(Photo: Scotta Bara/WCSN)
Early season games against mid-major opponents are played primarily to knock out the kinks and locate what the team needs to tune up.
ASU’s 90-54 win over the Miami (Ohio) Redhawks Tuesday night was no different. Coach Herb Sendek played 10 players for 10 or more minutes and seven players for 15 minutes or more.
Depth is clearly an asset the Sun Devils hope to harness this season with the plethora of newcomers added to the squad. It seems Sendek is giving more responsibility to players who are performing well throughout the game.
When the coach was asked whether freshmen Chance Murray’s early playing time on Tuesday night was a result of the guard’s virtuous production in the season opener Sendek replied, “Absolutely.”
Sendek stated that Murray is a big strong guard who is smart and has been bestowed with the ever- elusive gift of size. The freshman’s stature was partially reflected by his five rebounds Tuesday. However, the most encouraging aspect about the guard’s collegiate readiness going forward is how he handled the offense when Jahii Carson was on the bench. Along with the fact Murray registered zero turnovers.
Miami played a zone defense sporadically throughout the game. But even when the Redhawks were manning up against ASU, the Sun Devils were committed to hoisting threes.
A bountiful amount of three point attempts against an inferior team early on in the season could have been a sign of caution; however, because ASU shot 51 percent from behind the arc it seems three-point shooting may be one of the staples this team looks to hold their season together with.
Yes, it has only been two games but far and away the best shooter has been Jermaine Marshall. The wingman is seven for 15 on the season which totals 46 percent.
Marshall’s influx of threes has contributed to his standing at the top of the Sun Devils scoring leader board alongside Jahii Carson.
Again, only 80 minutes of basketball have been recorded this season but the supporting cast looks to be making the game a lot easier on Carson.
A play that comes to mind is with about six minutes left in the fourth quarter where Carson dribbled through his legs from behind his back, penetrated a couples more steps into the paint, forced another defender to collapse on him, then threw a dime behind his head to Jordan Bachynski for an easy dunk.
ASU fans saw this on tape from off-season camps the high-profile point guard participated in over the summer, but this quickness and penetration is just starting to get real.
Carson has been passing the ball more often with his fresh weapons, but he did take a deserved selfish moment on a three on zero fast break Tuesday as he threw down his first dunked of the year.
The referees were warning the point guard not to hang on the rim so long after the play. See, these games are for tweaking and fine-tuning indeed. Whether it’s free throws, ball movement, transition defense, or dunking the ball the Sun Devils are converting against their opponents so far but there’s always room to improve.
