(photo courtesy: Steve Rodriguez/ASU Athletics)
While Arizona State pulled off a critical 79-75 win against a pesky Utah Utes team at Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night, the journey for the Sun Devils won’t get any easier.
Sitting at 3-3 in the Pac-12, ASU will need to pull out another win on Saturday night against a Colorado team that is playing without its star junior guard Spencer Dinwiddie who is out for the season due to injury.
The good news for the Sun Devils is that they showed major signs of improvement in a handful of its players last night, including junior forward Jonathan Gilling, who was perfect from the field, going 5 of 5 including a key three-pointer late in the game.
“I thought Jon Gilling really responded to coming off the bench exceptionally well,” head coach Herb Sendek said. “I thought he really competed on defense, moved the ball exceptionally well on offense…and the icing on the cake was the big three he hit down the homestretch.”
Good news for ASU was that sophomore point guard Jahii Carson finally looked like his old, 40-point night self. Though he struggled in the first half from the free throw line and in the assist column, his ability to produce points contributed to the Sun Devils much needed momentum boosts.
Carson finished the night with 23 points, going 10 of 22 from the field, not a pretty stat line percentage-wise, but Carson made the shots when they counted the most. Known for his acrobatic layups, many just seemed to roll out and never want to fall in.
However, through it all, Carson never gave up.
“You know, there’s time when guys don’t hit shots and they don’t play the way they are capable of playing,” Carson said. “But I’ve tried to be positive and have a great spirit and keep working hard and just being humble, listening to everything coaches have to say and just keep attacking. If I didn’t shoot the basketball I wouldn’t be able to score so I just kept attacking and just kept working hard everyday.”
While Carson and senior center Jordan Bachynski picked up their third fouls early in the second half, both stayed in the game and it wasn’t until less than four minutes left when Bachynski picked up his fourth foul.
Many of the young Sun Devils will have to follow their leads. With the games being called tight due to the rule change with the emphasis on hand checks, players from both squads were constantly picking up fouls, many close to fouling out.
While the Sun Devils managed to get it done in the end, ASU still has some major areas to work on before they play Colorado at home on Saturday night.
One key stat line for the game? Free throws.
Carson was the main perpetrator Thursday night, going only 1 of 5 from the line in the first half and finishing 3 of 8 from the line.
Senior guard Jermaine Marshall, quiet for most of the night, scored his first point off of a free throw, after the missing his first attempt, with 28.5 seconds left to go in the game, putting ASU up 76-71.
In the ensuing 28.5 seconds, Marshall was fouled by Utah each possession and Marshall calmly went to the line and made 3 of 4 free throws to clinch the game for ASU.
Bachynski, who scored his tenth double-double this season, also did most of his work from the free throw line, going 7 of 8 from the line. Bachynski scored 11 points on 2 of 5 shooting from the field and grabbed 11 rebounds.
ASU will need to gather consistency from the line, especially against a tough, Pac-12 conference filled with parity. Games will quickly come down to each and every possession and ASU can’t be the team to lose based on poor free throw shooting.
However, lineup changes may or may not help this ASU squad. Against Utah, Gilling came off the bench after losing his starting sport to sophomore forward Eric Jacobsen.
While Gilling went off to play one of his best games this season, Jacobsen impressed his teammates with his dedication and play on the court.
“I think Eric (Jacobsen) is a phenomenal player,” Bachynski said. “He finishes, especially in practice, he finishes really well around the rim. He’s a big body, he’s really strong and we saw it the first play of the game. He posted up (Utah sophomore forward Jordan) Loveridge and just went to work. He’s a great player, I love playing with him and I mean we did really well on the boards…it opens up the floor a lot more and we can get a lot more ball screens, Jahii can get a lot more open, I think it works well for us.”
Whether or not Jacobsen will continue to start is up in the air for now, but if Gilling can be that productive off the bench, ASU could be starting a good trend over the next few games.
With Jacobsen on the floor with Bachynski, the Sun Devils would be sacrificing playing their four out style so they would have to re-tool their play offensively, but Jacobsen moved his feet well on defense so it adds size in the paint in addition to Bachynski.
Contact this author via email sjpell@asu.edu or on twitter @sammyjade18
