(Photo Credit: Mauricio Casillas/WCSN)
Surprise.
That is what the No. 20 Arizona State Sun Devils’ season can best be described as. Picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 by the conference’s coaches in the preseason poll, the Sun Devils climbed to as high as No. 11 in the national rankings and in sole possession of second place in the conference, including wins over then-No. 11 North Carolina and then No. 20 Syracuse.
However, after a three-game losing skid, all of which were by double-digits, ASU is in a scramble to recover with just four games remaining in the season. They have dropped nine spots in the top-25, and one has to wonder what exactly is out of sync for head coach Charli Turner Thorne and her team.
Most notably, the Sun Devils’ offensive play has been anything but a pretty sight.
ASU’s offense has been described by Turner Thorne as “anemic,” and those watching cannot do anything but agree. No Sun Devil player has put up more than 15 points in the past three games, and they shot a dismal 31.3 percent from the field in their current losing streak.
Throughout the season, balance has been the outlying characteristic of Turner Thorne’s team. 10 different Sun Devils have scored double-figures, and seven different Sun Devils have been the team’s high-scorer in a game.
Turner Thorne’s team was clearly playing with a dependency on each other to chip in a bit of everything, but what that has seemingly resulted in is a small margin of error for each player.
The Sun Devils have depended on their defense numerous times to get their offensive rhythm going. A few steals would lead to transition points and keep ASU right in the mix, but the inability to convert in transition has added to a laundry-list of problems.
ASU has also depended on freshmen forwards Sophie Brunner and Kelsey Moos to be steady, stoic presences on the glass and in the paint, but the freshmen have faded deep into their first Pac-12 season.
In short, ASU’s offensive flow has completely disappeared. To make matters worse, the pride of any Turner Thorne-coached team, a solid defense, has been shaky of late as well. The effort and hustle is still there, but ASU ranks 10th and 11th in opponent’s field goal percentage and three-point percentage respectively.
In Turner Thorne’s post-game press conference after her team’s 26-point loss to No. 5 Stanford, she finally admitted to her team being quite a bit more banged up than she has let on.
“(Senior guard) Adrianne Thomas is just still really hobbled,” Turner Thorne said. “She’s not healthy. We’re struggling just with some issues on health right now. Sophie (Brunner) is not healthy. So those are two starters that are trying to do their best, but they’re just not close to 100 percent. It’s hurting our offense, obviously.”
The Pac-12 is one of the toughest conferences in the country. Four Pac-12 teams are in the top-50 in the RPI rankings. When a team has a weakness, it gets exposed in conference play. For the Sun Devils, their lack of a consistent scoring presence has been spotlit by the brightest possible lights, and it is up to Turner Thorne and her staff to get her team back on track in time for the Pac-12 tournament.
It means getting Brunner, Thomas, and any other banged up Sun Devil back to health for the stretch run. It means getting back the fire that spurred on so many comeback victories, and that fire lasting a full game.
Above all, it means finding a dependable, consistent scorer. Will that person be redshirt senior guard and leading scorer Deja Mann? Will it be Brunner? Hempen?
Whoever that player, or players, is for ASU, she must step up quickly, or else the Sun Devils could end up with an earlier end to their season than they want.
They now have the opportunity to surprise everybody once again if they can bounce back and return to top-15 form.
You can reach Zac Pacleb on Twitter @ZacPacleb or via email at zacpacleb@gmail.com
