On Jan. 16, the ASU men’s basketball team had the No. 1 scoring defense in the nation. The Sun Devils were allowing a mere 54.7 points per game and had allowed an opponent to score more than 70 points only once.

Fast forward to Feb. 10.

The Sun Devils have allowed at least 70 points in each of their past five games, going 2-3 over that stretch and falling to seventh in the nation in scoring defense at 58.9 points per game allowed.

For coach Herb Sendek, getting back to defensive fundamentals is the solution to the team’s recent defensive struggles.

“I don’t know that we’ve performed defensively on a fundamental level to the best of our ability here in the most recent stretch,” Sendek said.

“Just the basic fundamentals that are key to any defense — closeouts, seeing the man and the ball, taking away a flashcut — just the basic building blocks of defense. Those are the things that make the defense good or not good.

“It’s not schematically based. So when we don’t play well defensively, it’s not a matter of trickery, it’s a matter of, ‘Are we playing good, fundamental basketball?’”

Junior guard Ty Abbott acknowledged ASU’s recent defensive shortcomings.

“We’ve kind of fallen off a little bit and we’ve had some pretty rough film sessions showing that,” Abbott said.

“[We’re working on] every little thing — to a closeout, a high hand on a closeout — were covering it all. We’re not letting it slide by because were getting a couple of wins here and there. [Allowing] 70 points is unacceptable.”

Glasser trying to regain stroke

Senior point guard Derek Glasser is still mired in a bit of a shooting slump, although he did score 15 points against Washington State last Thursday. Glasser has shot better than 40 percent from the field only twice in his past 10 games and has seen his scoring average drop from 11.8 points per game to 10.0.

However, Sendek saw some encouraging signs that the team’s floor general is regaining his stroke.

“The good news is I think he’s made his last four [3-pointers], so hopefully he’s moving in the right direction,” Sendek said. “He made some big threes against WSU. Games where he gets to the free throw line a lot…I think can really help somebody who isn’t knocking down the shots as regularly. He’s knocked down some big shots here recently for us.”

Glasser helped Abbott fight through a nasty shooting slump last season, and now Abbott is trying to do the same for Glasser.

“I’m telling him to do the opposite of what I did last year,” Abbott said. “He’s looking at numbers, things like that [and] I’m telling him don’t look at numbers, just stay in the gym and focus on your mechanics.”

One thing that could help is the return of junior guard Jamelle McMillan, who returned last weekend after missing four games with plantar fasciitis and is Glasser’s backup at point guard.

In the 20 games McMillan has played, Glasser is shooting 42 percent from the field and 48 percent from 3-point range while averaging 10.6 points per game.

In the four games without McMillan, Glasser shot 23.3 percent from the field, was 0-of-11 from beyond the arc and averaged only 7.3 points per game.

Reach the reporter at kaglaser@asu.edu