ASU Basketball: Tough defense, rebounding leads to ASU Classic title

ASU basketball deployed strong defense and solid rebounding to defeat Tulsa 70-52 to claim their third straight ASU Classic championship.

Defensive dominance defined Arizona State’s weekend as the Devils won their third straight ASU Classic tournament. On Sunday, Charli Turner Thorne’s squad held Tulsa, fresh off of an 80-point performance, to 52 on 21-of-62 shooting.

“(Tulsa) is a good offensive team,” said point guard Reili Richardson. “We were trying to get locked in on their top three and take pride in defense so that is something we lock into every game.”

The No. 19 Sun Devils totaled 11 blocks removing inside scoring for much of the game. Bigs like Charnea Johnson-Chapman (three blocks) and Sophia Ellenga (two blocks, two steals) protected the paint, where Tulsa usually thrives.

The Golden Hurricane are not a dynamic three-point shooting team. On the season, they hit under 30 percent from deep entering their matchup with ASU. The Devils mostly took away their ability to score inside. Tulsa shot just 42 percent in the paint.

“We locked into what they wanted to do and taking that away,” said tournament MVP Kianna Ibis.

The Sun Devil defense turned it on after the first quarter. TU scored 21 points in the first 10 minutes, but just 31 for the remaining 30.

“We were playing soft,” said Turner Thorne. “We got more locked in. That is the sign of a great team, this team does evaluate and adjust.”

The longtime head coach began to implement a full court press in order to break Tulsa’s rhythm, and TU gave it away a few times. She wants to call for the press more, especially against tough competition.

“Crack them, wear them down, make them work for every bounce,” said Turner Thorne. “We didn’t use our aggressive man press today as much as we have been, but you can look for that.”

Another area where Arizona State thrived in this tournament was on the boards, especially against Tulsa. It outrebounded the Golden Hurricane 44-31, with 15 coming on the offensive side. This led to ASU’s 13 second chance points to Tulsa’s six.

The effort on the boards came from everyone on the court. Seven Sun Devils grabbed an offensive rebound, led by three each from Ibis and Ellenga.

On offense, ASU continued their balance attack. Five players scored nine or more, with Ibis (14 points), Courtney Ekmark and Robbi Ryan (12 each) leading the way. Ibis’ 27 points over the two games resulted in her winning ASU Classic MVP.

Arizona State won three-straight to improve to 5-2. They don’t face a currently ranked opponent until a brutal weekend against No. 8 Stanford and No. 15 Cal on Jan. 11 and 13.

There are four more non-conference games on the slate for ASU. Next up is Southern Friday in Tempe.

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