A “home-neutral” atmosphere, a celebration of the Big 12 football champions, and a solid 35 minutes from the Sun Devils on Saturday activated the Valley. It also showed a team that could compete in the NCAA tournament 50 days away from Selection Sunday.
The last five minutes showed why the Maroon and Gold are on the outside looking in right now.
After trailing 58-57 at the under 4 media timeout, the Cyclones went on a 19-3 run, led by senior guards Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones. The Sun Devils find themselves back in the loss column after a road victory over No. 23 West Virginia on Tuesday night.
“I was really pleased with our effort,” Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said. “You take away two minutes, we made a concerted effort to run the floor.”
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Arizona State basketball has turned the ball over at least 10 times in every game this season. It is not a key to beat a Top 5 team, especially one that is ninth in the nation in turnovers forced.
Such was the case on Saturday afternoon, as the Sun Devils had 18 turnovers. This overshadowed a day where their defense had 12 takeaways against an Iowa State side that averages 10.4 turnovers per game.
“You’d expect us to reach doubles, right?” Hurley said. “18’s way too many, especially down the stretch where we’re supposed to get a shot.”
Seven of these turnovers occurred in the first half, with three coming from senior forward Basheer Jihad. He had multiple touches in the paint in hopes of driving to the basket. In other games this season, the Ball State transfer could find fellow forward, freshman Jayden Quaintance, for an easy layup or dunk. However, the Cyclones limited Quaintance’s production.
“They’re hard, they play physical,” said Jihad, who finished the day with six giveaways. “I gotta make better decisions with the ball.”
Arizona State basketball accumulated 11 turnovers in the second half. While Jihad still struggled in the paint, his team willingly gave the ball to Iowa State on multiple occasions through some cross-court outlet passes. While successful at first, it turned into passes that went into the waiting hands of Cyclones.
The Maroon and Gold limited Javon Small’s production on Tuesday night against the Mountaineers. They had to, as the junior guard leads the Big 12 in points per game.
After facing No. 1, Arizona State basketball faced No. 2 in Curtis Jones. But Jones did anything but falter.
The Buffalo transfer, who averages 17.8 points per game, played every minute, hitting a career-high 33 points and seven rebounds. He went 10-for-22 from the field, including 5-for-10 from beyond the arc. It put the pressure on the Sun Devils to hold a lead, and hold back the Cyclone faithful in attendance. Jones also posted three steals, nagging the hosts while they were on attack.
“He was impressive,” Hurley said. “He was playing a different game than everybody else was today. But not in his offense, he was face guarding us, eyeing us on defense.”
Jones has now reached double figures in the past nine games. He has posted at least 18 points in the past four games, where he has started in lieu of sophomore forward Milan Momcilovic.
Arizona State basketball players have been fatigued over the past few weeks. It was not just because of the road trip to Kansas along with Cincinnati and Morgantown last week. They have missed their teammate, freshman guard Joson Sanon, who made his first appearance since Jan. 11 against Baylor.
It was far from the flash that the four-star recruit showed during non-conference play, but he did feature with 25 minutes, notching eight points during that time.
Overall, Saturday afternoon saw the Maroon and Gold have only one player–redshirt senior guard Adam Miller with 13 points–reached double figures. However, five players, including the rest of the starters, put up at least eight points.
Sanon’s return also leads to more rest and recovery for his teammates. During their most recent road trip, the starters were on the court for at least 36 minutes. Senior guard Alston Mason, one of those starters, led the team with 38 minutes on Saturday afternoon. Jihad and senior guard/forward BJ Freeman followed with 34.
The point guard fouled out within the final three minutes. But his appearance helped as his fellow freshman, Quaintance, who struggled with foul trouble and a right ankle that needed to be unwrapped some support ahead of pregame warmups. Quaintance left Thursday’s practice after “(taking) a bad step” and did not practice on Friday.
“He just didn’t have the same explosiveness that he normally would have,” Hurley said. “So, he’s going to get checked, a thorough evaluation to make sure we aren’t missing anything…All these games are hard and winning on the road is hard and to travel is hard. Getting these guys on the practice floor…It’s not easy sledding.”
at Colorado (9-10, 0-8 Big 12)– Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. EST
at Arizona (13-6, 7-1 Big 12)– Jan. 27 at 10:30 p.m. EST
