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ASU Basketball: Sun Devils defeat Nebraska in first round

By Carson Field

TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TEMPE, AZ - NOVEMBER 14: The Arizona State Sun Devils mascot 'Sparky' performs during the college football game against the Washington Huskies at Sun Devil Stadium on November 14, 2015 in Tempe, Arizona. The Sun Devils defeated the Huskies 27-17. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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ASU women’s basketball defeated Nebraska in its first game of the 2018 NCAA Tournament, 73-62, led by a strong effort in the third quarter.

Previously this season, the third quarter has been a struggle for the ASU women’s basketball team. That was not the case in the first round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament.

Nebraska held a 38-36 lead over ASU with 4:41 left in the third quarter, but the Sun Devils came out shooting after the media timeout. The Sun Devils ended the third on a 15-2 run, and the Cornhuskers did not make a field goal in the final 5:33 of the quarter.

“I think for us we have a big focus on just finishing strong,” sophomore Jamie Ruden said. “So I think a fire kind of went under our butts and we decided we needed to ramp up the pressure defensively and ramp up the energy, crashing the boards and boxing out.

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After the great ending to the third, ASU was able to keep its momentum in the fourth quarter. The Sun Devils secured the win in the fourth and took the game by a score of 73-62.

“It was a hard-fought game,” ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne said. “I thought we were very rusty. Just, good, solid defense the first half and really good second half offensively. But I’m excited.”

On the stat sheet, Robbi Ryan led the Sun Devils in scoring with 16 points. Kianna Ibis, Reili Richardson and Ruden also contributed to the scoring effort recording double-digit points.

In addition to scoring, Arizona State also dominated the boards. Although they are undersized, the Sun Devils out-rebounded the Cornhuskers, 49-27.  

“I would just say we wanted it more, I guess,” Ibis said. “We don’t want to be boxed out, so we just went around them and got the ball.”

Janay Morton, Nebraska’s leading scorer, agreed with Ibis that the Sun Devils were poised to get boards.

“I think they just relentlessly pursued the ball on every shot, whether it was defensively or offensively, so we just struggled with that,” Morton said.

While Charnea Johnson-Chapman was the only Sun Devil with 10 or more rebounds, six others recorded at least four boards, and eight of the nine who played got at least one rebound.

Although the Sun Devils won by double-digits, ASU struggled from beyond the arc with a 21 percent three-point field goal percentage.

“Again, I thought we were just rusty,” Turner Thorne said. “So I mean, we like the three, and I think we have good shooters. Our best shooters are not getting great looks and that’s part of it.”

Up next for Arizona State is likely a second-round matchup against two-seed Texas, sparing an upset from 15-seed Maine. The Longhorns are one of the best teams in the nation, and they finished the season with just six losses.

Texas excels at rebounding, and Turner Thorne said the team will need to compete for boards and play better transition defense to have a chance against the Longhorns.

Next: ASU Basketball: Breaking down the Austin Region

“I’m hoping we can get this game under our belt and we’ll be a little more efficient offensively one day,” Turner Thorne said. “That and transition defense. I kind of look one game at a time, but from what I know of Texas, are probably the two biggest keys.”

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.