(Photo: Rebecca Striffler)
Arizona State hoped to bounce back on Thursday night, with a tilt against the Washington Huskies, who were defeated 73-65 in Tempe just over two weeks ago. Since then, the Sun Devils split their next four games, losing back-to-back home matches against UCLA and USC.
With hopes to bounce back against Washington, ASU jumped out to a fast start, obtaining a 12-0 lead with under 15 minutes to play in the first half. A 4-man substitution from Huskies’ head coach Mike Hopkins followed, yielding a 15-4 scoring run and a 17-16 Washington lead.
The Huskies garnered a 12-point halftime lead, headed by senior forward Keion Brooks Jr.’s 11–point first half performance. Hopkins also instructed his squad to play zone defense, which has caused problems for ASU this season.
But fifth-year guard Desmond Cambridge Jr. found success against the defense, scoring 14 of his 26 points in the second half on 46.2 percent shooting. Cambridge Jr and sophomore guard Frankie Collins nailed back-to-back 3-pointers, bringing the Sun Devils within 1-point. Cambridge Jr. would later tie the contest with a layup, but ASU would never lead in the second half.
With less than a second on the clock, freshman guard Austin Nunez was fouled on a 3-pointer, sending him to the free throw line, where he’d make all three free throws to send the game to overtime.
However, a 7-0 Washington scoring run to start overtime would be too large to overcome, as the Sun Devils (15-6, 6-4 Pac-12) lost to the Huskies 69-66 (13-9, 5-6), marking ASU’s first three-game losing streak of the season.
Sun Devils toil with Huskies’ 2-3 Zone
The low-scoring affair came courtesy of zone defense, which limits possessions by prolonging the time of each chance.
Offensive problems arose for the Sun Devils after Hopkins’ early first-half timeout, which is when the zone defense began. Breaking through a zone defense has been difficult for ASU, especially after UCLA and USC locked down the potent offense just a week ago.
After scoring 12 points, a five-minute scoring drought followed, causing the Sun Devils to fall behind. After the scoring drought, offensive output worsened, as the offense missed 14 consecutive shots. Most of these shots came from behind the arc and inside the 3-point line, with little penetration.
Struggles from the floor
After jumping out to a 12-0 lead early in the first half, the Sun Devils appeared to have given themselves control of the game, but after a rotation of players by Hopkins and the shift to zon defense, ASU quickly found itself trailing by one point.
Before the substitution, the Sun Devils were 4-of-9 from the field.
Afterward, they would miss their next seven shots.
From there, matters worsened as they would miss 14 consecutive shots, scoring eight points on 2-for-22 shooting in the final 14 minutes of the game. The inefficiency from the field allowed the Huskies to make up the early deficit, attaining a 32-8 scoring run during that time span. Entering halftime, the momentum and lead had swung the other way, as head coach Bobby Hurley and his squad trailed by 12 points at the half.
The first-half shooting woes were scarce in the second half, as the Sun Devils had managed to outscore their opponents 34-22. The effort was good to send the game into overtime, but Hurley and company never regained the lead.
Cambridge Jr. shines with 26 points
Des Cambrige Jr. provided the Sun Devils with a much-needed spark in the second half, finishing with a game-high 26 points on 41.7 percent shooting. Cambridge Jr. has proven to be ASU’s primary scoring option, leading the team with 13.3 points per game.
The 6-foot-4 guard’s performance allowed the Sun Devils to crawl back into the game. Before the halftime buzzer, Cambridge Jr. scored a last-second bucket to cut the deficit to 12 points, and ending an 0-for-14 shooting clip. To start the second half, Cambridge Jr. was responsible for four of ASU’s first eight points and later on buried a layup to tie the game at 48.
The effort continued in overtime, as Cambridge Jr. scored six of ASU’s 12 points, giving his team an opportunity to win the game. In the final seconds, the ball found its way to Cambridge Jr., who was short on a near-impossible fadeaway corner 3-pointer.
Nunez final stretch
While Cambridge Jr., put the Sun Devils back into the game, Nunez’s late-game play would push the contest to overtime. On a corner 3, Nunez rose up and was fouled by freshman guard Koren Johnson. Nunez swished the first two free throws before Hopkins called a timeout. After the break, Nunez returned to the charity stripe and hit his third free throwing, tying the game at 54.
Washington’s 7-0 scoring run to start overtime was stopped By Nunez, who drilled a 3-pointer to bring the Sun Devils within four points. A pair of Collins free throws brought the Huskies’ lead down to two points, but they would eventually close out the tilt, notching a three-point victory.
Horne, Muhammad each play one minute in the second half
Junior guard DJ Horne and redshirt senior guard Luther Muhammad each played one minute in the second half, after playing 14 and eight minutes, respectively.
Horne has started in 20 of his 21 appearances and averages 11.2 points per game, which is third on the team. Horne’s 35.3 percent shooting clip has helped ASU find another scorer, but after a 3-point, 1-for-7 and four turnover first-half performance, Hurley opted for other guards off his bench.
ASU will hope to eliminate its three-game skid on Saturday night, as the team travels to Pullman for a contest against the Washington State Cougars.
