‘Lasting memory’: ASU wins by 25 in First Four
DAYTON, Ohio– Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley saw his team go through a 40-minute workout on Tuesday and saw a dialed-in group that took every drill and every shot seriously.Hurley, who won 2
NCAA championships as Duke’s point player however has yet to find the exact same competition success as a coach, felt his team would be ready for the phase Wednesday night in the First 4 versus Nevada. What he didn’t imagine was Arizona State’s finest collective half of the season, a 53-point knockout in the first half in which the Sun Devils struck more than two-thirds of their shot attempts.One of the last groups into the NCAA competition made one
of the very best first impressions, as Arizona State reached a season high for points in a 98-73 win over Nevada at UD Arena. The 11th-seeded Sun Devils advanced in the West area to face No. 6 seed TCU on Friday night in Denver.” You never ever imagine that they could perform this well on offense,”Hurley stated.”We scored the most points we scored all season tonight. And it was the quality of play, the entire team doing it. I can’t state I put in a guy in the game who didn’t contribute to it.”ASU opened the game on a 15-6 run and led by as many as 29 in the first half. The team hit 8 of 14 attempts from 3-point variety and shot 67.7% from the field in the half, and it had six players with multiple basket, led by DJ Horne and Desmond Cambridge Jr. The Sun Devils set a First 4 record for points and completed one point shy of their NCAA competition record, set in 1980 against Loyola Marymount in the preliminary. They finished with 21 helps and just seven turnovers. “To head out there and play a game like that, it’s certainly going to have an enduring memory,” stated Horne, who struck Arizona State’s first 3-pointer of each half and ended up with a game-high 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting.”When we get off to begin like that, it feeds onto everyone on the team and simply develops energy, and it revealed tonight.”Nevada really shot well from distance, hitting 50% of its 3-point attempts, but it went just 2-for-12
on 2-pointers and had an uncharacteristic 8 turnovers. Horne stated the efficiency reminded him of a Feb. 25 contest at rival Arizona that Cambridge won on a 60-foot buzzer-beater. Sun Devils forward Warren Washington, who had nine points, saw a parallel to ASU’s 25-point taking apart of Michigan in November.But offered the stakes, ASU provided probably its most complete performance at the perfect time. “The way we’re making every shot, making the right uses offense, and we’re safeguarding at the same time,”Washington said.”That’s a dish for wins. I knew it coming in.
The last couple of games we had in the Pac-12 Conference prepared us for this. We’re battle-ready and battle-tested. “Editor’s Picks< img src=" https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/photo/2023/0315/r1144786_1296x1296_1-1.jpg&w=130&h=130&scale=crop&location=center"
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1 Associated Arizona State was the fourth and last Pac-12 team to reach the tournament, as the league didn’t satisfy preseason expectations. However ASU likewise logged 3 games against Arizona, the No. 2 seed in the South area, and 2 versus UCLA, a No. 2 seed in the West.The Sun Devils
played five games from March 2 to March 10, including 4 versus NCAA competition groups (Arizona, UCLA and USC, two times). They left for Denver early Wednesday early morning, however they will not play until the last game Friday night, which Hurley valued after a quicker turn-around when ASU won its First 4 game in 2019 then lost to Buffalo.
“That’s all we require, we just require that a person day,” Cambridge stated. “We’re absolutely going to make the most of that time off and get ready for the next one.”
Cambridge and Washington moved to ASU from Nevada, and both harm their former group on Wednesday. According to ESPN Statistics & Details research, Cambridge’s 17 points marked the 2nd most by a player against his previous group in the NCAA tournament, behind Texas Southern’s Allen Lovett, who scored 28 points against UNC Asheville in 2000.
The 7-foot Washington assisted in on offense– Cambridge called him a point forward after four helps– and safeguarded the basket. Nevada went just 5-for-14 on layup and dunk attempts.
“I have actually had a lot of practices going against them and competing with them,” Washington stated of Nevada. “So contending versus them was no various from practice or anything. I love those people. They had a fantastic year.”
ASU’s point total marked the most by a Pac-12 group in the NCAA tournament since Arizona had 100 versus North Dakota State in the first round in 2017. The Sun Devils cleared their bench in the last seconds, permitting Hurley’s kid, Bobby, and others to take the floor.
“It’s such a pleasure to watch him out there, and I’m thankful that the people played this well, due to the fact that those are the behind-the-scenes guys,” the Sun Devils coach stated. “They’re just as valuable for what they generate practice and supporting the group. So it was cool that they got the chance to play in the NCAA tournament.”