(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)
Seven three-pointers were made in the first half of Arizona State’s 74-64 victory over Stanford, but the hot shooting wasn’t what anybody was talking about following the big victory in the final weekend of the regular season.
“It was all in the defense,” senior center Eric Jacobsen said.
Fifty percent from three and seven offensive boards were overshadowed by the defensive effort in the first half, and head coach Bobby Hurley was thrilled with the team’s bounce-back defensive effort.
“I thought our defensive effort was outstanding,” Hurley said. “Especially in the first half. To limit Stanford to 22 points was very good and it helped our chances.”
Stanford shot 9-of-22 in the first half, but more notably, it had 10 turnovers before the half ended. It also only shot two free throws, and Hurley had been hoping that the recent defensive adjustments they made would pay off in this form.
“It’s been more of a philosophical change to not allowing dribble penetration,” Hurley said. “In the loss to Arizona, especially in the second half, they got to the front of the rim way too much. Our help side defense has been better. At Colorado, it was better. We won the paint against them even though we didn’t win the game. Then tonight, I thought also we forced them to shoot a lot of jump shots.”
Which they did. Very Well.
The Cardinal had only 10 of their 64 points come in the paint, and were outscored inside the key by 17 points.
A lot of this is not only due to the changes made on the defensive end of the floor, but also because of the spark of energy the Sun Devil big men provided, especially Jacobsen and junior forward Savon Goodman.
Goodman and Jacobsen combined for 29 points and 14 rebounds, including eight on the offensive side. As a whole (including senior forward Willie Atwood and junior forward Obinna Oleka), the frontcourt had 49 of the 74 points.
“We got defensive stops. It’s pretty simple,” Goodman said. “When we do that and we out-rebound teams, we have a pretty good chance of winning, and we did that today.”
Jacobsen especially has been on a roll as of late, averaging 13.5 points in the last two games. After a long stretch of ankle issues, Jacobsen finally feels he is moving and jumping at a higher level.
“Regardless of what any player says, to have a positive game means something,” Hurley said. “That was the biggest thing I took out of the Colorado game was that Gerry had a good half, and Tra had 16 points bouncing back from the Utah game, and Eric having the numbers he had against Josh Scott… We just need more guys playing well.”
Tonight, the Sun Devils had five players in double-figures, and having all of these guys “playing well” put ASU in a great position to win. Despite the all-around effort on the offensive end, Hurley still insisted that the defense carried them to victory like it has all season, but also helped propel them on the glass.
“It boils down to our energy, our activity,” Hurley said. “You saw it at the end of the half how aggressive we were with our defense and it just carries over to other departments. If you take good shots that your teammates expect you to take, then if they miss you’re in a good position to rebound.”
Dominance on the glass helped on both ends – on the defensive end by getting stops and preventing Stanford by recording any second-chance points, and on the offensive end by helping to give the Sun Devils 16 points off of second chances.
“In a zone traditionally there isn’t a man that is responsible for blocking another guy out,” Hurley said of the Stanford defense. “So you have to block out guys in areas, and if you have guys that are going to the glass then you sometimes can sneak in there and get some o-boards.”
Now to close the season the Sun Devils have a greater test with the Cal Bears coming to town, but if ASU can have a repeat performance of hounding defense and dominance on the glass, Cal could be in for a thriller on Sun Devil senior night.
