TODAY’S HIGHLIGHT
Arizona State guard Remy Martin (left) steals the ball from San Diego State forward Malik Pope on Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Game coverage at asu.azcentral.com,
Redshirt freshman Romello White made his long-awaited Arizona State basketball debut Tuesday night, a rousing success in a 90-68 win over San Diego State.
The 6-8 redshirt freshman, a top-100 nationally ranked player out of high school in Suwanee, Ga., missed 2016-17 for academic reasons and also last week’s season opener for a team rules violation dating back to last season.
White was impressive at times in debuting with a double-double (16 points/15 rebounds), particularly when on the floor at the same time with 6-9 junior college transfer De’Quon Lake.
“It was amazing. I’ve been waiting for a year to play,” White said. “It felt great. It was real difficult (sitting out), especially in the beginning. I was real down, in a bad place. But after a while, I talked to some guys on the team that had to redshirt and they told me to play hard and next year it will be worth it.
“I was doing good on the glass (early), but I missed a couple of easy ones. I just had to get in the groove, but the second half I came off way better.”
The new posts were central to ASU wiping out a nine-point deficit early in the second half to lead 71-52 with nine minutes still remaining at Wells Fargo Arena.
4 takeaways
With White in the starting lineup, ASU coach Bobby Hurley opted to bring Lake off the bench even though the 6-9 Lake had 24 points in 28 minutes and 8 rebounds in his Sun Devils debut last week against Idaho State.
Vitaliy Shibel started in post tandem with White. Lake entered at 15:21 and made an immediate difference until going to the bench with his second foul at 7:57.
Hurley said White and Lake could start together after “more on the practice floor to make that happen.”
During a wild six-minute stretch early in the first half, ASU went on an 18-5 run to lead 24-14. It included two blocks by Lake, one by White and one pinning the ball against the backboard by Kodi Justice, and finished with Lake jamming off a feed from Shannon Evans.
The first half turned over the final 10 minutes, with the Aztecs outscoring ASU 26-10 to lead 40-34. The Sun Devils missed Lake not being on the floor and played out of control at times. Plus Max Montana rained in all four of his 3pointers for 12 first-half points, two behind teammate Trey Kell. San Diego State led 16-2 in first-half, fast-break points, but ASU cut that to 20-12 at the end.
“We overdribbled some and stopped defending the way we had to get the lead,” Hurley said. “It was a great learning experience to come back from that adversity. We challenged the guys to just play better, to make better decisions on offense, to make some 3s when you’re open and shoot it with confidence.”
ASU shrugged off a banked-in 3pointer by Malik Pope to open the second half that extended San Diego State’s lead to 43-43. The Sun Devils laid a 17-4 run on the Aztecs that included a run-out jam by Shannon Evans and 3-pointers by Evans and Tra Holder to lead 51-47.
In addition to White’s double-double, four other Sun Devils scored in double figures – Holder with 24 (4-of-9 from 3-point), Lake 15, Evans 14 and Remy Martin 12. Lake, also with 7 rebounds, fouled out with 5:46 left. Holder and Evans combined for 12 assists and 14 rebounds.
“They make the job of the guards so much easier because they’re such a big presence,” Holder said of White and Lake.
“A team has to honor them and make sure they’re not scoring.”