Arizona State men’s basketball cruises past NAU for 8th win

The Arizona State Sun Devils were looking to improve on the win they chalked up three days ago against Oklahoma. They did, sort of.

ASU added a 73-48 win over visiting Northern Arizona on Dec. 9 at Desert Financial Arena for its fifth win in the last six outings.

Defense has been the team’s focus in the last two weeks, and that showed as the Sun Devils (8-2) held their opponent to a season-low point total. Coach Bobby Hurley said the team’s goal was to hold the Lumberjacks (4-5) to under 49 points. Mission accomplished there.

ASU shot 50% 26-for-52) for the game, with an even split, 15-for-30 in the first and 11-for-22 in the second half. NAU shot 33.3% (17-for-51), which included a 5-for-26 from long distance.

What went right

Got scoring punch from the bench: ASU is 8-0 when getting more points from its bench than the opponent, and 0-2 when it does not. In this one, it wasn’t even close as the Sun Devils had a significant advantage here, 33-3. Allen Mukeba had 10, Anthony “Pig” Johnson nine, and Marcus Adams 8.

Rebounded better: This is an area where the Sun Devils have made noticeable strides in the last two games, and this was an opponent ASU should have bested on the board because it was one of the few where they have had a size advantage. The Sun Devils won the battle 41-15, with a 10-4 edge on the offensive glass and a 31-21 advantage on the defensive boards. Santiago Trout had eight, with Mukeba, Andrija Grbovic, and Massamba Diop each collecting six.

Used inside presence: The 7-0 freshman Diop had a career-high 19 points on an 8-for-10 showing from the field. Hurley said his team didn’t go to him enough

What went wrong

A few too many turnovers: ASU had 13, which is too many against a .500 foe. NAU had 10 steals, and it wasn’t exactly pressuring the ball. It was the area in which Hurley was most disappointed. Diop had four. The Sun Devils were fortunate NAU only manufactured 12 points off those turnovers. NAU also had 13 turnovers, and ASU scored 23 points off those.

A bit sluggish in the first half: ASU ended the first half up 35-26. It was up 11-2, then faltered a bit, and the Lumberjacks actually went ahead 14-13 with 10:40 left in the half.

Personnel notes

ASU has used the same starting lineup for all 10 games this season. A total of 10 athletes entered the game and all of them scored. The last person to score was Moe Odum, who came in averaging 18.9 points per game. His only two points came at the line with 30 seconds left.

Up next

The Sun Devils are back on the road for another neutral site game, the fifth of the season. ASU will square off with Santa Clara (8-2) in the Jack Jones Hoop Hall Classic at 5 p.m. on Dec. 13 at Lee’s Family Forum in Henderson, Nevada. ASU is 3-1 in neutral-site games while the Broncos are 1-1.

The teams played last season with ASU prevailing 81-74.