Dec 3, 2003
By Brian Gomez, TheSunDevils.com
LINCOLN, Neb.--The learning process continued Wednesday for Arizona State's men's basketball team, only this time, the lessons left a sour taste instead of a sweet sensation.
Playing their first road game of the season at Nebraska, the Sun Devils were victimized on the glass and couldn't capitalize on opportunities down the stretch, while sophomore forward Ike Diogu was held in check most of the night.
For ASU, the series of shortcomings resulted in a 66-60 loss to Nebraska in front of 6,995 at the Devaney Center.
"If a couple shots go down, we win the basketball game," said Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans, whose team shot 42.6 percent from the field and 40 percent from three-point range, but was 58.8 percent from the free-throw line and committed 16 turnovers.
"This is why you play games like this on the road early in the season, because half your games in the league are going to be on the road. We played a number of guys (11) a little bit of minutes, so the next time we're on the road, they'll have a little bit more confidence."
The Cornhuskers (3-0) grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, which translated into 21 second-chance points. They also scored 25 points off turnovers, five of which came in the closing three minutes of the first half when they went on a 9-0 run to claim a 36-25 lead at intermission.
One of the bright spots for ASU (3-1) was the emergence of junior guard Steve Moore, who scored a game-high 22 points, including 12 early in the second half when the Sun Devils climbed back in the mix.
Diogu managed 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the field before fouling out with five seconds left, and senior forward Jamal Hill added 10 off the bench. Four Huskers scored in double figures, as senior forward Andrew Drevo and junior guard Corey Simms had 13 apiece.
"They came in wanting to stop me, so they sent a lot of guys at me, and they didn't just have one man on me," Diogu said. "Every night I'm not going to be able to come out and score 20 a game. When you've got to go up against three people, it's kind of tough to get those type of numbers."
The Sun Devils trimmed the deficit to 41-40 with 11:57 remaining when Moore nailed his third three-pointer in the opening eight minutes of the second half on a pass from Hill. They took a 46-45 lead less than two minutes later on Diogu's driving layup off the glass, but the Huskers found a quick answer.
Sophomore forward Wes Wilkinson drained a three-pointer to put Nebraska back on top, then the Huskers took the lead for good with 6:49 left when junior guard Jake Muhleisen scored on a backdoor cut to the basket.
"We got all the looks we wanted, but we just missed shots," said Moore, who was 7-for-12 from the field and 5-for-10 from three-point range. "We were really concentrating on getting Ike the ball, but it's so hard when everybody that has scouted us knows to just double, triple or quadruple down on Ike."
UP NEXT: ASU returns to action at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday against Temple at America West Arena. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Net and heard on ESPN Radio 860 AM.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - Nebraska blew a 14-point lead early in the second half but Corey Simms scored eight points to rally the Cornhuskers to a 66-60 win Wednesday over Arizona State.
Nebraska (3-0) went up 39-25 on a 3-pointer from Andrew Drevo on the first possession of the second half.
Then Arizona State (3-1) used five 3-pointers in a 21-6 run that gave the Sun Devils a 46-45 lead with 10:01 remaining.
Steve Moore led ASU with 22 points, 20 of them coming in the second half as he was 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-6 from the three-point stripe after intermission. Moore is averaging 19.5 points per game through his first four games and is 13-of-28 (.464) from the three-point stripe.
Nebraska's Wes Wilkinson drained a baseline 3-pointer to put the Huskers back on top and start a 16-7 run after ASU took the lead midway through the second half.
Simms hit four of six free throws in that spurt - and made a pair of baskets, including a leaning jumper - to make the score 61-53 with 1:05 left.
The Huskers won the game with defense and offensive rebounding.
Nebraska forced 16 Arizona State turnovers and turned them into 25 points. Nebraska had 16 offensive rebounds that resulted in 21 points. Arizona State had only eight points off turnovers and seven points off offensive rebounds.
ASU was 10-of-25 (.400) from the three-point stripe, its most three-pointers made since it made 10 at Oregon on Dec. 20, 2001, a span of the past 57 games.
Nebraska built its lead with a 21-5 run over the last nine minutes of the second half during which Nate Johnson scored seven of 10 points.
Simms and Drevo led Nebraska with 13 points each and Jake Muhleisen added 11.
Nebraska held Ike Diogu to 13 points, half of his average. Jamal Hill added 10 for the Sun Devils off the bench.
QUICK NOTES: ASU had 10 turnovers in the first half...Ike Diougu fouled out for just the third time in his 36 career games and also extended his double-digit scoring streak to all 36 games of his career...freshman Wilfried Fameni posted 11 rebounds. He is averaging nine boards per game in his first four games...Allen Morill added five rebounds in 16 minutes...Nebraska's bench outscored ASU's bench 21-12...11 Sun Devils saw action.