Fork Report: Sun Devils’ inconsistent start followed by dominant finish in win
Nov 15, 2014, 6:22 AM | Updated: 6:48 am
At his press conference Monday, Arizona State basketball head coach Herb Sendek said he’s looking for consistency; that it would be the defining factor of deciding minutes for many of the players so close in status.
In Friday’s 86-50 season-opening victory over the Chicago State Cougars, the Sun Devils struggled with that through the first half.
There’s talent there, but it came in spurts — and so did the mistakes.
Early in the game, for example, junior forward Eric Jacobsen backed into his defender, leaving the ball sputtering and up for grabs in front of him instead of snagging the rebound.
Just minutes later, Jacobsen pulled a slick pivot in the post for two points.
On the following possession, Gerry Blakes traveled to turn the ball over. Then, he got his own rebound on the recurring Cougars possession.
Shaq McKissic struggled from a case of the clunkers to begin the game. Then he drained a triple to give ASU a six-point lead halfway through the first half — its biggest of the night to that point — and welcomed a hyped student section back to Wells Fargo Arena with a stunning two-handed slam. He’d finish the half on a hot streak with 13 points, two rebounds and two assists.
“(The dunk) felt good — you know, just kind of the ‘I’m back’ statement,” McKissic said.
And Holder, the young freshman point guard out of Brentwood, was also a mix of talent and mistakes.
His slick bounce pass led to an equally slick and-one by Jacobsen in the first half. But only a few possessions later, Holder attempted a park-hoops-style drive into traffic and was shut down hard enough to turn the ball over.
“He’s a younger guy,” said McKissic. “Tra has to get that mentality of wanting to be a towel and absorb all the water. He has to get the biggest edge that he can possibly get being a freshman and starting in the (Pac-12).”
Added Sendek, “The two constants for this team are they really try to do what we ask them to do … and they’re consistently giving good effort … obviously we still have to clean some things up. We always will.
“But they’re a great group to coach because they want to do better.”
THE GOOD
McKissic may have taken a couple minutes to find the net, but after he did, he didn’t miss. That’s not a sports cliché. He literally did not miss a single one of his next six consecutive shots and was pulled for a breather with about 15 minutes left in the game. When he came back in, he hit a seventh. He’d end the game with a career-high 20 points in only 25 minutes played.
The Sun Devils began the second half strong with a 12-5 run that saw a second dunk, this time from Jacobsen. They’d finish the game with 46 second-half points.
Holder doled out four assists on the night.
Gerry Blakes had 11 points and seven rebounds in his first start as a Sun Devil.
After only accounting for 10 points in the first half, ASU’s bench would up that total to 33 points throughout the game.
THE BAD
Arizona State only shot 55.9 percent from the free-throw line.
The Sun Devils allowed Chicago State 14 points off turnovers and 12 off second chances.
Coach Sendek’s bone to pick: “We have to cut down on some of our undisciplined fouling.”
NOTED
The first 1,000 students to arrive at the game received a free “Sun Devils Salute” t-shirt courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics.
Holder’s start was his first for Arizona State, marking the third consecutive year a freshman has started for Sendek. Prior to former guard Jahii Carson (2012-2014), a freshman hadn’t started for Sendek since 2008.
The 942 Crew’s Curtain of Distraction: Tonight’s curtain featured two ROTC members in full camo gear as a part of Arizona State’s Salute to Service, each flanked by two 942 Crew members in what appeared to be ’80s-style workout gear. The latter burst through the curtain and did a few squats, as per the ROTC member’s barked instruction, and then ran off the baseline. By the 942 Crew’s standards, the distraction tactics seemed to work, as Chicago State shot only 56.5 percent from the line.
STATS
Neither bench was very inspiring in the first half: Chicago State’s reserves scored only six points while ASU’s accumulated 10. The Sun Devils’ bench would score 33 points on the night as opposed to Chicago State’s 13.
Arizona State’s largest lead in the first half was 15 points, courtesy of McKissic’s momentum CPR. The Sun Devils would have the largest lead of the game at 38 points with 2:04 left in the contest. Chicago State never led.
Chicago State scored only seven points in the first 12 minutes of the second half and ended the night shooting only 32.1 percent from the field and accruing only 20 points throughout the entire second half.
