Gearing Up for the Postseason
For the latter half of last season, ASU was trying to recapture the magic from its 12-0 non-conference start. But for every inch the Sun Devils made, a big step back followed, losing six of their final seven games to close the year.
While Hurley wouldn’t admit it then, he feels that team wasn’t built for tournament success.
“I thought last year, we might have peaked earlier in the year,” he said. “We weren’t winning games. (Now), we’ve won five out of six, and that’s a great sign for the Pac-12 Tournament.”
In ASU’s last six contests, the Sun Devils have executed in multiple ways. They won two games scoring 80 or more points (Utah, Stanford) and three games by scoring 74 or less.
ASU also had three different leading scorers in the five wins. It’s that kind of versatility that is keeping Hurley and his players confident leading into this week’s tournament.
“Depending on how our opponent plays, we can adapt pretty well,” Hurley said. “And then our defense has been strong, especially late in games. This time of year, you got to be able to depend on that, and we’ve been guarding and rebounding at a pretty good level.”
“I think we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Dort added. “We play as a team. Remy and Zylan are really leading the team right now on the court, and I just feel like we have a good chemistry right now.”
Coming in, ASU’s postseason standing is much different than years past. The Sun Devils are above .500 in Pac-12 play for the first time since 2013-14, and their NCAA Tournament bubble has grown thanks to Saturday’s win at Arizona.
While this is ASU’s best chance to win the conference tournament in some time, having that security blanket is taking some of the worries away from previous years.
“I think we have a clear mind going into this tournament,” Hurley said. “Just trying to focus on winning that and not having the pressure or stress of wondering whether we’re going to make the NCAA Tournament. I think we’re in solid position.”
“We’re resilient,” Cheatham said. “We’re staying with it, we’re getting better every day and we’re believing in each other. As long as we continue to do that, we’re going to win a lot more games.”
To win multiple games, the Sun Devils will have to utilize all their weapons, something that became more possible thanks to another piece of news.