Arizona State put forth a valiant effort, securing a 71-63 victory despite only having a seven-man rotation.
(Salt Lake City, UT) Arizona State Men’s Basketball went on the road and defeated Utah, 71-63, to earn their third Big 12 Conference win of the season.
Despite facing roster limitations that saw them playing only a seven-man rotation, the Sun Devils (12-11, 3-7) still managed to knock off the Utes (9-13, 1-8) for their second road win of the season. Behind a fantastic defensive effort, Head Coach Bobby Hurley‘s team controlled the entire contest against Utah on their way to securing a significant conference road triumph. Arizona State shot 22-of-25 (88%) from the free throw line and allowed only 63 points, which moves them to 7-0 when allowing 70 points or less this season. The Maroon and Gold took extremely good care of the basketball, committing a season-low six turnovers.
Regular starter redshirt sophomore forward Santiago Trouet was out due to injury and his replacement senior forward Allen Mukeba was questionable coming into the game. Despite the adversity, Arizona State led for 38:52 of a possible 40 minutes of action, making a statement with their backs against the wall.
Contributions from the entire seven-man rotation were key to the victory. Freshman center Massamba Diop led the way with 15 points and eight rebounds, logging a career-high 37 minutes. Senior guards Anthony “Pig” Johnson (14) and Moe Odum (13) both reached double figures scoring and accepted the challenge of defending a dynamic Utah backcourt.
A key wrinkle by the Sun Devil coaching staff, implementing a zone defense, proved to be a difference maker. The 63 points scored by Utah were the second-fewest the Utes had produced all season, as the offense came into the game averaging over 79 points per game. A big reason why the Sun Devils bottled up the Utes was due to their ability to limit the effectiveness of junior guard Terrence Brown. Brown only scored six points on 2-of-16 shooting (12.5%). He came into the game third in the Big 12, averaging 22.1 points per game and shooting 47.0%. As a team, Utah shot only 39.0% (23-of-59), their lowest rate of the season. It is only the third time they’ve been held under 40% from the field this season.
Quotables
Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley
Opening statement
“I have a lot of experience being in this building and so I know how hard it is to win here. I am very happy that we got the job done. I thought we had a great first half on both ends of the floor. That was the type of start we needed to get off to on the road. Then we did what we had to do in the second half; it wasn’t the cleanest. On the offensive end, we missed some threes that were open and some other shots around the basket, but we made our free throws down the stretch and got enough stops. It is great to get a win tonight.”
On the key to the hot start
“We had played only two possesions of zone and the teams had scored on us both times this season. I thought the players excecuted without practicing it a whole lot. It was more their communication. We know how good (Terrence) Brown is when he gets downhill. And (Don) McHenry getting into the paint. The zone, I felt, brought just a touch of hesitancy for those guys to attack. With only seven guys available to play tonight, it enabled our guys to run around and chase people on defense the whole time. I think it worked on mulitple fronts to keep us fresh enough to have a chance to win the game.”
On limiting Terrence Brown’s impact
“They wouldn’t ever really think that we would play zone, becuase we haven’t. So, if I was getting us for a team that did not play a possesion of zone the whole year, I wouldn’t work on zone offense either. The guards weren’t able to get the paint touches that they usually get, especially Brown. They were not in a great rhythm and I think the guys did a good job of funneling him to Diop in front of the basket so he could challenge the shot.”
Arizona State’s two-man bench proved it is not always about quantity, but all about quality. ASU won the bench battle 23-5, the the 16th time (11-5 record) they have done it this season. The Sun Devils stay on the road, as they head to Boulder to take on Colorado on Saturday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 PM MST. Watch on ESPN2.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Connor Smith
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