(Photo: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
TEMPE-Arizona State men’s basketball entered this game shorthanded. With junior guard Austin Nunez and junior center Shawn Phillips Jr. out, the Sun Devils had a shorter rotation than head coach Bobby Hurley is comfortable with. Even against an underdog like Cal Poly, ASU needed its depth and stars to step up.
In a game in which the Sun Devils scored a season-high 93 points, their fifth straight game of scoring 80 or more points, there was plenty to be impressed with. On top of that, 14 ASU missed free throws, left 14 extra points off the board, so it appears that this team’s potential is beginning to show, the reason for that? Its depth.
Six of the Sun Devils’ seven players who played at least one minute tonight scored in double figures, with freshman guard Joson Sanon leading the way with 22 points, 15 of which came in the first half. ASU’s all-around effort today kept the game out of reach for Cal Poly (3-3), and despite a late second-half scare, ASU (5-1) took it 93-89.
“I think one of our strengths is balance,” Hurley said. “That we have a number of guys that could impact the offensive end.”
ASU entered the game with four players averaging more than ten points per game, even senior guard Adam Miller, who scored 16 points, is barely outside of that group, averaging 9.5 PPG average. However, the team’s ability to score from any position on the floor and exploit a team’s defensive weaknesses, is the cornerstone of a multidimensional team, and the Sun Devils have excelled at it thus far this season.
It appeared that the freshmen would be the ones to steal the show in the first half. Last week’s Big-12 newcomer of the week Sanon, who has been a regular off the bench and a spark plug for Hurley’s offense, was making fadeaway jumpers from all over the court and scurrying past defenders to the rack inside.
Freshman center Jayden Quaintance needed a moment to settle into the game, but once he did, he settled in big time. In five consecutive back-and-forth possessions, he got inside for a dunk, denied a jump shot on the other end, flushed home his second dunk in a row after the block, blocked an opposing jumper for the second defensive possession in a row, and slam dunked his third straight dunk on ASU’s third consecutive possession. Orchestrating, performing, and carrying out a six-point swing.
“We got some good cats, some good young guys.” MIller said. “(Sanon and Quaintance) are talented. When those guys are hot, we continue to ride off them. Make sure we get them shots, make sure we’re finding them so they can build their confidence. And if it’s not their night, still finding a way to, you know, keep them involved and and showing them little tricks here and there that’s going to help them, you know, evolve their game.”
The freshman barrage would not continue for ASU, as the second half was entirely composed of seniors. After scoring a combined seven points in the first half, senior guards Alston Mason and Miller combined for 23 points in the second half, including four 3-pointers.
The Sun Devils needed their veterans to step up, and after their seniors combined for 18 points in the first half, Mason, Miller and senior forwards BJ Freeman and Basheer Jihad combined for 36 points in the second half. Jihad became the sixth Sun Devil to reach double digits, making it the first time ASU has done so this season.
“We did have good guys that played (the offensive) end of the floor well.” Hurley said. “While we consistently been shooting around 50% from the field. And again, if 10 of 24 from three is 41% that’s good. I mean, that’s positive stuff.”
Every player who touched the court tonight had to make a significant impact if the Sun Devils were to win a game like this, and Sanon and the team did just that.
Nunez and Phillips will return from injury, and the rotation will fill out, but tonight speaks volumes about this Sun Devil team. No player on the court is an offensive liability to ASU on any given night, half, stretch, or possession, and they can lead this team to victory, helping ASU make waves in the its new conference.
“When you share the sugar everybody gets to eat,” Miller said. “So we were just sharing the ball. I think when we continue to understand the pace of the game, everybody has a chance to score, we will continue to be even more, get even better.”
