There is another game now that comes into discussion.
ASU led by as many as 26 in the second half en route to an 82-65 win at Colorado Thursday, topping a Buffalo team that had won five straight.
ASU shot .552 (16-of-29) in the second half, made 9-of-17 (.529) from three and 13-of-15 (.867) from the free throw line for the game and outrebounded Colorado 38-26 to cruise to the win.
Jay Heath had 18 points, while Marreon Jackson (17 points and five steals) and Luther Muhammad (season-high 15 points) came off the bench and led ASU to a 35-15 advantage in bench points. Jalen Graham had 14 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added five boards and three assists.
CU’s biggest lead was 5-0 just two minutes into the tilt and there were five ties 10 minutes into the game, but ASU took a 17-16 lead with 8:55 left in first half and never looked back. It raced out to a leads of 25-16 (7:26) and 37-24 (1:19) and didn’t let up in the second half, going up 72-46 on a Jay Heath three-pointer with just under seven minutes remaining.
Between the end of the first half (5:37) and the start of the second half (2:07) ASU held the Buffs without a field goal for 7:44.
CU COACH COACH TAD BOYLE
“We just got our a** kicked tonight guys. There’s no way to sugarcoat it. I wish I could. I don’t like to curse but I guess it’s a three-letter word (and) not a four-letter word, but we just got kicked tonight in every sense of the word. We weren’t ready to play. This started in practice yesterday. I saw it coming. I was hoping that our guys could maybe care enough to rebound the ball and execute a defensive game plan, but we were lifeless. We’ve got a bunch of guys right now that rely on their offense and rely on their shot going in to score the basketball to give them energy to play the game. We don’t have the maturity I thought we did. I thought we showed some maturity the last few games, but we don’t have the maturity to sustain it in terms of executing a defensive game plan and playing with energy. I’ve talked about it for the last three weeks. We’ve got to prepare ourselves to win games or win a game when the shots aren’t falling. Tonight was that night. We were unable to do it. We couldn’t guard. We couldn’t stop them. I’m going to get angry at our team and our players. Angry, and I’m angry right now. I’m going to get angry for three reasons. One is (the) lack of effort, which we showed tonight. Unacceptable. Two is (the) lack of concentration which we showed tonight, which is unacceptable. Three is selfishness. I don’t think we were selfish tonight, although I think we took more bad shots tonight than we’ve taken in the last three games combined. I’d love to look at the film to get those numbers. I don’t think selfishness is the issue but lack of concentration and lack of effort (are). That’s an issue and it started in practice yesterday. I don’t know if our guys think that people are going to give us wins because we’re at home. This is our fifth loss in this building. We’ve got great fans (and a) great student section. There’s no excuses for tonight. I’m the head coach, so I’m ultimately responsible.”
On the Lack of Concentration Coming Off the Three-Game Road Trip
“It’s mind-boggling. (In the) second half, we’re supposed to be double-teaming the ball screen to try to get back in the game (and) create some offense with our defense (and) get them to take some quick jump shots. We needed to generate something. They were coming down on a play and we’re very deliberate offensively. We’re supposed to have two guys on the guy coming off the ball screen. Well, the guy comes off and (makes) the three (point shot). Now we do not have two guys guarding him, we don’t have one guy guarding him. He wipes the three. We could never get back in the game because we couldn’t get a stop. We kept begging and pleading and talking about it every timeout at halftime. This team didn’t have it tonight. Players have to do some soul searching. I’m going to watch the film. I’m going to show these guys the film tomorrow. It’s not going to be fun. It’s not going to be pretty. I don’t care.”
On Why Arizona State Outrebounded CU
“(It was) a lack of effort (and a) lack of toughness. Bottom line. That’s all rebounding is. Lack of effort, lack of toughness. End of story. That’s it. Lack of effort, lack of toughness.”
On CU Not Using Their Size Advantage Over ASU
“Rebounding has nothing to do with size. It really doesn’t. McKinley Wright taught us that. (He is a) six-foot guard (who) would get six, seven, eight rebounds a game. Size has nothing to do with rebounding. It might be for a seven-footer that’s around the glass like (Roman) Silva for Oregon State. When he plants himself in the middle of the lane (his) size matters. But for the most part, rebounding is all toughness and effort and boxing out (with) getting a body on somebody. We worked on it in practice. Again, I’m going to take responsibility because I’m the head coach, but what really (makes me angry) is (that) we worked on rebounding the last two-three days in practice. We specifically worked on it and we got out rebounded by 12 (tonight). That angers me.”
On the Effectiveness of the Sun Devils’ Guards
“We couldn’t guard anybody tonight. Marreon Jackson was (effective in) the first half. In the second half, it was Luther Muhammad. We couldn’t guard anybody. We’re showing hard on ball screens and getting over the screens. Again, (that’s) something we’ve worked on in practice the last two days. They come off and (make) a three. Marreon Jackson played with much more energy than our guards did tonight (and) more toughness. He’s in passing lanes. He was gambling. We don’t want to gamble. We want to be in gaps and in passing lanes though. We want to have active hands, but you go down the list: DJ Horne, Marreon Jackson, (and) Jalen Graham (are) much improved players. One thing I knew about Arizona State coming into this game is that Kimani Lawrence and Jalen Graham are much bigger parts of their offense. Coach (Bobby) Hurley) has done a good job of reining some of those perimeter guys in. (They’re not) taking as many bad shots as they did in (CU’s game against ASU in) Tempe. We weren’t able to guard them. They come in our building (and) outrebound us by 12 and hang 82 points on us.”
On CU’s Struggles in Half Court Offense
“We’re struggling (with) getting it because we’re not strong enough and tough enough to get them off us (and) get them into a ball screen. We’re not tough enough to make a hard cut. They’re checking us on cuts. We just gave into it. It’s all about toughness. That’s what it was. Their guards were tougher than our guards.”
On Possibly Overlooking Arizona State
“No, I don’t (think we overlooked them), (but) I know I was on edge yesterday. I saw this coming in practice yesterday. (With) the way we practiced yesterday, this is not a shock to me. I’m disappointed because this was an opportunity for us to get in position to have a bye in the first round (of the Pac-12 Tournament). That’s going to be difficult. We’re going to have to suck it up and we have to beat Arizona and beat Utah to make that happen. After games like this, you’re wondering, ‘Will we win another game?” The way we played tonight, the answer’s no. We won’t win another game if we play the way we did tonight. Our players have got to understand that. Those freshmen are not freshmen anymore. The sophomores are not sophomores anymore. Evan Battey deserves more from his teammates than he got tonight, and Evan wasn’t very good tonight. Evan wasn’t great. That’s on Evan, but nobody knows that more (than Evan). Evan’s the most self-aware and self-critical player that we have. He deserved more from his teammates. It can’t be Evan every single night. The rest of the guys have got to show up mentally and emotionally. Tonight, they didn’t. That’s on them, and it’s on me. I’m the head coach. I’m not blaming our players. I take full responsibility for this loss, but we’re going to watch some film tomorrow.”
On G Julian Hammond Getting More Playing Time
“KJ (Simpson) and Keeshawn (Barthelemy) were not at their best tonight. It was like ‘Hey, let (Julian) have a chance.’ Julian’s a good player. I’ve been playing Keeshawn and KJ ahead of Julian, but there’s no right that comes with that. They’ve done that by the way they’ve played in practice and in games, but when it’s not happening, guess what? Tonight’s the night we needed Lawson (Lovering). Tonight, we needed Eli Parquet. I needed a bigger bench tonight because there was nobody to turn to. That’s what happens when you’re down to eight scholarship guys. Will Loughlin did a good job in the first half. Maybe I should have played him more. I don’t know if there was an answer on the bench tonight, even though I was searching and I was looking. I was looking for somebody to give us a spark and I was looking for somebody to get on each other. They just had a deer in the headlights look like, ‘Coach, save us.’ What am I going to do? I can’t go out there (and play).”
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Media Relations – Doug Tammaro
