It was difficult to tell who was a bigger no-show: the fans at Wells Fargo Arena (4,127 in attendance), or the team on the floor.
The ASU men’s basketball team’s last minute charge wasn’t enough to overcome its early struggles, and it fell to Pepperdine, 66–60.
The Sun Devils (1-1) failed to establish an offensive rhythm. The Waves (2-0) were mainly in a 2-3 zone defense but switched to man-to-man at times, flustering the Sun Devils, who shot just 24 percent in the game.
“It was hard to feel out there,” junior forward Trent Lockett said. “They switched up between man and zone but we need to recognize it quick and make the right adjustments.”
ASU attacked the paint regularly during its first few possessions on offense, but only had six points to show for its efforts inside in the first half.
The Sun Devils got away from its aggressive mentality thereafter, shooting 27 three-pointers in the game, but converted on just seven.
“I thought we were very active in our zone,” Pepperdine coach Marty Wilson said. “We knew athletically and physically they were going to be better than us and we wanted them to have to rely on the three.”
The Waves’ offense was drastically different than the Sun Devils, firing from all cylinders collectively against the Sun Devils’ 2-3 matchup zone. Pepperdine didn’t have a player in double-figures until the final seconds of the game. All 10 players scored for Pepperdine. Junior guard Joshua Lowery had 13 points.
Pepperdine had 12 buckets in the first half, and 10 came off assists. Its frontcourt’s physical play freed shooters from behind the arc, and the team finished 8-for-11 from downtown.
Down 35-29 at halftime, Sendek switched to a rare man-to-man defense, which kept ASU in the game.
The Sun Devils did a better job contesting outside shots in the second half and went with a full-court press throughout the second half in attempt to create turnovers.
At times the press led to fouls, and ASU committed 17 in the half. Pepperdine got to the line 31 times and shot 71 percent.
“We’re a zone team, that’s our defense but based on what was happening in the game, we made the switch,” Sendek said. “I thought our guys did a pretty good job in it except probably more than anything else we shot ourselves in the foot a number of times.
“We sent them to line unnecessarily. That was our Achilles heel more than anything.”
Sendek played a deep bench hoping to find an offensive spark but the results didn’t change in the second half.
Sophomore forward Jordan Bachynski saw his first action this season. In 17 minutes he was a perfect 2-for-2, finishing with seven points.
ASU’s backcourt wasn’t moving the ball well in either half, leading Sendek to play freshman walk-on guard Max Heller. He was scoreless in six minutes, with an assist and turnover.
“We needed somebody who was going to get out there and get the ball moving for us,” Sendek said. “He does that well and he’s consistently had very positive assist-to-turnover ratio in practices.”
Before the game, players were raving about how much Sendek’s tweaked up-tempo offense would better fit its style.
The Sun Devils didn’t have a fast break point in the game.
“I know we’re capable of doing a lot better,” junior forward Carrick Felix said. “I’m with these guys 24/7 and the effort and the amount that we put in practice, I know for sure this group of guys, I know we’ll get it.”
Felix had 12 points and four assists. Lockett led the team in scoring with 23 points and picked up nine rebounds.
“For the most part, I just think that we could’ve played a lot harder,” Felix said. “We just got to carry this over to practice tomorrow. We just got to start fresh. We’ve got to learn from this mistake. We’ve got to learn from this loss and (Pepperdine) played a great game.”
Reach the reporter at master.tesfatsion@asu.edu
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