Sun Devils defensive identity falls apart in loss to USC

(Photo: Alyssa Buruato)

TEMPE – In 2022-23 Arizona State men’s basketball has had one mindset, outwork, out hustle, and out-defend its opponent. It has led them to success as the Sun Devils sit near the top of the Pac-12 and near the top of many defensive statistics across the country. However, with ASU needing a win over USC to avoid being swept on the weekend, the Sun Devils’ defense and their identity collapsed.

“It was atrocious defense out there,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. “That’s our responsibility as staff, and we had an identity for most of the season of getting stops.”

Coming into Saturday night’s game, the Sun Devils held teams to 38.3 percent from the floor on the season, a mark that is eighth best in the country. But, on Saturday, the Trojans torched the Sun Devils for most of the game, shooting 53 percent from the field until a late 16-0 run for ASU caused the Trojans shooting percentage to fall to 49.1 percent.

Excluding the final four minutes of the game, the poor performance marks back-to-back games that the Sun Devils have allowed 50 percent shooting nights for the first time this season.

Much of the reason the Sun Devils have succeeded so much defensively has been the energy they display on that end of the court. Players are usually flying all over the court, closing out, getting blocks, and causing turnovers, but the energy that fans have come to expect from this squad was noticeably absent.

“We’ve given up now back-to-back games at virtually 50 percent shooting from the field when we’ve been holding teams mainly in the mid-30s,” Hurley said. “So we gotta get back to the drawing board at that end of the floor and figure out how we could put guys on the floor that are gonna play with energy, the necessary energy, and value the defensive end of the floor because we’re not going to outscore people and shoot out. That’s just not how we’re built.”

USC’s senior guards Drew Peterson and Boogie Ellis caused plenty of problems for the Sun Devils. Peterson was especially excellent in the second half hitting all six of his shots, including three 3-pointers, to essentially close out ASU. Ellis added 18 points of his own, and both guards were essential in every part of the game, tallying 14 rebounds and 8 assists combined.

The defensive performances came off of the heels of a 16-2 UCLA run in the last six minutes of Thursday’s game. With the UCLA game being a brutal and physical match, the Sun Devils looked as if the game took a toll and rolled over into Saturday’s game, but Hurley isn’t letting his guys off the hook.

“There’s no reason that guys that their age physically can’t respond after 36 hours or whatever the time frame is,” Hurley said. “So I think that we just mentally didn’t have the right enthusiasm to play, and that’s the responsibility of the coaches to make sure that guys are playing frenetically and with great energy.”

One bright spot on the night as a whole was the performance of senior forward Warren Washington. The California native scored a season-high 21 points, tying his career high. But, as the lynchpin of the Sun Devils’ usually excellent interior defense, Washington was unhappy with his team’s performance.

“I thought it was flat-out embarrassing,” Washington said. “We embarrassed our fans, we embarrassed ourselves, embarrassed the community. Honestly, it’s just embarrassing; I don’t have much to say about it, it’s just embarrassing.”

The Sun Devils will now turn their attention to the Washington schools, but being swept at home could leave a mark when ASU eventually turns its attention toward March.

“We’ll figure it out,” Hurley said.” We’ve got days to do it. We’ve dropped two at home to two very good teams. We’re still in a very good position in our league. And now we got to make up for it because you lost two at home, and now you gotta go figure out how to get those back through the last 11 games.”