Devils earn signature win in Legends Classic
Hot-shooting ASU stuns Michigan in blowout
The Arizona State Sun Devils notched a signature victory when they upended No. 20 Michigan 87-62 in the championship game of the Legends Classic Thursday night at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It marked the largest margin of victory over a ranked opponent not just in the Bobby Hurley era, but in the history of the program.
Michigan’s 25-point loss tonight was its largest margin of defeat in four years under Juwan Howard.
It also marked the sixth win over a ranked out-of-conference opponent in the eight seasons under Hurley. To put that in perspective, the school had just six in the previous 37 seasons combined before he arrived.
Nevada transfer Desmond Cambridge was named tournament MVP, after dropping 20 points, which included four 3pointers in the title game.
Our takeaways from that showing by the Sun Devils (4-1).
Poor start overblown
There was some angst in the fan base after the Sun Devils struggled in beating Tarleton State 62-59 in the season opener and even more when they lost to Texas Southern 67-66 in overtime Sunday. This is a team counting on a lot of newcomers and it can take several games for the team to gel. Last season it took 20 or so games, definitely longer than Hurley had hoped. Hurley is still looking to see what combinations work best together and right now he doesn’t even have his full complement of players.
This team has depth
Hurley used nine players to play a balance of the minutes on Thursday and that was even without Marcus Bagley
and Jamiya Neal who are out injured and Enoch Boakye who was ill. The last few games Hurley has gone with a starting lineup of brothers Devan and Desmond Cambridge, 7-footer Warren Washington and guards Frankie Collins and D.J. Horne. When those players came out and others were inserted there was not a dropoff in the level of play. Collins has been the star early in the season but he had an off game for him with just four points, which equaled his turnovers. He transferred from Michigan so perhaps he was putting too much pressure on himself wanting to do well against his former team. But the team won in convincing fashion with him not at his best. ASU had
a whopping 33 points off the bench in the most recent win.
True freshmen are stellar
Hurley has two true freshmen who he signed in the last class in forward Duke Brennan and point guard Austin Nunez, and both are seeing significant minutes. Nunez, out of San Antonio, Texas, had 15 points, two assists and a steal in 22 minutes off the bench. He was 3-for-5 from long distance and plays with the poise of a veteran. Brennan, out of Hillcrest Prep, had four points on his only two field goal attempts in 16 minutes and is fearless around the rim.
Rebounding is improved
Last season the Sun Devils were 323rd in the nation and 10th in the Pac-12 in rebounding margin. It was a significant issue from start to finish but that appears an area in which ASU has made significant strides. It outrebounded a bigger Michigan team 35-30 and now stands 112th out of 352 Division I programs. It has finished with the edge in rebounding in four of five games this season, the exception being the Texas Southern game. The length and athleticism also shows up in protecting the rim and the Sun evils are averaging 6 blocks a game, 28th best in all of Division I.