Junior guard Chris Colvin and sophomore forward Kyle Cain returned to the team Monday, participating in practice and gearing up for games against Oregon and Oregon State, coach Herb Sendek said.
“I hope they are receptive and prepared to meet our standards and expectations moving forward,” Sendek said. “We moved forward. We took action and now we’re on to the next chapter.”
Sendek did not say if either player would be in the starting lineup but said the decision of who to start would be based off this week’s practice, for which the Sun Devils are still short-handed. Junior forward Carrick Felix and freshman walk-on guard Pierre Newton were sick Monday and did not attend.
Lockett making strides
Junior guard Trent Lockett didn’t approach coach Herb Sendek and volunteer to play point guard against USC and UCLA last week and Sendek didn’t need to approach him about the vacant position either.
With two of the team’s top point guards, dismissed sophomore Keala King and suspended junior Chris Colvin, not joining the team on the road, Lockett said the switch happened by default.
Sendek said Lockett will likely play the majority of his minutes at point guard moving forward.
“Obviously there’s certain things that could dictate change, but I think we have to be prepared at this point to have Trent at the point,” Sendek said.
In his first career start at point guard, Lockett dropped 19 points, nine rebounds and four assists in a 62-53 victory over USC Thursday. He also had a solid first half against UCLA before the Bruins routed ASU, 75-58, posting 12 points and four assists.
“I played it when I was younger at AAU and stuff,” Lockett said. “Obviously it’s new for me in my college career. I feel pretty comfortable out there.”
Lockett did have a combined 11 turnovers in both games, which he admits is excessive, but he took control of the Sun Devils’ slower-paced offense and showed poise in his new starting spot.
“I thought Trent did amazingly well,” Sendek said. “That’s never an easy position to transition to make let alone doing it on the fly in a couple of days. I thought he did a terrific job and it shows his basketball IQ."
Even as he dealt with the difficulties of learning a new position, Lockett improved as a leader, a role most teams desire from a point guard.
Lockett said he has worked on becoming more of a vocal leader this season. During the road trip to Los Angeles, Lockett encouraged his teammates during practices and walk-throughs to make sure everyone was on the same page as the Sun Devils only had six scholarship players available.
Sendek certainly noticed the elevation of leadership.
“We had tremendous leadership from Trent Lockett,” Sendek said. “I felt he took his leadership to another level. Our guys really came together. I love the communication they shared, the camaraderie that they had and I thought we played some good basketball and gave terrific effort.”
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
