(Photo: Max Zepeda/WCSN)
It is rare to see teams playing must-win games against opponents at the bottom of your conference, but to keep its NCAA Tournament hopes alive, Arizona State men’s basketball (18-8, 9-6 Pac-12) faced a must-win game on the road against the last-place California Golden Bears (3-23, 2-12 Pac-12).
In their first overtime win of the season, the Sun Devils took down the Golden Bears 70-62 in an ugly game where neither team shot above 33 percent from the field.
Once again, the Sun Devils were without senior center Warren Washington, who did not make the road trip due to testing positive for COVID-19. Instead of the small lineup that head coach Bobby Hurley ran out against Stanford, Hurley inserted freshman forward Duke Brennan in the starting lineup in place of Washington.
Brennan impressed in his first minutes as a starter, scoring the team’s first five points and ending the first half with seven, but it was once again fifth-year guard Desmond Cambridge Jr., who was the focus out of the gates, ending the half with 13, including three made threes.
Desmond made his final three of the first half with 5:31 remaining. He did not make
another three until his step-back 3-pointer in overtime iced the game for the Sun Devils with a little over two minutes remaining.
Shooting Struggles Everywhere
One of the biggest things ASU has struggled with this year was the team’s inability to make shots. The Sun Devils’ 42.3 shooting percentage this year ranks 297th in the country, and their 32.1 clip from downtown is not much better, sitting at 292nd.
Much of the problems, though, tended to be ASU’s periodically questionable shot selection. On Saturday night, that appeared not to be the case, as the Sun Devils appeared to be taking plenty of quality shots that didn’t find the bottom of the net.
After taking a 2-point lead into the second half, the Sun Devils came out of the break scoring just 10 points in the first eight minutes of the half. ASU made 10 points in eight minutes look like prolific scoring as over the next 7:38, the Sun Devils failed to score a field goal, resulting in a 1-of-20 performance. Yet somehow, ASU still had a 6-point lead, mostly because Cal struggled to score as well.
On the night, both teams shot below 34 percent from the field, including a second half where ASU shot a mere 20.6 percent from the field and only 9.1 percent from 3.
Starters make the difference
With Washington unavailable for the second straight game, the rotation was obviously limited, putting more stress on the starters.
But, on Saturday night, the starters had to win the game with nearly zero support from the bench. The Golden Bears outscored the Sun Devils 28-8, dominating ASU when the starters came off the court.
The problem became even more glaring when senior forward Devan Cambridge ran into foul trouble, only playing six minutes in the first half. With Devan limited to the bench, Hurley looked to his bench players to make an impact, but the bench struggled, as freshman guard Austin Nunez, sophomore forward/guard Jamiaya Neal, and senior forward/center Alonzo Gaffney combined for six points in 57 combined minutes.
However, the starters were able to carry the load, outscoring the Golden Bears 68-34.
Desmond Cambridge Shines Again
Whenever ASU gets in a rut, it seems that Desmond is there to pull them out of it. The Nashville native finished the game with 24 points on 6-for-15 shooting, also shooting 100 percent on his eight free throw attempts.
Desmond came out of the gates hot, hitting three 3-pointers in the first half, and ending the opening half with 13 points. Like everyone other Sun Devil, Desmond went cold in the second half, missing all four of his attempts.
But, in overtime, Desmond stepped up, drilling back-to-back jumpers to put the Sun Devils up six with two minutes to go. With 35 seconds left, Desmond put an exclamation point on the game, lobbing it up to Devan, who finished the play with a dunk.
ASU shines at the Free throw line
Coming into Saturday night’s game, one area the Sun Devils have struggled mightily was the free throw line, shooting only 69.1 percent, a mark that ranks 259th in the country.
But, on a night when nothing else was falling for the Sun Devils, ASU was able to convert at the line, going 18-22 from the stripe.
The consistency from the line was especially key, given it was the Sun Devils only source of offensive production for a few crucial stretches. During that 1-20 run in the second half, the Sun Devils were able to keep their lead by taking advantage of their trips to the line.
Over an 11:34 stretch in the second half, the Sun Devils scored 11 points, nine of which were from the line.
Moving Forward
For just the second time this year, the Sun Devils walked away from a road trip sweeping both teams. On a night when Arizona lost to Stanford and USC lost to Oregon State, a road sweep is huge for the Sun Devils.
Their NCAA tournament hopes are still alive, with Colorado and Utah coming to Tempe next weekend. Those two games could be the last two games ASU is favored in, as following the Mountain schools, ASU has a trip to Tucson, followed by the season’s final weekend series against UCLA and USC.
