House earning more playing time with Devils
It isn’t always the player that scores the most points who looms largest in a victory. And it isn’t always the largest athlete in stature either.
After the Arizona State Sun Devils slipped past visiting California 72-68 late Thursday night at Desert Financial Arena, the first person head coach Bobby Hurley talked about in his post-game press conference was sophomore guard Jaelen House, who for most of the game was the smallest player on the court.
The win snapped a six-game losing streak, the longest the Sun Devils have experienced in Hurley’s tenure.
House scored six points (3-for-4 from the field) and had three steals in 17 minutes. Most notable was driving layup that gave ASU a 71-64 lead with 37 seconds left.
“If I could single someone out, which I usually just talk in more generalities about the team performances but (sophomore guard) Jaelen House was most likely the difference-maker in the game,” Hurley said. “His energy on defense, he was flying around. He had nine deflections himself, which, if we’re in the high-20s low-30s as a team, that’s a pretty good stat for us
and individually, he was exceptional in that department.”
House’s playing time has been sporadic. He played eight minutes in the season-opening game against Rhode Island but didn’t play at all in the next day against No. 3 Villanova.
The most minutes he has logged in a game this season was 23 in a blowout against Houston Baptist.
While ASU played poorly in a loss at Arizona on Monday, Hurley was pleased with the intensity House brought to the floor and said earlier this week that the Shadow Mountain product had earned a bigger role.
“We noticed what he was doing against Arizona and the positive play that he had and that that has to be rewarded,” Hurley said. “He’s a guy that, like everyone this year, we’ve had guys sick, we’ve had guys injured and he’s missed some practice time. But when he’s on the court in practice, he’s vocal, he’s energetic, he flies around, he plays hard. We just need more life infused into what we’re doing.”
The 6-foot-1, 160-pounder has been happy to fill the role of defensive specialist and energizer.
“Not a lot of people like to play defense,” House said after Thursday’s win.
“Going out there and trying to do something nobody else likes to do, I feel like I’m one of the best defenders in our conference. So I just go out there and try to do what I do and try to get transition points because we’re not a big team, we’re not an execution, half-court team.
We’re fast, we like to get
Looking to find the right recipe Hurley juggled his starting his lineup, going with a bigger starting five. That meant putting Jalen Graham back in the lineup, along with 6-foot-8 Kimani Lawrence, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds.
House was in the game late with the Sun Devils trying to close it out. The subtraction from the equation seemed to be senior guard Alonzo Verge, who played 14 minutes with six points and two assists.
The defense by House loomed large in the stretch. With ASU up 67-61, he deflected a ball out of bounds. He slapped hands with guard Holland Woods as Cal prepared to inbound the ball again. That possession ended up with the Bears turning the ball over on a shot clock violation.
House thinks he is playing his best basketball right now.
“I feel like I just got to be more aggressive. I feel like I was just out there at first, just playing timid and not trying to come out the game instead of playing like me. I feel like I’m getting back to myself right now,” he said.
ASU still has four Pac-12 games to make up. On Friday ASU announced that a previously postponed game against Utah, has been delayed a second time and will no longer be played Feb. 2.
it in transition.”