Massamba Diop’s season-high 19 points leads ASU men’s basketball to win over Northern Arizona

TEMPE — Freshman Massamba Diop’s ability to attack the rim led ASU men’s basketball to a 73-48 win over in-state rivals Northern Arizona on Tuesday.

Winners of six of their past seven, the Sun Devils improved to 8-2 on the season and 4-1 at home.

Diop finished with a season-high 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting to go along with six rebounds, three assists and a block. The freshman from Senegal’s previous season-high of 18 points came during the second game of the season against Utah Tech.

From the onset, the Sun Devils worked the ball repeatedly inside to Diop to take full advantage of the size advantage they carried against the Lumberjacks.

NAU only has one player who is at least 6-foot-9 and struggled to defend the larger Diop at 7-foot-1.

“I thought the inside play was really the difference,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “I mean, literally, I just told the team that we got to have better recognition in games like this that if we literally threw the ball inside every possession down the floor, we would have gotten a high quality shot of some kind in the possession.”

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ASU finished with 40 points in the paint, as the Sun Devils shot 20-for-33 on 2-point field goals and just 6-for-19 from 3.

Despite his large stature, Diop displayed his ability to dribble down the floor with ease, offering Sun Devil fans a glimpse of what the future holds.

Diop, the team’s third-leading scorer after Moe Odum and Anthony “Pig” Johnson, reached his season average of 11.8 points per game in the first half when he had 12. Odum and Johnson both got off to slow starts and did not look to shoot.

Odum went scoreless in the first half on three attempts and Johnson was held to three points on four field goals attempted.

Odum, the Sun Devils’ leading scorer at 18.9 points per game on 13.2 shots, finished with a season-low two points on four shots.

His first points came from two free throws with 30 seconds left in the game.

The senior from the Bronx took just one shot in the second half and passed up a handful of open looks.

“The positive side is Mo wasn’t anything like Mo usually is at all, like just had one of those games, and we were able to more than survive that in this particular game,” Hurley said.

“It wasn’t his night, and he was fighting it and trying to find it, and he couldn’t find it. First time since he’s been here he’s looked like that.”

ASU uses key runs on each side of halftime to go up big

After a tight start, the Sun Devils closed the first half on an 8-2 run to lead 35-26 at the half, as NAU went the last 3:55 without a field goal

ASU then went on a 13-0 run early in the second half to build its lead to 48-30, taking full advantage of NAU turning the ball over in abundance.

The Sun Devils finished the game with 23 points off 13 turnovers from the Lumberjacks. NAU’s offense also struggled during that stretch as it went on a scoring drought of 4:19 and missed six shots in a row. 

ASU held NAU to 7-of-27 shooting in the second half and just 2-of-15 from 3.

With Diop on the bench for a large stretch in the second half, senior Allen Mukeba and redshirt sophomore Santiago Trouet stepped up to score a combined 16 points in the second half, as ASU continued to work the ball inside.

The 6-foot-8 Mukeba ended his night with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, and the 6-foot-11 Trouet tallied 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting.

“Massamba made things look really easy. I think he could still score against players comparable to his size,” Hurley said. “Allen, his physicality is a plus, getting to the basket.

“Santiago knows how to play around the basket. So getting those guys touches is important because we got to get points in the paint, and that’s where everything starts. Certainly, then we could kick out and the 3-point line is a weapon for us as well, but we have to figure out a way to get those guys involved in the offense.”

ASU will next host Santa Clara on Saturday at 5 p.m. on a nationally televised game on TNT.

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