(Photo Credit: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)
Arizona State men’s basketball (11-8, 5-3 Pac-12) had its shot at the top. It missed. The Sun Devils entered Eugene Thursday night with their sights set on unseating the conference leaders, Oregon (13-5, 6-2 Pac-12), in an arena the Ducks have yet to lose in all season.
Earlier in the week, junior guard Frankie Collins preached the importance of his team staying “locked in” before entering the hostile environment of Matthew Knight Arena. Through the game’s opening 12 minutes, it seemed as if Collins’ message rang true. The Sun Devils led the Ducks 20-10 and had just finished an 11-0 run.
There was exuberance emanating from the ASU sideline during the media timeout that followed. But by the game’s end, that exultation had long been exasperated. The Ducks came roaring back to secure an 80-61 victory, maintaining their home winning streak. What was a promising start was marred by yet another game of promise unfulfilled by this Sun Devils squad.
Here are five takeaways from the matchup.
ASU Had an Answer for N’Faly Dante … Until it didn’t
Coming into Thursday’s game, ASU knew that its defensive scheme had to center around Oregon senior center N’Faly Dante.
“They have a good inside presence. One of the best inside players in the league (in Dante),” head coach Bobby Hurley said during media availability in the days leading up to the game.
The bench boss opted to stay with the same four-guard starting lineup that has proven most successful for the Sun Devils all season. While the lineup maximizes offensive speed and individual scoring, it lacks in size. The tallest member of the lineup, senior forward Alonzo Gaffney — standing 6 feet, 9 inches — drew the first assignment of slowing down the 6-foot 11-inch big man for the Ducks.
Whether through coaching or his own individual accord, Gaffney opted to front Dante for much of the first six minutes of action. By sitting in front of the Malian native instead of behind him and closer to the basket, Gaffney was effectively cutting off service down low for Dante.
Gaffney tipped away two inside pass attempts early in the game, limiting the amount that Dante could receive the ball and cause danger. The plan proved effective as it took five of Gaffney’s opening six minutes guarding the Oregon center for him to score his first points from the field.
When 7-foot ASU sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. entered the game, he had the ability to physically compete better than Gaffney. Phillips sat behind Dante allowing entry passes in, but remained physical and used his length to make life difficult down low. Oregon’s star big man only scored two more points for the rest of the half.
Oregon head coach Dana Altman found the answer to unlocking his imposing center in the second half by forcing Sun Devil defensive switches. Their guards started going underneath Dante’s screens, which forced their big men to step up to shooters and leave them on an island in the low post, as they had to guard a man nearly half a foot taller.
ASU players like 6-foot-6-inch graduate wingman Jose Perez would find himself down low with Dante, and couldn’t do much to deny the big man easy baskets. 10 of Dante’s final 16 points came in the second half and helped catapult the Ducks back into a resounding lead which they would see out to a win. – Devon Henderson
Jose Perez was a Matchup issue for Oregon
Perez may be the lone Sun Devil who will rest his head on his pillow Thursday night satisfied with his offensive performance. He was the only ASU player to score in double-digits on the night with 20 points. It’s his second straight game scoring over 20 points, and his sixth total all year.
His size and offensive repertoire granted him the advantage over most types of defenders thrown at him. Oregon initially opted to task junior center Nate Bittle on stopping Perez.
The Sun Devil wingman proved early in the game that if Bittle was to guard him, the natural center would have to leave the comfort of the paint and play defense on an island on the perimeter. Two minutes into the game Perez, isolated with Bittle at the top of the key. Noticing how far his defender was sagging off, he walked the Oregon big down to the free-throw line before stepping back and hitting a relatively open mid-range jumper. A few minutes later in transition, Perez buried a triple as Bittle was late to close out and affect the shot.
When Altman later deployed smaller guards and forwards to guard Perez, their efforts would also prove futile. The former West Virginia transfer weighs in at a reported 220 pounds, and when given the opportunity against lighter defenders, he takes them into the post and physically forces his way into quality shots in the paint or in the low block where he excels.
No matter what opposing player attempted to slow down ASU’s leading scorer on the night, Perez had the answer for them in one way or another. – Devon Henderson
Another ASU second-half collapse
ASU is no stranger to second-half collapses, but it has found different ways to fold toward the end of its Pac-12 losses heading into Thursday. In the final 20 minutes of both games, the Sun Devils lost to UCLA because of four technical fouls and to Washington because the Huskies rained down 13 threes. Oregon also hit some threes in the second half — four to be exact — but it was the other two levels where it did the most damage.
It was a streaky game for the Ducks as they struggled to score in the first half, especially during a seven-minute stretch where they failed to log a single point and fell to a double-digit deficit. However, basketball is a game of runs, and Oregon caught fire late, scoring 13-straight field goals to take a commanding 22-point lead with four minutes remaining. The stark difference in the offensive output for each half can be attributed to the Ducks ferociously attacking the rim in the second half, with 22 points in the paint compared to the six points in the key in the first 20 minutes.
Oregon converted when it penetrated the defense, and even when the Ducks were fouled, they capitalized from the line. They made all but one of their 16 free-throw attempts throughout the game, which is a major upgrade from the team’s normal free-throw percentage of 69.3%. Oregon’s ability to elevate its performance from the free-throw stripe separated it from ASU, who made 64% of its free throws, the same percentage the team has produced all season. – Justin de Haas
Bench guards comparison
Oregon senior guard Keeshawn Barthelemy embodied the definition of a sixth man in this game. Bittle returned to the starting lineup after missing the last 15 games with a wrist injury, but he was limited to 12 minutes against the Sun Devils. Even though they don’t play the same position, the senior took some of Bittle’s minutes and ran with them.
Barthelemy was the only player to score in double figures off the bench, notching 12 points in 27 minutes, which was also the most minutes for a bench player on either side. The Colorado transfer was part of an Oregon bench that scored 33 points with four players producing at least five points each.
Conversely, the ASU bench only scored 18 points, and one of its major flaws came to fruition on Thursday. With ASU head coach Bobby Hurley rolling out the four-guard starting lineup, it limits the amount of guards coming off the bench. Therefore, there is a lot of pressure for the starting guards to produce.
Graduate guard Jose Perez carried the ASU offense with 20 points, but the other three guards combined for 16 points, shooting 30.4% from the field. The Sun Devils can’t afford for this to happen because they had just one perimeter player off the bench — freshman guard Braelon Green, who logged two minutes when the game was out of reach. Hurley has had success with his four guards in the starting lineup, but when they don’t perform, it puts a lot of pressure on a bench that primarily consists of big men. – Justin de Haas
A Wasted opportunity
For a game on Jan. 25, Thursday’s matchup had high stakes. The winner would put itself in sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 thanks to No. 9 Arizona’s 83-80 loss to Oregon State. It is also the only matchup ASU will have against Oregon this season, so the Sun Devils had a chance of getting the tiebreaker against one of the top teams in the conference, and yet they fell short.
The Ducks are ranked No. 56 in the NET Rankings, so a win in Eugene would have given the Sun Devils a Quadrant 1 victory. Instead, ASU fell to 1-4 in Quad 1 games despite having a 10-4 record in every other game. The Sun Devils have a winning overall and conference record, but the inability to defeat quality opponents is what keeps the program from even being considered a bubble team.
This loss also adds to a theme that ASU has shown an inability win convincingly on the road. The Sun Devils are 2-3 on the road and both those wins were on the Bay Area trip, where they led for less than three minutes combined against Stanford and California. ASU’s last two Pac-12 road games — Washington and Oregon — were Quad 1 games where it had the lead at halftime, but collapsed in the second half. The good news for the Sun Devils is that they can still split the road trip with a win on Saturday against Oregon State, but a matchup against the Beavers — who are ranked No. 191 in the NET — may not be as easy as expected after OSU’s upset victory over Arizona. – Justin de Haas
