Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley used time off for offensive additions, rest

Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley has used the extra time off to add wrinkles in the offense and give his players additional rest.

The Sun Devils had one game canceled against Florida A&M as well as two postponements against UCLA and USC. The team last played on Dec. 19 against San Francisco, giving the Sun Devils a 19-day hiatus between their next scheduled game.

Hurley said with all the negative in the world, it was nice to spend time with family and give the team an extra day off after some of the postponements.

“I can really gradually build them back up,” Hurley told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta on Tuesday. “We did workouts yesterday, and a few guys did on Sunday. We are trying to stay ready and kind of self-evaluating too, seeing what can we work on and improve on. If there is anything we can add to our offense to generate more points.”

ASU’s roster is made up of many players that had not previously played together. Five of the six top contributors for the team were not in the maroon and gold in 2020.

Kimani Lawrence, Jalen Graham and Marcus Bagley are the only three players who have scored this season from last year’s team, with Bagley only appearing in three games.

“I would like to see our forwards a little more involved away from the basket with some dribble handoffs,” Hurley said. “We had some success with that especially at Creighton.

“The priority will be to get some guys playing well that I had high hopes for offensively.”

The head coach specifically mentioned transfer Marreon Jackson, who is averaging 7.8 points on 27.4% shooting in over 27 minutes per game. Last season with Toledo, the guard scored 18.1 points per game on 40.3% shooting.

The Sun Devils started the year 2-6 before winning three of their last four games, including wins at Creighton and Oregon.

ASU’s next game is scheduled for Jan. 8 at home against rival Arizona.