ASU men return from 2nd hiatus
Just when the Arizona State basketball team appeared to be finally hitting its stride, coach Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils were thrown for yet another loop — a second stoppage due to its own coronavirus issues.
Call it bad timing. The Sun Devils had put together back-to-back wins for the first time since early December the latter being a win over a quality Stanford team. Then games last week against the Mountain schools were canceled.
The Sun Devils (6-8, 3-5) are back in action this week with games at Desert Financial Arena at 7 p.m. on Thursday against Oregon (10-4, 5-3) and at 5 p.m. on Sunday against Oregon State (10-8, 6-6). Because of the multiple stoppages ASU and Oregon have played the fewest games of any teams in the Pac-12.
Colorado (15-5, 9-4) has played the most.
Oregon coach Dana Altman was asked in his session with media two hours before Hurley’s if he knows what to expect out of the Sun Devils since the teams have been in a similar position. He doesn’t have a clue though.
“I don’t know if they’ll have their whole team, I just don’t have enough information as to really answer that question,” Altman said. “When we came off of our pause, the first time we were without guys and only had a few days practice. I don’t know if they were practicing. I don’t know how many guys had COVID. So I don’t know how it (layoff) might affect them. In both of our cases we didn’t have our whole team so it did affect us.”
The Sun Devils will be without three players who tested positive for COVID but none are integral. One is a walk on. The others are junior guard Luther Muhammad who had shoulder surgery and is not playing this season any way and the other is Ukrainian forward Pavlo Dziuba who had played only 29 minutes over four games.
With the way ASU played before the latest shutdown Hurley is likely to go with the same lineup he did in the last two wins. That starting lineup for those two in which the Sun Devils shot 50 percent from the field, was comprised of senior point guard Remy Martin (18 ppg), freshman guard Joshua Christopher (15.3 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and forwards
Marcus Bagley (11.8 ppg, 6.1 rpg), Jalen Graham (7.9 ppg, 3.8 rpg) and Kimani Lawrence (5 ppg) with senior guard Alonzo Verge (13.5 ppg) coming off the bench.
“We are figuring out how to win close games. That’s probably the best thing that I got out of the Cal and Stanford game,” Hurley said, “We did a lot of things to close those games out. That was important for us, I think for our confidence. We’ve been in a lot of close games.”
Hurley admits it took longer than he expected to find some rhythm on offense but much of that was due to personnel issues with eight players missing multiple games. ASU has not had a game with its full complement of players.
Hurley added that junior forward Taeshon Cherry, who has missed the last seven games, will begin going through virus protocols so he can rejoin the team but will not be rushed back.
“It has been very difficult to develop any consistency to what we’re doing, and get more games under our belt but we’re not alone,” Hurley said. “We have company this week. Oregon’s had a very similar season as we’ve had in terms of disruptions, guys being injured things of that nature.”
Oregon could be without players as Altman said both Chris Duarte and Eric Williams will be game-time decisions. Duarte (ankle) has done some “dry offense” and shooting but Williams (knee) has not practiced. He was out due to virus protocol but Altman said the player experienced a flare up of a previous injury.
Despite the Sun Devils early struggles, Altman is aware of the potential ASU possess.
“You got Remy, Verge and Christopher, three guards. They’re all getting 16-plus. So they do have tremendous firepower on the perimeter. They can get to the rim,” Altman said. “They’re a dangerous 3-point shooting team. They haven’t been shooting it that well and that’s probably one of the reasons they haven’t been quite as successful as everybody though they would be but they are a dangerous offensive team.”
Raptors 137, WIZARDS 115 : Norman Powell scored 28 points, Pascal Siakam added 26 and the Raptors made 19 3pointers in a rout. Seven Raptors hit at least one 3-pointer, with Kyle Lowry leading the way with 5-for-9 shooting from deep. He finished with 21 points.
MAVERICKS 118, Hawks 117: Luka Doncic had 28 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds and the Mavericks ralliedover the Hawks a week after ending a six-game losing streak in Atlanta. The Mavericks kept the ball out of Trae Young’s hands on an inbound play with 4.7 seconds remaining.
NETS 104, Pacers 94 : Kyrie Irving had 35 points and eight assists and the Nets were defensively dominant in the first half in shutting down the Pacers to snap a three-game losing streak. Irving was 17 for 17 from the free throw line.
GRIZZLIES 130, Hornets 114 : Kyle Anderson hit a career-high six 3 of Memphis’ franchise-record 23 3-pointers and scored 27 points to help the Grizzlies snap a four-game losing streak. Dillon Brooks added 20 points, and Desmond Bane and Grayson Allen scored 18 each.
Clippers 119, TIMBERWOLVES 112: Kawhi Leonard had a season-high 36 points and Lou Williams added 27 points off the bench as the Clippers defeated the Timberwolves. Leonard and Williams hit shots down the stretch, including a pair of late 3-pointers by Leonard.
Pelicans at BULLS, late : Bradley Beal scored 35 points and the Washington Wizards held on for a rare win, beating the Chicago Bulls 105-101 on Monday night. Beal, the NBA’s leading scorer, hit three free throws in the final 9.8 seconds. Rui Hachimura added 19 points..
Cavaliers at NUGGETS, late : Khris Middleton had 29 points and a career-high 12 assists, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 30 points and the Milwaukee Bucks won their fifth straight game by beating the Denver Nuggets 125-112 on Monday night.
Bucks at SUNS, late : Devin Booker scored a season-high 36 points, Mikal Bridges added 22 and the Phoenix Suns rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 119-113 on Monday night. The Suns have won six of their past seven games.
Thunder at LAKERS, late : LeBron James had 28 points, 14 rebounds and 12 assists for his third triple-double of the season, and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 119-112 in overtime on Monday night.