ASU's rebounding, scoring disappears late in loss to Stanford
Games between Stanford and Arizona State typically go down to the wire.
When they played earlier this season the Sun Devils won by three after overcoming a 14-point deficit.
The two games the teams played last season were decided by a combined six points and the two the year before that came down to 12 points.
It looked like this one too would be close, but the Cardinal used a late run and registered a 71-62 victory in Pac-12 play Thursday night at Desert Financial Arena. It marked just the second loss at home in 10 tries for the Sun Devils (11-10, 5-5). It was also the fourth loss in the last five games.
Stanford shot 43% (25-for-58) which included an 8-for-27 from deep. Three players were in double figures led by Mike Jones with 18.
ASU shot 38% (23-for-6) with an 8-for-32 from long distance. Jose Perez scored a team-high 14, giving him 96 points in his last six games, with 73 in the last four games.
What went right
Kamari Lands found the basket: The transfer from Louisville is one player the Sun Devils need more from if they're to have any success down the stretch. He scored only 13 points in the last seven games but he had some success scoring six points on a 2-for-5 effort from the field with both buckets being 3-pointers in his 14 minutes. He also had three rebounds. Hurley said after the game that Lands is one player whose minutes will likely increase.
Frankie Collins inches closer to record: Collins is on pace to obliterate the school single-season record of steals with Lafayette "Fat" Lever" getting 76 in 1982. Collins entered the game 12 away and he added four more so he is now eight away with at least 11 games left. He is second in the nation in steals.
What went wrong
Poor rebounding, especially down the stretch: ASU usually loses the battle on the boards and it did so again in this one, 45-33. The Sun Devils held their own for much of the way. At one point they were only down 33-31 which means the visitors grabbed 12 of the last 14 rebounds. Alonzo Gaffney had seven to lead ASU but Stanford had two in double digits — Maxime Reynaud, a 7-1 junior, had 17 rebounds and 6-8 Brandon Angel had 10. Among Reynaud's were back-to-back put backs that put Stanford ahead for the last time 61-60. Stanford had 18 second-chance points and 32 points in the paint.
Drought last six minutes: Stanford ended the game on a 17-2 run over the last 7:03. ASU led 58-52 with 8:02 to go after a three-point play by Adam Miller but little went right for the Sun Devils. The only points ASU managed in the last 7:03 came on a driving bucket by Collins that cut the deficit to four but that was with just 1:13 left in the contest.
Phillips exited and didn't return: Shawn Phillips Jr. left the game with 9:44 left and ASU clinging to a 51-50 lead after getting cut while battling for a rebound and he did not return. One player never makes all the difference but losing a 7-footer when you're a team without a lot of size to begin with is going to hurt your efforts on the boards. Phillips had six points (3-for-4 from the field), a rebound and two blocks in his 12 minutes.
Three-point shooting . . . again: The Sun Devils were just 3-for-26 in last Saturday's loss at Oregon State. It looked like they had found the touch at home, hitting three of their first four but ended the game 8-for-32 (25%). Hurley pointed out after the game it's an important factor against a tall team that plays zone. You have to make enough shots from deep that you can pull them out of it or they're going to clog the paint all night, making it tougher for the players that live down there like Jose Perez. Not only did they not make shots, they didn't get enough of the long rebounds.
Missed free throws at wrong time: ASU was 8-for-13 but there were some big misses. Phillips missed the front end of a one-and-one with 6:42 left and ASU up 60-57. Collins was 0-for-3 and a point guard is usually one of the players that makes those.
What to look for next
Will Hurley go more to the bench? The Sun Devils don't have much depth and that showed again with only eight players used in this one. Hurley said after that game that wearing down late in the second half has been a common theme and it was definitely an issue in both legs of the Oregon trip. He said he needs to look closely at using more players and "trusting" those guys. True freshman guard Braelon Green had played a handful of minutes in 18 of the team's 20 games but he never saw the floor on Thursday. Neither did 6-9 Akil Watson, another true freshman. It's late in the season and guys are banged up, even more reason to stretch the bench.
"I need to try and force myself to trust the bench more and get fresh bodies out there a little more frequently. That's on me. That's the best guess I have as to why (the team is wearing down), " Hurley said.
They said it
"We got outplayed both ends of the floor the last five minutes. I am going to have to evaluate just minutes played. These guys are giving me everything they have from an effort standpoint and flying around, trying to get deflections, steals, making things difficult for Stanford most of the game. I felt like we hit a wall and they got some offensive rebounds and they really punished us in the late in the game. Credit to them. They closed it out. Their defense bothered us. Their zone, with their size and there weren't a lot of seams. We did not move very well and we didn't create any advantages against their defense. It was really both ends of the floor." — ASU coach Bobby Hurley
"What goes around comes around. It happened to us there we made a late surge and I guess it came back around this time and we couldn't make a shot or get a stop. It's kind of what happened there." — ASU junior Jamiya Neal
Up next
The Sun Devils host California (8-13, 4-6) at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Sun Devils won the first meeting between the teams at Haas Pavilion, 71-69, on Jan. 31. Collins had 25 points, four rebounds and six steals in that contest. Jalyn Tyson had 20 for Cal.
Saturday's game will air on the Pac-12 Network.
Cal played No. 11 Arizona on Thursday night at McKale Center and was blown out 91-65.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State's rebounding, scoring disappears late in loss to Stanford
