A balanced offensive attack that saw four Sun Devils score in double-digits led the Arizona State men's basketball (8-2) team to victory over the Georgia Bulldogs (6-4), 79-59, Saturday evening at Desert Financial Arena.
"I thought it was a solid win for our program," said head coach Bobby Hurley, as the Sun Devils are now 29-5 in regular season non-conference games in the past three seasons, including 19-1 at home. "I am very excited to see the way we performed, especially late in the half. We made some nice things happen to give us that cushion. I love when I see my teams play the last three minutes like we did...we hit a three, we caused a turnover, we got a tip in. Just winning that last 40 seconds 5-0 was crucial to go into the locker room the right way.
18/17 vs. Georgia (12/14/19)
14/16 vs. Prairie View A&M (12/11/19)
19/14 vs. Louisiana (12/7/19)
14/11 at San Francisco (12/3/19)
18/11 vs. Princeton (12/29/18)
19/14 vs. Texas Southern (12/1/18)
13/11 vs. California (3/1/18)
10/14 at Washington (2/1/18)
10/11 at Colorado (1/4/18)
14/11 vs. UC Irvine (11/9/17)
16/15 vs. San Diego State (11/14/17)
16/13 vs. San Francisco (2/2/17)
MOST REBOUNDS BY A SUN DEVIL IN BOBBY HURLEY ERA
22 by Zylan Cheatham vs. Arizona (Jan. 31, 2019)
20 by Zylan Cheatham at UCLA (Jan. 24, 2019)
17 by Romello White vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
17 by Obi Oleka vs. Central Arkansas (Dec. 22, 2016)
"Overall, I think our game plan defensively and our energy defensively has been pretty much a constant all year and it's no different tonight - holding a team that I think was third in the nation in scoring coming into this game to 59 points just says a lot about what we're doing. I think we're playing with great energy. We're contesting everything. To have them shoot 2-of-24 from three is really good work for us. As far as individual performances, what Romello (White) did was pretty special again, just how he dominated the lane for us in that game."
ROMELLO WHITE TOP REBOUNDING GAMES
17 vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
16 vs. Prairie View A&M (Dec. 11, 2019)
15 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)
14 vs. Louisiana (Dec. 7, 2019)
14 vs. Texas Southern (Dec. 1, 2018)
14 at Washington (Feb. 1, 2018)
13 vs. San Francisco (Dec. 2, 2018)
Entering the second period with a 39-35 lead after a tight first half, the Sun Devils went on a 12-4 run in the half's first 5:36 to push things open and pull ahead to a 52-38 lead. ASU was led in the stretch by Romello White with three made field goals in less than two minutes.
The Sun Devils held Georgia to 49.2 percent from the field and 24.0 percent from three, their lowest percentage from behind the arc this season.
Two more players scored in double digits for ASU, as Alonzo Verge Jr. dropped 15 and Kimani Lawrence added 11. This is the second-most players to score in double-digits for the Sun Devils this season - five did so against St. Johns on Nov. 23.
Next up for the Sun Devils, the squad takes on St. Mary's (California) at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Wednesday, Dec, 18 at 7 p.m. MT as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase.
MOST STEALS BY A SUN DEVIL (2007-08 TO PRESENT)
7 by James Harden vs. USC (March 13, 2008)
6 by Jaelen House vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
6 by Tra Holder vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)
6 by Shaq McKissic at USC (Jan. 9, 2014)
6 by Jamelle McMillan vs. Long Beach State (Dec. 21, 2010)
6 by James Harden at Oregon State (March 9, 2008)
COACH BOBBY HURLEY
ON GUARDING ANTHONY EDWARDS
"It was a team effort. We knew we'd have multiple guys on him. We wanted to try and trap him in any ball screens and try and get the ball out of his hands. We didn't want him getting in the open court. I think he did get a couple steals and that got him to the basket. We wanted to avoid those situations. It was rotating defense. I think there was an example where he got by the initial defender in the first half and left his feet, but we were rotating to him and he kind of threw it out of bounds going towards our bench. A player of that caliber and as gifted as he is, you have to give him that type of attention and hope that you force other guys to beat you."
ON ROMELLO WHITE'S IMPROVEMENT
"He worked on his game. I've been really talking a lot about him in the offseason, just how dedicated he's been to his body and getting in shape. He's just moving quicker. He's quicker to the ball and he's getting off his feet way better than he did last year. He's just very determined."
ON KIMANI LAWRENCE PLAY
"Happy for him. He wants to play better and he's worked extremely hard and it just hasn't come together. Happy to see the ball go through the basket some for him and hopefully he can build off that."
ON REMY MARTIN
"In big games he generally shows up and performs. That's what he's done just about his entire career here. He loves the big crowd and the opponent. Even the storyline of having a potential No. 1 pick in the building, I think he takes things like that personally in terms of wanting to show what he can do."
GEORGIA HEAD COACH TOM CREAN QUOTES
ON THE SECOND HALF
"I thought we got a little bit disappointed with our missed shots. A young team, any team has got to a level of mental toughness. This is our first true road game, even though it felt like a road game when we played Dayton and Michigan State in Maui. But, we just didn't keep our mental toughness the way it needs to be and they were able to get some run outs. We didn't have a very good answer for Romello White, and we knew how tough of a match up he is and the last thing we want to do with him is play behind him. That is what ended up hurting up a little bit and that is why we made the switch at halftime and put Toumani Camara on him...Romello White is a heck of a player. Their best players had really good games, ours didn't. It wasn't about the shooting that plays into it, it wasn't about the turnovers, that plays into it. It is really on the offensive end we didn't nearly do a good enough job of cutting and moving without the ball, which is a huge part of our offense and we didn't do good enough job in transition defense."
ON THE PLAY OF ANTHONY EDWARDS
"He's been banged up, he is dealing with a bit of an injury issue that has really affected him the last two days, including today. I thought he got out to a good start but has to play better than that, you know everybody does. It is not one good guy played real well and the rest of us didn't, or one guy played real bad and the rest of us played real well, it is a team loss. All the way around, we have to get better and we got to figure out how we are going to be able to keep our offense moving because they were very top-heavy in the middle of the court. I mean they are very good in those areas and we just didn't move without the ball to the level we need to do that at and that hurt us offensively, that is one of the best things that we do. I say that because that is one of the things that Anthony has gotten a lot better at."
ON WHAT MAKES ROMELL WHITE EFFECTIVE
"Strength...he is powerful and he is quick and the majority of his stuff all comes right around the rim. The mass majority of his stuff, his shooting percentage at the rim is phenomenal, when you look at him. That is a big part of it but we didn't have anybody that could match him strength-wise today."
"I thought it was a solid win for our program," said head coach Bobby Hurley, as the Sun Devils are now 29-5 in regular season non-conference games in the past three seasons, including 19-1 at home. "I am very excited to see the way we performed, especially late in the half. We made some nice things happen to give us that cushion. I love when I see my teams play the last three minutes like we did...we hit a three, we caused a turnover, we got a tip in. Just winning that last 40 seconds 5-0 was crucial to go into the locker room the right way.
REMY MARTIN 20+ SCORING TILTS (13)
33 at Princeton (11/26/19)
31 vs. Arizona (1/31/19)
27 at Arizona (3/9/19)
24 at California (1/9/19)
23 vs. Georgia (12/14/19)
23 vs. Colorado/China (11/9/19)
22 vs. Utah (1/3/19)
21 vs. Prairie View A&M (12/11/19)
21 vs. #7 Virginia (11/23/19)
21 at Georgia (12/15/18)
21 at #2 Kansas (12/10/17)
20 vs. Rider (11/17/19)
20 vs. Colorado/Las Vegas (3/7/18)
Romello White scored 18 points on 7-8 from the field and grabbed 17 rebounds in the contest for his fourth consecutive double-double and 12th of his career. Remy Martin scored a game-high 23 points. In the past four games White is averaging 16.3 points and 14.5 rebounds and is 22-of-26 (.846) from the field and 21-of-33 (.636) from the free throw line. Entering this season in 65 career games he was 155-of-275 (.563) from the foul line but this year he is 34-of-54 (.630). He is shooting .638 (273-of-428) from the field in his 74-game career.
ROMELLO WHITE DOUBLE-DOUBLES (12)18/17 vs. Georgia (12/14/19)
14/16 vs. Prairie View A&M (12/11/19)
19/14 vs. Louisiana (12/7/19)
14/11 at San Francisco (12/3/19)
18/11 vs. Princeton (12/29/18)
19/14 vs. Texas Southern (12/1/18)
13/11 vs. California (3/1/18)
10/14 at Washington (2/1/18)
10/11 at Colorado (1/4/18)
14/11 vs. UC Irvine (11/9/17)
16/15 vs. San Diego State (11/14/17)
16/13 vs. San Francisco (2/2/17)
MOST REBOUNDS BY A SUN DEVIL IN BOBBY HURLEY ERA
22 by Zylan Cheatham vs. Arizona (Jan. 31, 2019)
20 by Zylan Cheatham at UCLA (Jan. 24, 2019)
17 by Romello White vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
17 by Obi Oleka vs. Central Arkansas (Dec. 22, 2016)
"Overall, I think our game plan defensively and our energy defensively has been pretty much a constant all year and it's no different tonight - holding a team that I think was third in the nation in scoring coming into this game to 59 points just says a lot about what we're doing. I think we're playing with great energy. We're contesting everything. To have them shoot 2-of-24 from three is really good work for us. As far as individual performances, what Romello (White) did was pretty special again, just how he dominated the lane for us in that game."
ROMELLO WHITE TOP REBOUNDING GAMES
17 vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
16 vs. Prairie View A&M (Dec. 11, 2019)
15 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)
14 vs. Louisiana (Dec. 7, 2019)
14 vs. Texas Southern (Dec. 1, 2018)
14 at Washington (Feb. 1, 2018)
13 vs. San Francisco (Dec. 2, 2018)
Entering the second period with a 39-35 lead after a tight first half, the Sun Devils went on a 12-4 run in the half's first 5:36 to push things open and pull ahead to a 52-38 lead. ASU was led in the stretch by Romello White with three made field goals in less than two minutes.
The Sun Devils held Georgia to 49.2 percent from the field and 24.0 percent from three, their lowest percentage from behind the arc this season.
Two more players scored in double digits for ASU, as Alonzo Verge Jr. dropped 15 and Kimani Lawrence added 11. This is the second-most players to score in double-digits for the Sun Devils this season - five did so against St. Johns on Nov. 23.
Next up for the Sun Devils, the squad takes on St. Mary's (California) at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix on Wednesday, Dec, 18 at 7 p.m. MT as part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase.
MOST STEALS BY A SUN DEVIL (2007-08 TO PRESENT)
7 by James Harden vs. USC (March 13, 2008)
6 by Jaelen House vs. Georgia (Dec. 14, 2019)
6 by Tra Holder vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)
6 by Shaq McKissic at USC (Jan. 9, 2014)
6 by Jamelle McMillan vs. Long Beach State (Dec. 21, 2010)
6 by James Harden at Oregon State (March 9, 2008)
COACH BOBBY HURLEY
ON GUARDING ANTHONY EDWARDS
"It was a team effort. We knew we'd have multiple guys on him. We wanted to try and trap him in any ball screens and try and get the ball out of his hands. We didn't want him getting in the open court. I think he did get a couple steals and that got him to the basket. We wanted to avoid those situations. It was rotating defense. I think there was an example where he got by the initial defender in the first half and left his feet, but we were rotating to him and he kind of threw it out of bounds going towards our bench. A player of that caliber and as gifted as he is, you have to give him that type of attention and hope that you force other guys to beat you."
ON ROMELLO WHITE'S IMPROVEMENT
"He worked on his game. I've been really talking a lot about him in the offseason, just how dedicated he's been to his body and getting in shape. He's just moving quicker. He's quicker to the ball and he's getting off his feet way better than he did last year. He's just very determined."
ON KIMANI LAWRENCE PLAY
"Happy for him. He wants to play better and he's worked extremely hard and it just hasn't come together. Happy to see the ball go through the basket some for him and hopefully he can build off that."
ON REMY MARTIN
"In big games he generally shows up and performs. That's what he's done just about his entire career here. He loves the big crowd and the opponent. Even the storyline of having a potential No. 1 pick in the building, I think he takes things like that personally in terms of wanting to show what he can do."
GEORGIA HEAD COACH TOM CREAN QUOTES
ON THE SECOND HALF
"I thought we got a little bit disappointed with our missed shots. A young team, any team has got to a level of mental toughness. This is our first true road game, even though it felt like a road game when we played Dayton and Michigan State in Maui. But, we just didn't keep our mental toughness the way it needs to be and they were able to get some run outs. We didn't have a very good answer for Romello White, and we knew how tough of a match up he is and the last thing we want to do with him is play behind him. That is what ended up hurting up a little bit and that is why we made the switch at halftime and put Toumani Camara on him...Romello White is a heck of a player. Their best players had really good games, ours didn't. It wasn't about the shooting that plays into it, it wasn't about the turnovers, that plays into it. It is really on the offensive end we didn't nearly do a good enough job of cutting and moving without the ball, which is a huge part of our offense and we didn't do good enough job in transition defense."
ON THE PLAY OF ANTHONY EDWARDS
"He's been banged up, he is dealing with a bit of an injury issue that has really affected him the last two days, including today. I thought he got out to a good start but has to play better than that, you know everybody does. It is not one good guy played real well and the rest of us didn't, or one guy played real bad and the rest of us played real well, it is a team loss. All the way around, we have to get better and we got to figure out how we are going to be able to keep our offense moving because they were very top-heavy in the middle of the court. I mean they are very good in those areas and we just didn't move without the ball to the level we need to do that at and that hurt us offensively, that is one of the best things that we do. I say that because that is one of the things that Anthony has gotten a lot better at."
ON WHAT MAKES ROMELL WHITE EFFECTIVE
"Strength...he is powerful and he is quick and the majority of his stuff all comes right around the rim. The mass majority of his stuff, his shooting percentage at the rim is phenomenal, when you look at him. That is a big part of it but we didn't have anybody that could match him strength-wise today."