Freshman guard Elisha Davis runs the fast break during the Sun Devils’ 61-49 loss to Texas Tech on Nov. 11. (Photo by Kyle Newman)The upcoming weekend for the ASU women’s basketball team consists of three games in three days at the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout in Las Vegas, Nev.
The Sun Devils’ (0-2) slate of games begins on Friday with Northern Iowa, continues with North Carolina State on Saturday and then finishes against Florida on Sunday.
With such a young team, the biggest point of action is simply improvement, coach Charli Turner Thorne said.
“We really have to keep getting better. More consistency on both ends of the floor,” Turner Thorne said.
There have been particular aspects Turner Thorne has stressed for this weekend.
“We did some things better offensively for sure, but we also didn’t have good shot selection, we spawned a lot of possessions, still had a few too many turnovers,” Turner Thorne said.
The Sun Devils have struggled at taking care of the ball. In their past three games, including their preseason match, they’re averaging 21 turnovers per game. Turner Thorne accredits some of that to the youth of this team.
This season, ASU returned no starters from last year.
“It’s just going to take some time with this group,” Turner Thorne said. “It’s a young team.”
The Sun Devils have shot 45, 38 and 34 percent in its last three games, respectively.
But their struggles to execute tie right into their shooting.
“The reason we’re not shooting a high percentage in my mind from the coach’s perspective, is that we’re not getting the shots that we want,” Turner Thorne said. “You have a young team that needs to settle down and make shots they make everyday in practice.”
A strength the Sun Devils feel they have is their transition game. However, they haven’t fully taken advantage of their ability to run up and down the court.
“We want it to be a strength but it hasn’t yet,” Turner Thorne said. “We’re trying to build that up, but it’s going to be a super challenge to do that three games in a row.”
This could be a weekend where the Sun Devils start to turn it around, or one where they dig themselves into an even bigger hole.
“They’re all going to come along in their own time, in their own way throughout the season,” Turner Thorne said. “We need everybody to be a little more consistent for us.”
Reach the reporter at gdemano@asu.edu
