TEMPE, Ariz. – Five Sun Devils scored in double-figures as the Arizona State men’s basketball team (15-15; 5-12) cruised to a 74-64 victory over Stanford Thursday night at Well Fargo Arena.
√ ASU is averaging 8.0 threes made per game, first in the Pac-12
√ Willie Atwood: 17 double-digit scoring games/15 games without scoring last year
√ ASU has eight wins over top-100 teams
Paced by a 16-point, seven-rebound outing from high motor-forward Savon Goodman, Arizona State finished shooting 42.6 percent (23-54) from the field, 36.4 percent (8-22) from beyond the arc, and 66.7 percent (20-30) from the charity stripe.
Big man Eric Jacobsen had a nice showing, operating effectively in the low post to the tune of 13 points and seven rebounds. Tra Holder scored 11, while forwards Obinna Oleka and Willie Atwood notched 10 points respectively.
ERIC JACOBSEN TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Pepperdine (12/13/14)
16 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
16 vs. UNLV (12/3/14)
16 vs. Hartford (12/5/12)
15 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
14 at Colorado (2/28/16)
14 vs. Maryland (11/24/14)
13 vs. Stanford (3/3/16)
13 at Oregon (1/10/15)
13 vs. Alabama (11/25/14)
13 vs. Bethune-Cookman (11/17/14)
Winning the battle on the boards, the Sun Devils outrebounded the Cardinal 38-27 in total, 15-5 on the offensive glass, en-route to 16 second-chance points. Oleka would lead all players with nine rebounds.
Taking advantage of 15 Stanford turnovers, the Sun Devils recorded 25 points off takeaways to just 14 for Stanford.
Sluggish out of the gate, the Sun Devils would only make two buckets in the game’s opening nine minutes. The Maroon and Gold would then catch their stride.
Trailing 13-9 at the 10:24 mark, a Jacobsen layup would spark a quick seven-point turnaround for the Sun Devils, to give Bobby Hurley’s squad a 16-13 lead.
As the first half played on, Arizona State would continue to extend its lead. After threes on consecutive possessions by Holder and Oleka would move the Sun Devils' lead to seven, at 6:10, the Maroon and Gold would go on a 12-1 run to enter the half ahead 37-22. Goodman would have a hand in five of the final six scoring possessions of the period, first grabbing a transition steal and finishing on the other end with a dunk, then assisting a Justice three, before capping it off with an alley-oop slam off a feed from Blakes.
The Sun Devils would continue were they left off late in the first half, firing on all cylinders at the beginning of the second. Sitting with a 21-point cushion, 57-36 at 11:49, the Sun Devils seemed poised to runaway late, but the Cardinal refused go away. Nipping at Arizona State’s heels, Stanford outscored the Sun Devils 12-4 over a seven-minute span, to trim the margin to eight, 66-58. The Cardinal would climb to within eight, one final time with 1:27 remaining, before the Sun Devils would net a series of free throws to seal a 76-64 win.
UP NEXT… The Sun Devils look to complete the sweep of the bay area teams in Tempe for a third-consecutive season, hosting No. 25 California, Saturday, March 5, at 6 p.m.. The game will be on ESPN 2 with Dave Pasch and Adrian Branch on the call. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (98.7 FM), presented by MidFirst.
ASU Head Coach Bobby Hurley Quotes
Opening Statement:
"I thought our defensive effort was outstanding especially in the first half. To limit Stanford to 22 points was very good and it helped our chances. We’ve made some adjustments to how we’re defending and I think it’s showing some dividends for us. I like the balance; when we were playing well through parts of the season we talked about balance the attack and number of guys playing well, and we were able to get that tonight. I really liked to see our rebounding totals the way they were, to out-rebound Stanford by 11 and to get 15 o-boards shows how active the guys were and that we were taking quality shots that the players can expect to rebound. And then getting to the free throw line; I know some of those were late after the game was kind of decided, but to attack, to be aggressive, and get to the line was also positive."
On starting 2-12 from the zone and then making 5 straight:
"They’ve (Stanford) done a good job with that, and they’ve been successful with their defense, and they’ve had a great season. In this league, to have the record they have, Johnny has done a fabulous job coaching that team. USC and UCLA struggled playing against them, and they’re both, especially USC, a quality team. We didn’t make shots early, I thought we had some decent looks and didn’t make them, but as the half progressed we ended up shooting 7-14 from three and made enough plays on offense to have a nice lead. I loved how we closed the half with our energy on defense and generating a couple steals and turnovers. We couldn’t have played the last three minutes of the first half probably any better."
On Eric Jacobsen’s performance:
"It was nice to see him, regardless of what any player says, to have a positive game means something. That was the biggest thing I took out of the Colorado game, that Gerry had a good half, and Tra had 16 points, bouncing back from the Utah game, and Eric had the numbers he had versus Josh Scott. So you build some confidence and then physically he just keeps telling us that he is getting better with it. We just need more guys playing well. To see Willie tonight make some shots and get us double figures is another positive sign."
On defensive adjustments:
"It didn’t work as effectively as Utah, but we didn’t let them score as much in the lane. But it’s been more of a philosophical change to not allowing dribble penetration. In the loss at Arizona, especially in the second half, they got to the front of the rim way too much so 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. And then tonight I thought we forced them to shoot a lot of jump shots, especially in the first half."
On attacking Stanford’s zone:
"We like to, we want to look our passes off. We talked to our guards about pass faking. We like to set some ball screens up top, and then we want to hit the high post. The high post is kind of the area we like to attack through their zone. They do a good job with it, they have a coach on their staff that coached at Syracuse and knows the nuances of playing that style of zone. They work on it, and you don’t see it a whole lot, they’re good at what they’re doing."
On being dominant on the glass:
"I just think that it boils down to our energy, our activity. 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 you miss you’re in a good position to rebound. It’s also a thing you have to do against a zone. A zone, traditionally there isn’t a man that is responsible for blocking another guy out. So you have to block out guys in areas and if you have guys that are going to the glass you can sometimes sneak in there and get some o-boards."
On the energy in Wells Fargo Arena:
"Yes, and from our team. We were getting stops early, but they were getting back quick so we couldn’t get out in the open court even though they were missing. It was nice to see us create some turnovers, live ball turnovers, where we could get out and get something to get the crowd excited and our players excited."
On Cal:
"They’re one of the best teams in the country, or they’re currently playing like that type of team, particularly in the conference. They appeared to be winning that game tonight, but it didn’t go their way at the end, but they have size, and they’re a challenge on defense. They’re the best defensive team in our conference and they’re very athletic. Again, they’re playing at a very high level."