ASU’s Bobby Hurley on slumping Tra Holder: ‘He kind of gets a pass’

Arizona State was never mislabeled as a defensive stalwart of a team.

The guard-oriented Sun Devils climbed to No. 3 in the Associated Press poll because of an offense reliant on pace, space and drive-and-kick creation.

When the best player in that offense hasn’t been himself, it’s been tough.

Going 4-of-23 over the last two games, Arizona State senior Tra Holder has suddenly gone from garnering midseason All-American hype to struggling to get buckets.

In a Wednesday loss to Stanford, Holder missed 10 of his first 11 shots before he sunk a three-pointer that brought the Sun Devils to within two points, 70-68, with 4:31 left. And though that night and a prior 1-for-9 outing against Oregon State could be linked to a shoulder injury suffered in the win over the Beavers, it was clear Holder was slumping before that.

“I think we need more help, though,” head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters in Stanford. “Tra, again, has been outstanding all year. We would never have had the record that we had if it weren’t for how he played. He kind of gets a pass. If he’s not shooting it well, we need other guys to step up and make plays.

“It’s a long year, you’re going to go through some periods like this. I know that Tra will bounce back and find his rhythm again.”

It’s been an unkind start to Pac-12 play for Holder and the Sun Devils with him.

Arizona State has lost four of six Pac-12 games, and ever since Holder hit four threes and hit 6-of-12 shots against the Arizona Wildcats to open the conference schedule, he’s failed to shoot better than 40 percent from the field.

Against the Cardinal, it was rangy 6-foot-8 freshman forward Kezie Okpala who chased Holder around the court for much of the evening, limiting the point guard to 3-of-14 shooting.

“He was phenomenal defensively,” Stanford coach Jerod Haase said of Okpala, per the San Francisco Chronicle.

Holder hasn’t surpassed more than 14 points in his last four games and hasn’t reached double figures in the last two despite playing more than 30 minutes each game.

A chunk of the points gone missing are due to his free throw shooting (6.7 attempts per game) falling off; he’s gone to the stripe just twice in each of the last two games, a sign he’s not attacking the rim with the same conviction he did earlier in the year.

Holder is struggling even when he gets into the paint.

Thirty-nine percent of his shots have come at the rim, but he’s shooting just 43 percent there. For reference, backup point guard Remy Martin shoots 65 percent at the rim despite taking the same percentage of his attempts there.

Holder has also not been creating shots for others off the bounce, a key in Arizona State’s drive-and-kick offense that’s become more leaned up as opponents have kept them out of transition.

During ASU’s 12-0 start to the season, Holder failed to record more than three assists three times. In six Pac-12 games since, he’s not tallied more than three and has only reached that number twice.

“We’ll watch the film and we’ll see ways that he could have been more effective on offense,” Hurley said. “I think that there were some shots that he normally loves to shoot and can make, some of those little floaters and pullups in the lane, weren’t going down.”

But until Holder finds his scoring confidence once again, the Sun Devils remain in the search for better contributions elsewhere.

Outside of Holder and fellow starter Shannon Evans, ASU doesn’t have much drive-and-kick punch needed to keep up the scoring.

Martin does fit the bill, but doesn’t see enough minutes playing behind Holder and Evans to make up for the lack of offense. It’s not coincidental Evans’ two best scoring outings came in slim wins over Utah and Oregon State.

The Sun Devils getting their best player back on track is one thing. In the meantime, digging up solutions is another.

“We’re driving (on) closeouts and if teams are running us off and then we got guys who can put it on the floor and try to get to the basket or kick out to other teammates,” Hurley said Wednesday night. “We got to focus on that offensively. Can’t have empty minutes out there. When guys are out there on the floor, they got to perform.

“When you get outscored that dramatically in bench points — also the paint, we lost the paint by a big number. We got to convert layups. As collectively as a team, we haven’t done that tonight and some other games.”

 

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