High-energy defense and effort helped ASU to 82-67 victory over USC

(Photo Credit: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)

A deafening din filled every inch of air in Desert Financial Arena. Raucous applause and cheers rained down on Arizona State Men’s basketball’s (11-7, 5-2 Pac-12) graduate wing Jose Perez, who was giddily skipping in front of the near record-setting student section. He was waving his arms as if to ask for more decibels from an already thundering crowd.

As it turns out, it was the second-largest student section in ASU basketball history. Hurley credited the support from the fans as one of the driving forces of his team’s 82-67 win against USC (8-11, 2-4 Pac-12).

“Excited to have our players have the opportunity to play in that environment,” Hurley said. “Certainly the crowd helps so much.”

Perez — with under three minutes remaining — had just grabbed a long rebound and dished an outlet pass to junior guard Jamiya Neal who found himself on the open floor. Neal’s vigorous slam that followed ignited an explosion of noise that nearly ripped the roof off the arena. The dunk not only punctuated a 15-2 scoring run but also served as the final nail in the coffin from ASU. Neal said he could have put a little extra on the dunk, but admitted that was frowned upon by Hurley.

“I wanted to try something else,” Neal said. “But coach really don’t like when I get like that.”

That play was indicative of how nearly the entire game was played for ASU on the break. The Sun Devils garnered 27 fast break points to the Trojans 11. Further, ASU forced USC into a season-high with 22 turnovers while only giving away 9. According to Neal, these numbers were a symptom of a desire to stray away from slower offensive sets.

“We don’t really want to run half-court offense if we don’t have to,” Neal said. “We rather much you know, get out. Defense is offense for us.”

USC was without their two leading scorers and ball-handlers — freshman Isaiah Collier and fifth-year guard Boogie Ellis. Hurley emphasized the importance of his team smelling blood in the water and increasing the pressure against a team lacking their leading contributors, which resulted in the high turnover contest.

“Unfortunately for USC not having Collier and [Ellis],” Hurley said. “You have to take advantage of that.”

This win came off just a three-day layover from one of ASU’s most frustrating losses of the year on Wednesday night against UCLA, a game in which four late Sun Devil technical fouls proved consequential. Hurley admitted he worried about how his team would mentally respond after that contest.

“I was very concerned about this game,” Hurley said. “Wondering about how fragile we could be with our psyche after a loss like that.”

According to ASU’s bench boss, a favorable off-day schedule coupled with a no-tolerance policy for extracurriculars helped his team rebound against the Trojans on Saturday.

“I’m happy we had an extra day,” Hurley explained. “Usually we’re in the Thursday-Sunday routine. I think having the extra day in between certainly helped us just pick up the pieces after a hard loss… We tried to talk about a zero-tolerance approach to any communication with our opponent or the officials.”

Hurley received the only technical foul of the game midway through the first half.

“I didn’t really follow and set the appropriate example,” Hurley said with a slight smile.

Junior forward Bryant Selebangue and junior guard Frankie Collins’ first-half performances set the tone of high-energy play that ASU would build off of the entire game. Their play earned praise from Perez and Hurley.

“[Selebangue] is an energy player,” Perez said. “He doesn’t realize how much of a big piece he is to us he had [9 offensive and 12 total rebounds] at the half, that’s monstrous. He basically won the game for us at the half.”

“[Collins had] six steals at halftime,” Hurley said. “Things like that just are very reflective of effort.”

ASU will now travel up north for an Oregon trip headlined by a matchup against the current conference leaders, the Oregon Ducks. Perez said the seat atop the conference standings is the only thing on the mind of him and his team.

“Going for first place,” Perez said, a sly but determined smile creeping across his face. “Winning the league. The last year of the league that’s what we’re going for.”