What went wrong (and right) for ASU basketball against No.5 Houston

TEMPE, Ariz.– ASU basketball took on a top-five team this past Tuesday when the Houston Cougars arrived in Tempe. That was the most exciting part of a game that was otherwise not full of many positives for the Sun Devils.

Entering the game, the Sun Devils were on a five-game losing streak and a six-game home losing streak dating back to Jan. 11th. We are now closing in on March, and the Sun Devils have not been able to protect home court since that point.

We are going to take a quick look at what exactly went wrong against Houston and how ASU can finally get back in the win column against Kansas State and BYU in their next two games.

Slow start hinders ASU basketball

After last weekend’s game against TCU senior forward BJ Freeman was asked about why the team did not have as much juice in this game as the last one.

“That’s been our problem this year, coming off sluggish in the beginning,” Freeman replied. “The first four minutes of each half then we gotta play get back the last eight minutes. That’s not good basketball for us.”

This was evident again against Houston as ASU allowed them to start the game on a 10-2 run in the first four minutes of the game. Houston also outscored ASU to open the first four minutes of the second half, 8-5.

This is not the recipe for any winning basketball team as you are essentially giving the other team a lead to start the game. The pattern just continues to grow though because time and time again the Sun Devils let teams walk onto their home floor, put them down big early and force them to claw their way back.

If the Sun Devils want to have any success moving forward in what little of the season is remaining they need to be much more assertive to start both halves.

The freshmen

The Sun Devils’ highest-ranked recruiting class ever (247 Sports) has been somewhat underwhelming, especially for a team that was going into the season relying on them so heavily.

Jayden Quaintance has been the star of the bunch. aA just 17 years he has proven to be one of the nation’s elite defenders and shot blockers. Offensively however he is still very raw.

With him coming back from his injury this game the team expected a big boost from his presence, but that was not the case.

“Especially with JQ (Quaintance) as good as he looked yesterday in practice, he just didn’t have… that same explosiveness that I would normally see,” Hurley said. He decided to shut him down for the second half.

Joson Sanon just has not been the same since coming back from injury. His shooting performances have not been good and when he is not scoring he is not providing too much else to this Sun Devil team right now.

“As a freshman, it gets hard especially when you see us losing and then your shot might not be falling,” senior Alston Mason said about Sanon’s struggles. “I think for Joson he just has to find a different way to bring something else to the game.”

Amier Ali also did not have a great shooting day on Tuesday against Houston. He struggled from the field going 1-4 and added a turnover on top of that. On the bright side for Ali outside of his scoring he did help the Sun Devils in other ways.

He totaled six rebounds, four assists, and a steal coupled with the always solid defense he plays. He did exactly what Mason was talking about Sanon wanting to do, and that is to impact the game in other ways outside of scoring.

Alston Mason

Mason had arguably his best game of the season against Houston. His performance was the biggest reason why the game was never able to balloon out into a 30-point deficit for ASU.

The senior point guard shot the ball incredibly well against one of the toughest defenses in the country going 8-9 from the field and 4-5 from three.

“He’s been good all year, but he’s kind of bumped his level up just a little more,” Hurley said.

Mason is one of the leading minutes played players in the Big 12 at about 36 a game for the whole season and even higher in conference play. After the TCU game, Hurley said Mason asked to come out at one point. He told him no.

Looking ahead for ASU basketball

ASU basketball will look to bounce back on Sunday against a Kansas State team that they matched up with just a few weeks ago. The Sun Devils lost by one after two missed free throws by Quaintance late in the game.

Kansas State has cooled off since their big six-game winning streak, losing their last two games to BYU and Utah respectively.

With the extra rest time between a Tuesday and Sunday game, Hurley and Co. will look to put an end to the losing streak with a win in Manhattan. 

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