Something about the road brings out the worst out of the Arizona State men’s basketball team.
The Sun Devils (7-15, 3-7 Pac-12) lost their fourth straight road game as they fell to Stanford 68-44 at Maples Pavilion on Thursday.
Although the Cardinal (16-6, 6-4 Pac-12) made just three field goals in the first 10 minutes of the game, it had 22 more shots than ASU. Stanford had 15 second chance points and dominated the glass, 37-22. It shot 45 percent from the floor.
Sophomore guard Aaron Bright led Stanford with 16 points and four assists. Freshman guard Chasson Randle had 14 points and four rebounds while sophomore wing Anthony Brown had 11 points off the bench in the win.
ASU is now 1-5 on the road in conference play.
“I thought we did a really, really poor job tonight of really lacing them up and going after Stanford and competing for 40 minutes,” assistant coach Lamont Smith said in a post-game radio interview.
Once again, ASU’s offense was stagnant on the road. Junior guard Chris Colvin and sophomore center Jordan Bachynski scored the team’s first 12 points. At one point, they were 4-for-4 while the rest of the team was 0-for-4.
“I really wish I could put my hands around it,” Smith said about the road woes. “We’re searching and trying to figure out why there’s such a switch of identity on the road and home.”
While Colvin was scoreless except for his two made 3-point shots in the first seven minutes, Bachynski had his best game as a Sun Devil. He had a career-high 20 points on 5-for-6 shooting and has been the most consistent player in the last two weeks for ASU.
Backynski even progressed at the charity stripe, where he shot 10-for-12 despite a 40 percent season average.
“That’s definitely the bright spot of the night for us,” Smith said. “He’s been putting a lot of time at the free throw line at practice (and) before practice. Now it’s starting to pay dividends and hopefully he’ll continue to shoot the ball well at the charity stripe.”
For the fifth straight game, ASU played without junior guard Trent Lockett. The Sun Devils are now 1-4 without Lockett, who has been sidelined with a sprained right ankle. Three of those four losses have been blowouts on the road.
Without Lockett, the Sun Devils shot 24.2 percent. Sophomore wing Chanse Creekmur, freshman Jonathan Gilling and junior wing Carrick Felix finished with a combined eight points on 3-for-21 shooting.
ASU didn’t get its first assist until the 12:51 mark in the second half. They finished with four assists and 14 turnovers in comparison to Stanford’s 14-to-8 turnover-to-assist ratio.
Now ASU will have to face one of the best teams in the Pac-12 when they play California at Haas Pavilion on Saturday.
The Golden Bears are 17th in the country in assists with 16.3 a game. Senior guard Jorge Gutierrez averages 14.1 points and 4.4 assists a game. Sophomore guard Allen Crabbe is one of the top scorers in the Pac-12, averaging 15.8 points and 6.1 rebounds a game.
“I think we need to worry about two things: going out and competing and having a terrific attitude," Smith said. "If we do those things, everything else will take care of itself.”
After the game, coach Herb Sendek told The Arizona Republic Lockett will not play against the Golden Bears. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Comcast Sports Net and a radio broadcast can be heard on 620 AM.
