Sun Devils’ Defense Ablaze, Suffocates Eastern Washington in Win

Photo: Madison Soreson/WCSN

Stifling defense was the name of the game for Arizona State Saturday, as it backed up its Monday night win with an increasingly dominant performance against Eastern Washington at Desert Financial Arena.

Head coach Molly Miller’s Sun Devils came out with a hunger once again on the defensive side of the ball, forcing 19 turnovers and scoring 22 of their 73 points off of such miscues, leading to the 73-58 victory.

“There are methods to the madness,” said Miller. “There is a structure to it, and we want the other team to feel like it’s chaotic, but we know exactly when we’re going, where we’re going, how we’re going.”

The defense led the way entirely Saturday after a slow shooting start for the Sun Devils led them to only have 15 points after the first quarter, but allowed them to still hold a six-point lead.

That’s when senior guard transfer Gabby Elliott began to take over the game. She led the way for ASU with 15 points on the day and shot 7-11 from the field. Elliott also reached a huge career milestone, scoring her 1000th collegiate point despite going through multiple injuries, including a torn ACL.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Elliott. “If you know my background, I’ve been around a couple of schools, a couple of injuries, and, you know, I really just feel like getting that, really just beat the odds.”

Elliott and junior guard Jyah Lovett harped on the defensive side of the ball constantly postgame. ASU’s ability to turnover the ball at such a high rate has catapulted this team through two games.

This was seen in Miller’s ability to keep the Eagles on their toes through either full-court pressure or playing more of an up-in-your-face half-court defense; she had an answer for every counter Eastern Washington presented.

“We switched up our screen coverage a little bit to try and keep them off balance,” said Miller. “And they were really mindful of tuning me into that, what screen coverage we’re in. So, trying to just make sure that we’re listening on the fly, too, because our defense can be so chaotic.

The second half was where things really took off for the Sun Devils; they turned a 32-24 lead at halftime into a 45-26 lead by the mid-quarter TV timeout in the third quarter, all thanks to a simplistic halftime message from Miller.

“Play harder,” Elliot said. That was literally it. Play harder. That was really her main message to us, and I feel like it spoke to us because people played hard.”

ASU shot 50 percent from the field in the second half, going 16-32 along with 2-5 from the three-point line. This is encouraging after the Sun Devils’ poor performance from outside against Coppin State, where they only went 2-19 from three.

They also had eight of their eleven steals in the second half, many of which came off straight effort plays or 50/50 balls.

The Sun Devils now turn their attention to their first road game of the season, against San Diego, which holds a 1-2 record to this point, having lost both of its games against Division 1 opponents by 15+ points.

“Now we’re going to go on the road and we’re going to have an early shootaround or a late shootaround, or film in the hotels, not sleeping in our own beds. So just getting a new routine,” said Miller.

No matter the routine or the schedule, the defense will need to travel wherever the Sun Devils go in order for Miller and her squad to come out on top.