Devils grow into winners
ASU finds confidence, team play work
As he prepared his team to play 14thranked Oregon this week, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley preached about the importance of maintaining a routine, paying attention to detail, and above all else, remaining humble.
“You don’t want to think you’re better than you are,” Hurley told his players.
Two months ago, no one dreamed humility would one day be a concern of the Sun Devils, who lost to St. Mary’s by 40
Inside
❚ ASU not taking Oregon State lightly after big win over Oregon,
Oregon State (15-11, 5-9) at Arizona State (18-8, 9-4), 6 p.m., Desert Financial Arena, Tempe. TV: ESPNU, Radio: ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM).
points in downtown Phoenix.
A month or so ago, no one thought maintaining a routine was a good thing for the Sun Devils, who were slogging
their way through the first half of the Pac-12 season.
But that’s how remarkable this ASU team has been.
A group that was lost in December and January is now easy to locate. Just look near the top of the Pac-12 standings.
The Sun Devils (18-8 overall and 9-4 in Pac-12 play) are there, tied with Arizona for second, a half game behind Colorado. The Sun Devils beat Oregon, 77-72, Thursday night for their sixth consecutive victory and eighth in their last nine games. A crowd of 12,951 at Desert Financial Arena witnessed it.
If you watched this team at all from November to mid-January, every fact in the above paragraph surprises you.
The Sun Devils didn’t share the ball well. They couldn’t shoot. Roles were undefined and the result was a team that looked like it was assembled from parts bought at a yard sale.
How did the Sun Devils get there from to here?
To hear them tell it, it was simple. No slacking. Paying attention to detail. Remaining confident. Accepting roles. And believing, even when believing seemed more like dreaming.
“I was always like, ‘we’re going to get it right, don’t worry,’” said point guard Remy Martin.
Credit for this salvage job starts with Hurley and trickles through the rest of the program. He tinkered. He cajoled. And he didn’t panic, at least in public, even when there was every reason to.
Guard Rob Edwards endured a terrible shooting slump. Guard Alonzo
Verge, a junior college transfer, had trouble adjusting to playing without dominating the ball. The Sun Devils didn’t have a reliable weapon other than Martin’s magic.
Luckily for them, Martin was magical quite often. He willed the Sun Devils to enough victories to keep them afloat until Edwards found a shooting stroke and Verge adjusted to playing at this level.
Martin, Verge and Edwards combined for 61 points in the victory over the Ducks, with Verge leading with 26.
In a loss at Oregon on Jan. didn’t score at all.
A sequence midway through the second half Thursday showed just how well those three are playing together. The Ducks went on an 11-0 run to tie the game with 7:17 left. ASU was committing turnovers 11, Verge against full-court pressure and getting hammered on the offensive glass.
Then Verge drove the lane, was fouled and converted a three-point play.
“It was like a car weaving through traffic on the 101,” Hurley said of Verge’s ability to penetrate. “He really has the ball on a string.”
Then Martin rebounded an Oregon miss, penetrated and kicked the ball out to Edwards, who hit a three-pointer. Just like that, ASU was up by six. “It goes back to our ability to penetrate and get to the basket,” Hurley said. “Remy can do it and ‘Zo can do it, and when Rob is hitting shots, it puts enormous pressure on defenses.”
Forward Romello White gives the Sun Devils an inside presence, and even when he’s not scoring much, he’s a force as a defender and rebounder.
But there’s no question, this is Martin’s team. And he’s influenced it almost as much off the court as on.
To him, details matter. Like wearing the same shoes during a winning streak. Arriving early to weight lifting sessions. Wearing a gray sweatsuit when coach says to wear a gray sweatsuit.
Don’t show up wearing a black shirt, even one with a pitchfork on it.
“Go change it,” Martin has told teammates. “Wear the gray one.”
“When you start winning,” Martin said earlier this week, “you start to feel like you can do things you shouldn’t do. My job is to make sure our team is staying disciplined and doing the little things and keeping a level head. As we know here, things can be taken away so fast from you.
“We could lose a couple games and everything we worked for is gone.”
That’s the challenge now for ASU. The Sun Devils have positioned themselves for a third consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament, something the program hasn’t accomplished since the early 1960s.
But beating Oregon State at home on Saturday is no given, and Hurley sounded that warning minutes after Thursday’s game. The Sun Devils are a good team now, but not good enough to take any of their final five opponents for granted.
I like their chances, though. One of the great point guards in collegiate history, Hurley has proven just as adept as a coach in taking the pulse of his team. And in Martin, Hurley has one of the best point guards in the country.
After meeting with family and friends outside the locker room Thursday night, Martin had one other thing to accomplish. “If you want Remy,” an ASU official told reporters, “he’s lifting. He’ll be done in about 30 minutes.”