(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
Despite a favorable score for Arizona State Basketball, adorning the jumbotron inside Desert Financial Arena, a decidedly opposing disappointed look painted ASU head coach Bobby Hurley’s face. It’s common for fans to expect a blowout when a Power 4 opponent like Arizona State Basketball faces a lower-level Summit League opponent like St.Thomas.
The vast differences in resources create what should be a vast difference in roster talent and therefore a vast difference in the score. However in college basketball especially that sentiment does not always prove true. The perceived chasm of talent between two sides doesn’t always show for the duration of a 40-minute contest despite what a final score may tell.
Those closer to the sport know that perception isn’t always reality.
“I knew it was gonna be a tough game,” ASU (4-1) head coach Bobby Hurley said. “They’re a very unique team. They moved very fast. They cut backdoor, shoot a lot of threes, (get) a lot of long rebounds, a lot of long possessions of defense. There are easier teams that you most likely could find than this one. So just happy to get through the game.”
Although the Tommies’ (3-2) flash of an upset bid ultimately fell up well short, the statement was made. The 81-66 ASU victory, despite what the score may suggest, wasn’t entirely satisfactory. Especially for a team coming off a stretch in which it escaped 3-1 from, what Hurley described as “the hardest four-game stretch in the country”.
St.Thomas made its “bombs away” all-or-nothing game plan evident from the early tip. The Tommies’ first ten shot attempts of the game were all from downtown. Despite only making three of those early long-range shots, they did not fall far behind due to the relatively inefficient ASU offense on the other end.
Just over five minutes into the game a backdoor cut by St. Thomas’ freshman guard Nolan Minnesale created an open dunk. The slam was the first Tommies’ shot attempt inside the arc of the contest and put them up 12-11 at that point.
“This is one of the teams you don’t hear as much coverage about, but they’re going to play hard,” ASU freshman big man Jayden Quaintance said. “They’re going to run their offense. They’re going to get good looks if you don’t go out to play. It’s important to take these games seriously and put effort into these games.”
What followed was continuous high-effort play for the team from Minnesota. At one point in the first half, the Tommies swarming defense forced five turnovers in just over four minutes. The ASU offense faltered under the scrappy underdog’s pressure for much of the contest committing 13 turnovers by game’s end.
“It’s very challenging,” ASU senior forward Basheer Jihad said. “We were in a dog fight. It’s something (if) we play a higher opponent, I don’t feel like it’s going to work in our favor. We’re going to have to correct those things.”
Lights out St. Thomas’ deep shooting continued early into the second half as they put four more away early out of the break. While the Sun Devils sprinted out to a ten-point lead late in the first half entering the break, St. Thomas cut the deficit down to as low as two early in the second half.
Eventually, a corner three by Quaintance with 12 minutes remaining put the Sun Devils up six and opened the floodgates for the home team. Shortly after a three-minute St.Thoams scoring drought ensued and ASU took advantage of the cooled shooting to reassert the dominance they were expected to have from the opening tip. A late 20-3 Sun Devil run opened a deficit that proved insurmountable for St.Thomas.
“It means a lot just to be able to build energy and get the team going to try and build towards a win,” Quaintance said. “[We were] stagnant for a little bit, especially coming out of the half and it was good to get us going.”
Quaintance’s three was the first of the 17-year-old former five-star’s college career. The highly touted prospect has struggled offensively early in the season for the Sun Devils but found consistent impact both offensively and defensively terrorizing the paint. His 13 points and 14 rebounds represented career-highs in both categories, his first double-double, and the first time he’s scored in double figures all season. His domination of the paint helped ASU outrebound the Tommies 44 to 29.
Fellow five-star freshman, ASU guard Joson Sanon continued his hot scoring streak to the tune of 18 points with three made threes on 54 percent shooting from the field and 60 percent from downtown. He dropped 21 points ASU’s last time taking the floor, in a win over GCU. Jihad led the way for the Sun Devils pouring in 20 points, 12 of which came in the ASU second-half flurry to help the Sun Devils spit away from their stingy competition.
Jihad, along with Sanon, has quickly become ASU’s most reliable source of offensive production. After scoring five points in the team’s first two games combined, he’s averaged 20 in his last three. Listed at 6 feet 9 inches tall – same as Quaintance – Jihad held a favorable offensive matchup in the high post area against a relatively shorter Tommies team that featured only one player as tall as ASU’s two starting big men. Eight of Jihad’s points came in the paint which aided ASU’s 30 total points down low.
“It’s part of my game,” Jihad said. “I had the matchup I wanted. I knew that I was favored in that matchup. I was trying to be aggressive.”
While much of this contest seemed to be steps in the wrong direction for ASU the eventual score favored the notion of progress for the Sun Devils. It is a team with 12 new faces on a 16-man roster and still under a month removed from a 56-point blowout in an exhibition against the vaunted Duke Blue Devils.
Since then the Sun Devils have gone 4-1 and have begun to round into shape entering conference play in the program’s first year in the Big 12. Patience and intention will be key for this team moving forward to continue ascending.
“There was a lot of doubt in the program, internally,” Jihad said. “That’s just natural. You go out and lose Duke by 50, and then you play a mid-major team (ASU beat Idaho State 55-48 just a week after the Duke loss) and only win by eight. It created some doubt. We went right back to practice, and we knew we were capable of playing a lot better, and we knew we had the pieces to be very good. I knew we had that. I was concerned about how those pieces were going to fit together, and I think it’s coming along.”
