Guard Remy Martin and No. 18 ASU rolled past Houston Baptist 100-77,
Arizona State sophomore guard Jaelen House earned a reputation last year as a hard-nosed defender willing to take on any challenge. In the Sun Devils’ home opener Sunday afternoon he proved he can contribute on offense too.
The Shadow Mountain product tossed in 13 points, dished out four assists and added four steals in 22 minutes to help the No. 18 Sun Devils to a 100-77 victory over visiting Houston Baptist at ASU’s Desert Financial Arena.
It was a get-well game no doubt for ASU, which split games in the Empire Classic in Connecticut last week, beating Rhode Island on Wednesday and losing to No. 3 Villanova on Thursday with House not playing in the latter game.
With senior guard Alonzo Verge unavailable Sunday, House’s number was called early and he responded, going 4of-7 from the field and 3-for-4 from long distance.
Last season, House shot just .276 from the field (34-of-123) but he made his first three shots from the field Sunday, with his first 3-pointer giving ASU a 30-15 lead and the second making it 3515 a minute later.
House said he has to be ready when his number is called.
“That’s what happened today,” House said. “I really worked on my shot during the offseason and it has paid off.”
It was a game ASU needed in order to work on things without having to really worry about the outcome. The Huskies (0-2) came in trying to improve over a 4-25 mark last season that included a last-place finish in the 13-team Southland Conference.
ASU coach Bobby Hurley liked what he saw out of House, whose father Eddie was courtside, calling the game for the Pac-12 Network.
“Without Zo in the lineup it opened the door and obviously Jaelen had a good practice yesterday and had a good attitude about not playing and some guys would put their head down,” Hurley said. “He had a good practice yesterday and it carried over on to the floor today. He made some good plays on defense and had some good decision-making, in the first half especially.”
There were a lot of contributors though, as Hurley used 14 players, 11 of whom factored in the scoring. Freshman forward Marcus Bagley led the way with 21 points and five rebounds with Josh Christopher and Remy Martin adding 17 and 16 respectively. Christopher grabbed a team-high six rebounds while Martin added four assists and a steal.
Senior forward Kimani Lawrence matched House with 13 points and two steals in just 16 minutes. It was the season debut for Lawrence, who had knee surgery on Sept. 1 and did not make the trip East with the squad.
ASU shot 54.5 percent (36-for-66) from the field, although that number was skewed by the time put in by the reserves. ASU shot 63.9 (23-36) in a first half that ended with ASU comfortably ahead 65-31.
ASU tallied 21 assists on 36 made field goals after managing only 17 in the first two games combined.
“That’s always the goal for us,” Lawrence said of the scoring and ball distribution. “We have a lot of guys that are talented. A lot of guys that can do a lot of things with the ball and of course everyone feels they can take their man oneon-one, but us utilizing each other, making each other better, that’s what wins games.”
Houston Baptist shot 39.3 (24-for-61) and committed 23 turnovers, with ASU scoring 30 off those miscues. Senior guard Ty Dalton led the Huskies with 19 points on a 7-for-14 showing from the field.
“It was a pretty solid, dominant effort for 24 minutes and we really had complete control of the game. I felt we could almost name the score. I think we stayed the course with the rotation guys and gave some other guys the chance to play,” Hurley said.
“I wasn’t pleased with how we finished the game, a majority of those minutes were without any of our true rotation players. So it was a pretty good outcome and good effort coming off a road trip.”
The Sun Devils played without Verge, who was termed as out for a non-disciplinary reason.
Hurley didn’t say if Verge would be available when the Sun Devils travel to California on Thursday for their Pac-12 opener.