Early on, the Sun Devils (3-3) held their own with the Wildcats (6-0). Following a second quarter in which just about everything went wrong for ASU and just about everything went right for UK, the Sun Devils kept pushing forward even after falling behind by as many as 20 points. Except for those who either saw the game or closely examined the sequence of events in the aftermath, what likely will go unnoticed is the Sun Devils dusted themselves off, got back up and slowly whittled points off Kentucky’s lead.
With 6:50 remaining in the game, the possibility of the Sun Devils overcoming the largest deficit in program history was suddenly plausible after Tyi Skinner’s 3-pointer pulled ASU within eight points. And although Kentucky eventually pulled away, ASU proved what it was made of in refusing to accept the outcome was decided when the opposition had twice as many points with 33 seconds remaining in the first half.
Jalyn Brown was ASU’s top scorer in the game, finishing with 16 points. Nevaeh Parkinson, who came up one rebound short of a double-double, scored nine of her 12 points and grabbed seven of her nine boards in the second half to help keep ASU within striking distance. Parkinson was one of eight Sun Devils who broke into the scoring column in the final 20 minutes. Other top contributors included Tyi Skinner (scored six of her eight points and ended the game with a team-high five assists), Kennedy Fauntleroy (scored all six of her points), Jyah LoVett (scored all five of her points) and Jazion Jackson (scored five of her eight points). Maggie Besselink also collected six of her seven rebounds.
As a team, ASU outscored the Wildcats 38-35 in the second half, was plus six both on the boards (28-22) and second chance points (11-5). The Sun Devils also had only four turnovers after committing 10 miscues in the first half (led to nine UK points).
If the first quarter was any indication of what was to come, it appeared the two teams would be engaged in a tightly contested, defensive affair as they combined to shoot 35 percent: ASU 5 of 14 and Kentucky 6 of 17. Brown (six points), Parkinson (three points) and Jackson (three points) combined to score 12 of ASU’s 15 points in the opening stanza.
Kentucky held the largest lead of either team (9-5) midway through the first quarter. An 8-1 run by the Sun Devils gave them their biggest lead (13-10) after Parkinson’s jumper with 2:45 remaining. Kentucky answered by scoring five of the last six points to take to claim a 15-14 edge going into the second quarter.
Nothing that happened in the first 10 minutes indicated what ensued over the next 10 minutes. In the second quarter, the Wildcats connected on 71 percent (10-14) of their shots, outscoring ASU 27-9. On the flip side, ASU missed its first 10 shots. Skinner’s jumper with 2:44 remaining broke the cold spell. Brown had two layups in the final minute and the Sun Devils went to the locker room trailing 42-23.
LoVett’s jumper with 3:59 left in the third quarter cut ASU’s deficit to 11. After UK reclaimed a 15-point lead, LoVett (3-pointer) and Fauntleroy (2-2 FTs) scored the next five points to make it a 54-44 game late in the quarter.
After Skinner’s triple brought ASU within eight, the Wildcats used a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 15. The Sun Devils got no closer than 12 points the rest of the game.
For ASU, Tuesday’s game was the first of seven consecutive in which it will be on the road for either a neutral site contest (three games) or as the away team in a true road game (four games). The Sun Devils play the second of the three neutral site contests on Wednesday morning (10 a.m. MST/11 a.m. CST) when they face South Dakota in the first ever meeting between the two schools.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Steve Rodriguez
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