The Arizona State Sun Devils finally averted the slow start tonight in Tempe against the Bradley Braves winning 70-58 Maybe it had something to do with Coach Sendek’s decision to give freshman wing Egor Koulechov a spot in the starting lineup.
“We just really felt like Egor earned the start with his amazing hustle at UNLB last game,” Sendek said.
Both teams went back and forth for the first nine minutes of the game. As a result of countless rushed shots by both teams, turnovers and fouls were prevalent, keeping the score tied at 12 for two and a half minutes.
The first Bradley points came off of a Jordan Bachynski foul. ASU racked up seven fouls in the first half while Bradley had nine total.
“Every opponent creates different match-ups and different situations,” Sendek said. “ One of the big factors tonight was that Bradley just controlled the tempo of the game and so the game didn’t have a lot of pace to it because we kind of just went with it. They definitely won the battle of dictating tempo tonight.”
After a period of sloppy play, Jahii Carson hit back-to-back three’s with eight minutes left to play to spark a 14-3 run by the Sun Devils over the next three minutes.
“Well he’s obviously off to a great start there can’t be more college basketball players off to a better start,” Sendek said.
A much different Jonathan Gilling showed up tonight, coming off a zero for nine performance against UNLV to sinking 100 percent of his shots in the first half to put up a total of 14 points.
“I know I can make shots, I’ve made thousands of shots in y life it’s just a matter of making them fall. I always have confidence,” Gilling said.
While the scoring was a team effort by the Sun Devils, only four members of the Braves scored points in the first half.
The Sun Devils started the second half with a 15-point lead and steadily kept adding to it throughout the second half until the Braves cut the deficit to twelve points at the end of the game.
“It seemed like we never really got any momentum in the second half. Maybe the highlights were some pick and roles by Jahii and J.B. (Jordan Bachynski),” Sendek said.
Jahii Carson led the game in points with 19 on the night. Jonathan Gilling ended the game with fourteen points.
“We’re just an up-tempo team. We want to try and get 100 every game. If Jon and Jermaine can both sink their shots, we could be unbeatable,” Carson said.
Shaquielle McKissic was a factor as well, leading the team with a total of seven assists.
“He really set his team up for some outstanding shots,” Sendek said.
Jordan Bachynski put up his fifth straight double-double to begin the season with 15 points and ten boards.
The Sun Devils finished off the game with eleven turnovers and 13 fouls exhibiting a clear area for improvement. However they continued to have a high free-throw percentage, a goal this season, at 79 percent.
The Sun Devils finished the game with a score of 70-58 to defeat the Braves. Walt Lemon Jr. and Tyshon Pickett led Bradley in a losing effort with 20 points and 23 points respectively.
ASU will take on the 25th ranked Marquette on Monday night at 7 p.m. in Tempe.
