(Photo Credit: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)
The crowd noise elevated a decibel with each wave of Arizona State men’s basketball’s (5-2) junior Guard Frankie Collins’ hands, pumping up the Desert Financial arena crowd. He had just emerged from a late second-half tie-up after a rebound — with San Francisco (5-3) senior forward Josh Kunen — in which he drew a jump ball and possession for ASU. His team was ahead by 16 at that point and putting the finishing touches on their fifth victory of the year.
The 6 foot 1 inch point guard got on the glass eight times in his team’s 72-61 victory over the Dons. His backcourt mate, junior guard Jamiya Neal, finished with a double-double behind 15 points and 11 rebounds himself, as both guards led the way on the glass for ASU. It was a point of praise and seen as vitally important to head coach Bobby Hurley due to missing bigs in the rotation.
“The thing I liked about [Collins] and [Neal] was I think they had [19] defensive rebounds between them,” Hurley said. “When your frontcourt is going through an injury crisis, which we are… just getting in there and getting those rebounds is big for us.”
Collins’s isolation scoring proved instrumental for ASU. With seven minutes left in the first half, the third-year guard sized up Kunen before losing him with a cross and skipping into the lane for an easy lay-in. Four minutes later he saw freshman guard Ryan Beasley on an island and immediately sized him up, stepped left, and added three more.
With one minute remaining in the first half, junior forward Isaiah Hawthorne was invited to dance alone with the former Michigan guard. This time it was a drive, spin, and step back into an open mid-range shot for Collins that extended the Sun Devils’ lead to 36-26. According to Collins, it’s his complete discernment of his game and unwavering conviction in his ability that drives his one-on-one scoring.
“It’s just understanding where I want to get to,” Collins said. “Understanding my spots, I don’t really think many people can stay in front of me with how quick I am with the ball.”
Collins and his fellow starters needed to be special, as the leading group accounted for all 72 of ASU’s points on the night — there were zero points contributed off the bench for the Sun Devils. Hurley believes the scoring is coming soon from the likes of transfer sophomore forward Kamari Lands who shot 0-for-4 in 25 minutes off the bench. He said his players are simply still in an adaptation period in this young season but his overall confidence in his young forward has not yet wavered.
“It’s a matter of time for [Lands],” Hurley said. “There’s an adjustment and a new environment. I’ve seen him do it, I just think that right now he’ll be a guy off the bench that makes it happen for us.”
The Sun Devils had their hands full trying to contain the commanding presence of junior forward Jonathan Mogbo down low. The Dons leading scorer and rebounder paced all players in both categories with 23 and 16 respectively. He proved a difficult assignment for ASU’s big men, specifically junior forward Bryant Selebangue, who was impressed by his opponent’s performance Sunday.
“He’s very active, very physical, stays on the glass,” Selebangue said. “He got going. He’s a beast I give that to him, he gets on the glass a lot.”
The Sun Devils continue to the third game and final game of their homestand on Wednesday night against SMU (6-3), and will look to continue their now three-game winning streak.
On the flip side, the Dons will travel south to challenge Vanderbilt — an opponent ASU already dispatched 82-67 earlier this season — in a Wednesday night tilt in Tennessee.
