Arizona State (9-4) silenced the Tigers roar in a 98-81 win against Texas Southern (3-9) in the final game of non-conference play Saturday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena. Remy Martin and Alonzo Verge Jr. tied for the team-high points with 23 from the field, while Verge also led the team in rebounds (six) and assists (seven) in 30 minutes.
BEST FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
.617 vs. Washington (29-47/Feb. 9, 2019)
.612 vs. UC-Irvine (30-49/Nov. 19, 2017)
.593 vs. Oregon State (32-54/Jan. 28, 2016)
.571 vs. Texas Southern (36-63/Dec. 28, 2019)
.571 vs. Colorado (32-56/Jan. 5, 2019)
From the opening tip, Martin was well on his way to double-digit scoring, completing the first half with 15 points on 6-of-7 field goals. He finished with 23 points (8-of-13), his fifth-highest 20+ scoring effort, and added five rebounds in a team-high 33 minutes.
REMY MARTIN 20+ SCORING TILTS (14)
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. Texas Southern (12/28/19)
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)
Verge shot 10--of 13 from the field. In over eight minutes in the first, Jaelen House led bench players with a perfect 3-of-3 on field goals and an additional two buckets from behind the arc for nine points. House finished with 20 points on 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 on three-pointers.
In the first half, ASU shot 75 percent (18-of-24) compared to TSU's 37.5 percent (12-of-32) from the field.
ASU proved its roster depth with 41 points from bench players compared to TSU's 25. In the final game of 2019, the Sun Devils finished with 48 points from the paint, 23 points on the fast break for a season-high 98 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Sun Devils landed on the board first with a 7-0 scoring run. ASU defense showed out in the opening minutes to stifle TSU to a five-minute scoring drought and force six turnovers. The Sun Devils capitalized with a 17-3 run over four minutes and went 11-of-12 from the field. TSU's scoring drought relapsed with a pair of free-throws with 8:24 left in the first period. A statement fastbreak dunk from Cherry concluded the first period with an ASU lead, 48-33.
To open the second period, ASU went on a nine-point run that saw a pair of layups from Martin and a layup and fastbreak three from Alonzo Verge. With the Tigers closing in on the Sun Devil lead, Kimani Lawrence jumped into the scoring action, netting back-to-back consecutive three-pointers and going 2-2 on free throws. Just over a minute later, Lawrence stuffed a crowd-raising fastbreak dunk to extend ASU's lead, 75-62, with 10:13 left on the clock. Jaelen House knocked back his own pair of threes to lead ASU bench with 20 points. ASU caged the Tigers to another scoring drought lasting over five minutes to bring the play clock below two minutes. A Sun Devil 7-0 scoring run ensued that eventually locked in a Sun Devil 98-81 win.
UP NEXT: The Sun Devils begin conference play on the road at Srizona, on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. MT in Tucson, AZ.
QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY
OPENING STATEMENT
"I thought it was a good team win, a lot of contributions from our guys, so I thought our numbers on offense were pretty special in the first half, just the way we shot it and made plays on that end of the floor really put us in a good position."
ON THREE-POINT SHOTS
"I know that we're capable, not to say that we're going to make 12 in a game like we did tonight, but we have enough guys that can make that shot. Just for whatever reason, it has not fully developed the way we had hoped. We've been a lot of places too, traveled around a lot, been all over the place this non-conference so it was good to finish the non-conference like we did and hopefully, that'll give our guys some confidence, but 9-4 is fairly respectable based on who we played and where we traveled, and now we get to move on to the next chapter of the season."
ON HOW THE TEAM PLAYED IN WHITE'S ABSENCE
"It's a good sign that someone that is as significant as he is, and I wouldn't say we didn't miss a beat, but we just had to figure out how to attack a little differently. Even though Romello will get so many points in the paint for us, we were still able to get 48 points in the paint, and that was via the drive as the defense had to respect that we were making the three. It is important that we hit a decent percentage from behind the line, but it was great that we did play that way with not having Romello."
ON VERGE'S PLAY
"Sometimes I think, especially when you're a new guy and I felt going into Virginia and the East Coast swing that he was playing really well, and I thought he would have a breakout on that trip, and he missed those games. I think he was pressing a little bit and trying to find his niche in the offense. He's comfortably getting to his spots, and his vision was really good, his pass to Kimani was outstanding. I thought that was, more so than any individual guy, what they did well -- I thought we played pretty good team basketball, and if a guy didn't have it off the bounce right away, we moved it, and 19 assists is a good total."
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) December 28, 2019
BEST FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
.617 vs. Washington (29-47/Feb. 9, 2019)
.612 vs. UC-Irvine (30-49/Nov. 19, 2017)
.593 vs. Oregon State (32-54/Jan. 28, 2016)
.571 vs. Texas Southern (36-63/Dec. 28, 2019)
.571 vs. Colorado (32-56/Jan. 5, 2019)
From the opening tip, Martin was well on his way to double-digit scoring, completing the first half with 15 points on 6-of-7 field goals. He finished with 23 points (8-of-13), his fifth-highest 20+ scoring effort, and added five rebounds in a team-high 33 minutes.
REMY MARTIN 20+ SCORING TILTS (14)
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. Texas Southern (12/28/19)
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)
Verge shot 10--of 13 from the field. In over eight minutes in the first, Jaelen House led bench players with a perfect 3-of-3 on field goals and an additional two buckets from behind the arc for nine points. House finished with 20 points on 7-of-9 from the field and 5-of-7 on three-pointers.
In the first half, ASU shot 75 percent (18-of-24) compared to TSU's 37.5 percent (12-of-32) from the field.
ASU proved its roster depth with 41 points from bench players compared to TSU's 25. In the final game of 2019, the Sun Devils finished with 48 points from the paint, 23 points on the fast break for a season-high 98 points.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Sun Devils landed on the board first with a 7-0 scoring run. ASU defense showed out in the opening minutes to stifle TSU to a five-minute scoring drought and force six turnovers. The Sun Devils capitalized with a 17-3 run over four minutes and went 11-of-12 from the field. TSU's scoring drought relapsed with a pair of free-throws with 8:24 left in the first period. A statement fastbreak dunk from Cherry concluded the first period with an ASU lead, 48-33.
Puttin' a ?? on top of the first half ??
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) December 28, 2019
?? @Pac12Network pic.twitter.com/Fdf7EzGwq3
To open the second period, ASU went on a nine-point run that saw a pair of layups from Martin and a layup and fastbreak three from Alonzo Verge. With the Tigers closing in on the Sun Devil lead, Kimani Lawrence jumped into the scoring action, netting back-to-back consecutive three-pointers and going 2-2 on free throws. Just over a minute later, Lawrence stuffed a crowd-raising fastbreak dunk to extend ASU's lead, 75-62, with 10:13 left on the clock. Jaelen House knocked back his own pair of threes to lead ASU bench with 20 points. ASU caged the Tigers to another scoring drought lasting over five minutes to bring the play clock below two minutes. A Sun Devil 7-0 scoring run ensued that eventually locked in a Sun Devil 98-81 win.
.@BallForever_ MY GOODNESS ?? ?? ??
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) December 28, 2019
?? @Pac12Netowrk pic.twitter.com/I3SNfQlelR
UP NEXT: The Sun Devils begin conference play on the road at Srizona, on Jan. 4 at 7:30 p.m. MT in Tucson, AZ.
QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY
OPENING STATEMENT
"I thought it was a good team win, a lot of contributions from our guys, so I thought our numbers on offense were pretty special in the first half, just the way we shot it and made plays on that end of the floor really put us in a good position."
ON THREE-POINT SHOTS
"I know that we're capable, not to say that we're going to make 12 in a game like we did tonight, but we have enough guys that can make that shot. Just for whatever reason, it has not fully developed the way we had hoped. We've been a lot of places too, traveled around a lot, been all over the place this non-conference so it was good to finish the non-conference like we did and hopefully, that'll give our guys some confidence, but 9-4 is fairly respectable based on who we played and where we traveled, and now we get to move on to the next chapter of the season."
ON HOW THE TEAM PLAYED IN WHITE'S ABSENCE
"It's a good sign that someone that is as significant as he is, and I wouldn't say we didn't miss a beat, but we just had to figure out how to attack a little differently. Even though Romello will get so many points in the paint for us, we were still able to get 48 points in the paint, and that was via the drive as the defense had to respect that we were making the three. It is important that we hit a decent percentage from behind the line, but it was great that we did play that way with not having Romello."
ON VERGE'S PLAY
"Sometimes I think, especially when you're a new guy and I felt going into Virginia and the East Coast swing that he was playing really well, and I thought he would have a breakout on that trip, and he missed those games. I think he was pressing a little bit and trying to find his niche in the offense. He's comfortably getting to his spots, and his vision was really good, his pass to Kimani was outstanding. I thought that was, more so than any individual guy, what they did well -- I thought we played pretty good team basketball, and if a guy didn't have it off the bounce right away, we moved it, and 19 assists is a good total."