Coach Herb Sendek challenged the ASU men’s basketball team Friday during practice.
He felt his team didn’t finish possessions during Thursday’s loss to Washington and wasn’t staying alert in the game.
The players responded Saturday with a 71–67 victory over Washington State.
The Sun Devils (7-14, 3-6 Pac-12) picked up their first win without junior wing Trent Lockett, who missed his fourth straight game due to a sprained right ankle.
Junior guard Chris Colvin has started the last four games during Lockett’s absence and arguably had his best game as a Sun Devil against the Cougars (11-10, 3-6 Pac-12). Colvin played all 40 minutes, contributing 16 points and six rebounds.
“When Trent went down, I knew I had to step up or move on, and I chose to step up,” Colvin said. “My team gave me the confidence to do it.”
Colvin had four of ASU’s 18 assists. The Sun Devils moved the ball around as well as they have all season. Their ability to make the extra pass created open shots throughout the game. ASU shot 54.5 percent and went 7-for-15 from 3-point range.
“I think our guys are starting to understand better,” Sendek said. “They’re starting to get more comfortable with what they’re doing – that and the two-by-four we keep hitting them over the head with.”
Junior forward Carrick Felix also had his best game since Lockett’s injury. Felix led the team in scoring with 20 points. He also grabbed five rebounds and tied a career high in assists with four.
“That was one thing coach stressed to us in practice,” Colvin said about the ball movement. “That was one thing that we did in practice and wanted to carry on into the game. It paid dividends for us.”
Because of an unusually high number of assists, ASU had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio for just the fourth time this season.
The Sun Devils committed 16 turnovers, but for the first time this season had fewer turnovers than their opponent. The Cougars committed 18 turnovers in the contest.
“I think Arizona State does a great job defensively,” Washington State coach Ken Bone said. “Their matchup is really good and sometimes it’s hard to manufacture good shots.”
Washington State shot 46.9 percent from the floor. They played without senior guard Faisel Aden, who sprained his left knee against Arizona on Thursday.
Junior forward Brock Motum scored half of WSU’s points and led the Cougars offensively. He had a game-high 34 points and eight rebounds, but he also had six turnovers.
“We looked for him a lot and he played 38 minutes,” Bone said. “We did a good job. I’m really pleased that we did get Brock the ball. I think we need to do that as frequently as possible.”
The Sun Devils will hit the road next week and travel to northern California to face Stanford and Cal. ASU hopes to have Lockett back for the road trip, as they look to carry the momentum from Saturday’s victory.
“We’re excited to get him back next week hopefully and get on the road and get two wins,” Felix said.
Reach the reporter a mtesfats@asu.edu
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