Running, gunning, and executing, an excited ASU basketball team buried a Detroit Titans squad one year removed from the NCAA tournament. Known for their propensity to lose late leads, the Sun Devils kept shoveling dirt onto the grave at the times when Detroit tried to come back Wednesday night.
The Sun Devils prevailed 83-68, and that margin of victory pretty well summed up this NIT first round game.
Coming into the matchup, there was some thought the Horizon League Player of the Year Ray McCallum Jr. would put up big numbers that could keep this contest close. However, it was apparent early on that ASU was ready to come out and beat down this mid-major school the way a power conference team should.
“I don’t think they’re used to the physicality of the Pac-12, and we brought that a little bit to them,” Jahii Carson said.
Arizona State’s size was clearly a road block for the University of Detroit from the beginning of the game. The Sun Devils’ height advantage posed a problem on both sides of the court as the Titans could not get into the interior on the offensive end and did not score a field goal until the 10:15 mark in the first half.
On the defensive end, ASU’s size forced Detroit to struggle as the Sun Devils grabbed nine offensive rebounds in the first half. Those Arizona State offensive boards pushed the Titans to briefly move into a 2-3 zone set that was literally “shot down” by junior Evan Gordon who hit two back-to-back 3-pointers against the Titans zone.
ASU’s superior size continued to be overpowering in the first half as the Titans, desperate for ways to turn around their enormous deficit, fouled Arizona State 16 times. Another aid to ASU’s throttling half was Detroit’s 0-9 stat line from 3-point land.
The only aspect of Detroit’s game that kept the lead from being supremely embarrassing was the Titans 15-15 shooting from the free throw line in the first half.
“The next chance we have to practice, we are going to work on our free throw shooting defense,” joked coach Herb Sendek after the game.
Sendek was able to let loose in the post-game press conference because, besides a short lived 9-0 Titans run that brought the squad within 10 points to start the second half, his team kept its foot on the gas for the entirety of the game.
Although the game slightly opened up, which enabled Detroit to briefly bypass ASU’s size in the interior, timely threes by Jon Gilling, and perfect free throwing shooting from Jordan Bachynski and Carrick Felix kept the potential Titan comeback at bay.
In the end, what had the potential to be an exciting and athletic game turned into an overpowering performance from a bigger and more confident Sun Devils squad.
After the game coach Sendek talked about how excited and ready his guys were for the tournament, and what the Sun Devils are facing next against the Baylor Bears on their schedule, all while blessing the media with light-hearted comedy
The ASU coach pushed in his chair as he walked away from the press conference table stating, “Who says I’m not funny?”
Whether the joking or serious Sendek shows up to the post-game press conference Friday night will largely depend on whether the focused or occasionally lackadaisical ASU basketball team shows up to play against Baylor in the second round of the NIT.
