From Southern Utah to Utah Tech: ASU’s Early Season Test of Progress

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/ WCSN)

TEMPE — Following Arizona State men’s basketball’s victory over Southern Utah last Tuesday, head coach Bobby Hurley stressed the importance of ASU improving in three areas: rebounding, ball handling, and the defensive efforts as a whole.

Four days later, the Sun Devils welcomed Utah Tech to Desert Financial Arena. Both schools are located in the Beehive State and compete in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). Ahead of the season, WAC coaches picked Southern Utah to finish last in the conference. The Trailblazers received just one more first-place vote, placing them sixth in the coaches poll.

The teams may differ, but ASU was still facing a familiar level of competition. With two familiar opponents, the second matchup could serve a useful benchmark for measuring the team’s progress. While the Sun Devils (2-0) showed improvement in all three phases, four days allowed only so much growth, leaving lessons to take from their 81-66 win over Utah Tech (2-2).

“I was pretty pleased with how we played for the most part,” Hurley said. “We addressed some concerns I had after the last game.”

Defensively, ASU improved in perhaps its most glaring area following Tuesday’s game, points allowed in the paint. Against the Thunderbirds, the Sun Devils gave up 44 points in the paint, including 17 layups. On Sunday, ASU surrendered half as many points in the paint with just five layups allowed.

Still, the Sun Devils have room to grow on defense — and the next step may be refining their ability to close out games. In the first half, ASU limited the Trailblazers to shooting 34.5 percent from the field. In the second, that number jumped to 46.2 percent.

“It got sloppy towards the end of the game,” Hurley said. “We can’t afford to do that against really good teams that we’ll be playing throughout this year.”

The Sun Devils’ more pressing concern defensively may be their discipline. In the second half, Utah Tech had 20 free-throw attempts, including five on second-chance opportunities. The Trailblazers sank 12 foul shots and capitalized on all five of their second-chance free throws. For ASU, maintaining composure in critical stretches will be key, especially with the remaining schedule presenting tougher tests ahead.

The Sun Devils were, however, disciplined while in possession — something they couldn’t say after Tuesday’s game, when they posted a 17-14 assist-to-turnover ratio. On Sunday, ASU had more than twice as many assists as turnovers, finishing with 19 to just eight. When reflecting on the turnovers, Hurley highlighted two in the first half as ones that shouldn’t have happened.

The first turnover Hurley pointed out was one that came from graduate forward Allen Mukeba, who passed to sophomore guard Trevor Best instead of taking a scoring opportunity that Hurley felt should’ve been seized. The other occurred when senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson tried to connect on a tough, but makeable, pass. These were two of just three total turnovers ASU had in the first half.

“(Mukeba) was trying to be unselfish to throw it to Trevor for a layup and he mishandled it, that was one turnover. Pig tried to thread the needle with a pass on a steal. That was our other one,” Hurley said. “Three turnovers and two of them, we shouldn’t have even had. We really could have had one turnover at halftime.”

In the rebounding department, the Sun Devils’ struggles date back to last season and, even with a new frontcourt, carried into their first game of the year. ASU’s most persistent struggles have come on the offensive glass. Last season, the Sun Devils averaged just 8.8 offensive rebounds per game — the lowest mark in the Big 12.

On Tuesday, ASU gave up 16 offensive rebounds while grabbing just 11 of its own. While the Sun Devils gave up six less offensive rebounds on Sunday, they once again collected 11. That being said, ASU made strides as the game progressed, pulling down eight offensive boards after securing only three before halftime.

Leading the effort was redshirt sophomore forward Santiago Trouet, whose four offensive rebounds in the second half topped ASU’s first-half total. He also pulled down five defensive boards after halftime, finishing with 10 rebounds overall.

“I can control getting rebounds. Putting the ball in, you can’t control it,” Trouet said. “I just go and get it.”

Overall, the Sun Devils showed encouraging signs of improvement in the underlying aspects Hurley emphasized. Nonetheless, the team showed it will take more than two games together for everything to click.

“Hopefully we do a better job of handling not playing the scoreboard and still having good possessions at both ends of the floor,” Hurley said.