(Photo Credit: Evan Barcanic/WCSN)
Arizona State Men’s Basketball’s (11-10, 5-5 Pac-12) graduate big man Alonzo Gaffney cradled the ball in his right hand before contouring his body under the rim to flip it in on the other side. The lay-in put ASU up 60-54 with under eight minutes remaining, igniting a clamoring Tempe crowd. Victory seemed imminent against Stanford (11-9, 6-4 Pac-12). Until it wasn’t.
What transpired over the next seven minutes and two seconds condemned Desert Financial Arena to near silence. Stanford launched a 17-2 run to close out the game, defeating the Sun Devils 71-62.
ASU, it seemed, had stretched the capabilities of its smaller four-guard lineup past its functioning abilities in terms of energy down the stretch, mainly due to minutes played and a pure lack of size on the court.
“I felt like we hit a wall,” ASU Head Coach Bobby Hurley said. “They got a few offensive rebounds on misses and then really punished us in the lane late in the game.”
The Cardinal starting lineup featured three players standing taller than 6 feet 7 inches, headlined by 7 foot 1 inch junior big man Maxime Raynaud. Contradictorily, the Sun Devil lineup boasted just one player over the same threshold, with Gaffney standing 6 feet 9 inches.
ASU was out-rebounded 28-14 and outscored in the paint 22-18 in the second half alone. The lack of size allowed Stanford to govern the paint late in the contest and control the flow of the game which was attributed as a detriment to the Sun Devils play and spirit.
“It’s demoralizing when you get punished around the basket,” Hurley said. “You (want to) play a certain way (defensively). They were just driving (at) us and spinning and scoring. They were getting second-chance points as we switched, and at the other end, we couldn’t score so that’s why you see that type of run at the end.”
Shot-making proved an arduous endeavor for ASU late in the contest, as they converted just one of their last 11 attempts of the game. The late run was a direct opposite of what transpired in these two teams’ last meeting in Palo Alto. There, it was a 17-4 late Sun Devil run, that propelled them to a comeback victory. Thursday may have been a debt paid for that close victory in the Bay Area.
“I think what goes around comes around,” Junior guard Jamiya Neal said, “It happened to us there and we made a late surge. It came back around to bite us this time and they made a late surge. I guess this is Karma in a way.”
Karma or not, ASU now finds itself firmly entrenched — but sliding — in the middle of the pack halfway through conference play in a year that just about anyone can emerge as Pac-12 Champions.
“It’s a unique year,” Neal said. “Everybody being so close in the standings to the point where we can make a late surge and we could still end up at the top.”
In any case, Thursday night was the Sun Devils’ third consecutive loss in conference play, and one that likely won’t bode well should ASU need an at-large bid come Selection Sunday. It’s nearly poetic that a team marked by second-half collapses will require a near-perfect finish to the second half of its regular season in to remain in NCAA Tournament contention. But it’s a challenge Neal believes is possible.
“Just try to win out the regular season,” Neal said. “I think every game we play is a winnable game. We just have to learn from our mistakes, put our heads down, keep working, and keep believing.”
