ASU Basketball: Second-half shooting carries Sun Devils

After trailing 34-28 at halftime, a strong shooting performance from ASU basketball carried the Sun Devils to a 69-59 win on Senior Day.

It seemed like doomsday. Trailing by six to an abysmal California squad at halftime, Arizona State flirted with a disaster that could’ve crushed its NCAA Tournament hopes.

Over the first 20 minutes, the Sun Devils couldn’t connect from anywhere. ASU shot a 25.9 percent clip from the field while making just above 20 percent of its 3-pointers.

Coach Bobby Hurley had some words for his team at the break.

“I said what needed to be said,” he said.

Immediately after Hurley’s halftime chat, things changed. The Sun Devils opened the second half on a 19-5 run, hitting their first eight shot attempts.

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From then on, there was no looking back: ASU cruised to a 69-59 victory.

“It was a great response in the second half, the way the guys played and performed on both ends of the floor,” Hurley said.

One of the catalysts to the Sun Devils’ second-half success was Rob Edwards. After scoring just two points in the first half, Edwards recorded 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the final 20 minutes.

This helped the Sun Devils maintain their lead as the half progressed.

“Rob had an outstanding spurt on offense,” Hurley said. “Really kind of gave us separation in the game.”

For the fourth time in five games, Edwards finished in double figures. While Edwards was outstanding, he wasn’t the Sun Devils’ only exceptional player. Luguentz Dort led the team in points with 22, and Zylan Cheatham tallied 12 rebounds.

Eight of the nine Sun Devils who entered the game scored, displaying the complementary effort across the stat sheet.

“Once we got into a roll, we knew we could take this game further,” guard Remy Martin said. “That’s what happens when you have great teammates that are able to pick you up.”

Arizona State shot 57.1 percent from both the field and the 3-point line in the second half, improving the team’s overall field-goal percentage to 41.8.

Of ASU’s 23 field goals, 12 were assisted. Nine of those assists came in the second half.

The ball movement became more sound as the Sun Devils found their rhythm.

“We were focused on our movements, getting into the high post and doing things that we’re able to do as the game progressed,” Hurley said.

Sunday also marked ASU’s last home regular-season game of the 2018-19 season. Because of this, it was also Senior Day. The team’s only seniors, Cheatham and De’Quon Lake, were honored before the game.

Martin associated some of the early struggles to the emotions surrounding the pregame recognitions. But ASU didn’t allow Cheatham and Lake to exit in vain.

“It was not a good sight, seeing the first half,” Martin said. “We weren’t going to let that happen.”

Over the course of this peculiar season, it has been hard to pinpoint the team’s true identity. Prior to Sunday, it was arguably the group’s ability to beat its toughest adversaries but lose to the bottom feeders.

Martin hopes Sunday’s win changes that narrative.

“We have a history of doing that, and we’re trying to ‘dead’ that,” Martin said.

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