The Arizona State men’s basketball team fell in an early hole and couldn’t dig its way out, losing to Oregon 67–58.
The Sun Devils (11-6, 1-3 Pac-12) were down 24-13 midway through the first half and couldn’t overcome the 11-point deficit.
Oregon (12-5, 3-2 Pac-12) jumped out to such a sizable lead due to defensive lapses by ASU in its matchup zone. The Sun Devils looked lost on defense during stretches of the game, leading to plenty of open shots for the Ducks. Oregon shot 35.2 percent and committed just eight turnovers in the game. Senior guard Devoe Joseph led the Ducks with 15 points, four assists and four steals.
“I honestly don’t have a good explanation for our defense in the first 10 minutes,” coach Herb Sendek said. “I put a big question mark on the grease board and asked our guys the same question.”
The Sun Devils crawled back in the game on the back of junior wing Trent Lockett. He scored four points for ASU to end the half down 37-35. Lockett played all 40 minutes and just one minute away from point guard. He had 23 points on 8-for-11 shooting, four rebounds, five assists and seven turnovers.
“Trent was terrific,” Sendek said. “We’re just asking him to do everything. Run the team, score, defend and never come out of the game.”
ASU shot 58.3 percent in the first half, but after halftime the Ducks began to press the Sun Devils, which disrupted the flow of their offense. ASU would eat up 10 seconds off the shot clock to get the ball past mid-court, giving its slow tempo offense less time in the half court set.
Nine of ASU’s 16 turnovers came in the second half. ASU attempted just 17 shots in the second half, shooting 41.2 percent.
“We knew exactly what to do and we knew how they were going to play us,” Lockett said. “Just silly turnovers down the stretch on post flashes, their jumping in the passing lane. If we push them backdoor, we’ll be fine and get easy buckets.”
Fatigue was a major factor for the Sun Devils in the second half, particularly on two possessions that swung the momentum in Oregon’s favor. Junior forward E.J. Singler sunk a wide-open three-point shot in the corner to push Oregon’s lead to seven. On the next possession, Singler grabbed an offensive rebound off senior forward Tyrone Nared's missed three-point shot, drove in the paint and slammed in the second chance bucket to extend the lead 62-55 with 4:54 left.
Singler had 11 points, five rebounds and five assists.
Sophomore wing Chanse Creekmur and freshman Jonathan Gilling struggled with their jumper Thursday. They combined for eight points, shooting 3-for-9 from the floor. Gilling did have five assists and Creekmur contributed five rebounds.
Junior forward Rusland Pateev filled the stat sheet with nine points, six rebounds, three assists and no turnovers.
“I’m encouraged with Ruslan’s improvement,” Sendek said. “I think over the course of the last handful of games, has really shown marked improvement.”
The Sun Devils will look to snap their two game losing streak Saturday against Oregon State at Wells Fargo Arena. ASU is 2-7 at home this season.
“We got to take care of games at home,” Lockett said. “We got a good road win at USC. We really need to take care of things at home. We got a really good group of guys and we’ll come back tomorrow and get ready for Oregon State.”
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
