance the last time the Sun Devils saw the Utes, Perez dropped 21 points on 63% shooting percentage. Perez turned it up in the second half, scoring 16 second-half points including a run that saw him score nine straight points with just under ten minutes to go. – Sammy Nute

The Boards are Back

ASU was out-rebounded in every Pac-12 game before Saturday, but that slump ceased against Utah. Both teams had 18 rebounds by halftime, but the Sun Devils snagged five more rebounds in the second half, which contributed to them outsourcing the Utes by 10 in the final 20 minutes.

It seemed like ASU would struggle on the boards again with a matchup against Utah fifth year center Branden Carlson, who averaged 6.8 rebounds per game before Saturday. The center outperformed his averages with 11 boards against the Sun Devils, but it was not enough to lead the Utes to victory.

The Sun Devils had six players with at least four rebounds, but it was junior Jamiya Neal that stole the show in that department. The guard had eight rebounds, which was the most rebounds he had in a game since the win over USC on Jan. 20. The victory over the Trojans was ASU’s last win before Saturday, so it is clear that the team needs its guards — like Neal — to rebound like this to get more wins in the home stretch of the Pac-12 regular season. – Justin de Haas

Live by the Three, Die by the Three

The Sun Devils lost seven of their last eight games because they could not rebound nor shoot the three well. Hurley inserted Phillips Jr. into the starting lineup to help with the boards, but the center does not help with shooting the deep ball. However, it did not matter because ASU flipped a switch and shot the lights out in Salt Lake City.

ASU shot 45% from behind the arc, which is a pleasant surprise for Hurley considering that his squad shot 27.7% from three in the last eight games. The Sun Devils snapped a five-game losing streak with the win against Utah and it’s not a coincidence that the proficiency from three-point line is the reason why. In fact, ASU’s three-point shooting was so good that it was only slightly worse than its two-point shooting, where it hit 47.8% of its shots.

It was a team effort as four Sun Devils had multiple triples, including Neal with three. The junior only shot 28.3% from three entering Saturday, but has been shooting it better as of late, hitting two threes in his last four games before the Utah matchup. ASU shot 35.4% from three in its first four Pac-12 games and was undefeated in that stretch as a result, so Hurley is hoping this performance against the Utes can bring his squad back to that success they had earlier in conference action. – Justin de Haas