Freshman guard Tra Holder dashes down the court after Colgate lost possession on Nov. 29, 2014. ASU beat Detroit 93-54 on Tuesday, Dec. 23. (Photo by Mario Mendez)Aggressive defense from the onset got ASU (7-5) going in its 93-54 slaughter of Detroit (6-7) Tuesday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena, rebounding after falling in triple overtime against Lehigh Saturday night.
The first three possessions for the Titans resulted in turnovers, two of them steals, and the Sun Devils went up 7-2.
Sophomore forward Savon Goodman was the catalyst. He said the starting lineup had made a defensive plan.
“(We) had been texting all night about getting five stops in a row,” he said. “Getting five stops, rebounding the ball and getting out in transition and I think that’s what helped us open up our early lead.”
After a steal, Goodman took the ball to the rim himself and got fouled. Detroit called a timeout. He made one of the ensuing free throws, and on the ensuing inbounds play, the ASU full-court defense forced Detroit to burn another timeout to avoid a turnover.
This was Goodman’s third game this season and his second double-double. He scored 22 rebounds on 8-12 shooting and pulled down 11 rebounds, four of them offensive.
His confidence motivates him and he knows he can match up against taller players.
“If anybody followed me, I had (good post offense) for a while now,” he said. “I think it makes it a little bit more comfortable that I’m doing it against 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 guys at the four so I have an advantage because I’m a lot quicker than most of those guys.”
He was overaggressive at times. Early in the game, he went multiple times for an ill-advised steal on a pass and flew past the man he was guarding. Although none resulted in points, the offensive player received open looks.
Goodman was matched against senior forward Juwan Howard, Jr. for much of the game. Howard came in averaging 19.8 points per game. At the half, he had two points on 1-10 shooting.
“My biggest thing was not to focus on nothing besides getting in his head and making him have a tough game,” Goodman said. “My goal was to irritate him as much as possible and have him tire from running up and down the court.”
Howard finished with nine points on 4-17 shooting.
Junior guard Gerry Blakes was inserted into the starting lineup. He played a large role in his 21 minutes of play, scoring 13 points.
“I want to be able to do different things at that position but I felt like I did fairly well but I can definitely do better,” Blakes said.
Head coach Herb Sendek said Blakes will primarily receive time at the point guard position. He had been playing a lot off the ball while often playing the point, and Sendek said he struggled to learn both positions.
“It was a lot on his plate, with two positions, but in an effort to get our most experienced, athletic team on the floor, we decided we would simplify some things,” Sendek said.
Blakes at point guard will allow junior guard Roosevelt Scott to receive more playing time. Sendek said the starting lineup is now the most athletic group the team has. That was evident today from Scott, who had two of ASU’s nine steals.
“(Scott's) a terrific, world-class athlete,” Sendek said. “As he learns about this level and gets more comfortable… he could really help us on (defense).
Sendek also spoke of his potential offensive impact — his athleticism will allow him to get past defenders and grab offensive rebounds.
Despite ASU's successes, there were small problems. After beginning the game with very little foul trouble, it got hit with four fouls in a one-minute stretch. After beginning with four turnovers compared to Detroit’s eight, it finished with 17.
The most concerning aspect was the bench play. For a couple minutes, Goodman, junior forward Eric Jacobsen and senior forward Shaquielle McKissic were all on the bench. The bench struggled to keep up with Detroit’s unit and the lead, which was about 40 when the three were all out, dropped around 30.
Sendek didn’t express concern.
“That’s when we had three freshman on the court,” he said. “We weren’t coaching the score and I wanted to let those guys (McKissic, Goodman and Jacobsen) know we needed to play better so we substituted momentarily, got them refocused and back in the game.”
The three bench players with double-digit minutes — freshman guard Tra Holder, junior forward Willie Atwood and senior guard Bo Barnes — combined for just 10 points.
As the freshmen gain more experience, they’ll improve. As for now, the starting lineup was strong enough to beat Detroit on both sides of the ball.
“I was really proud of the way they started the game, set the tone early and came away with the victory today,” Sendek said. “It was really a great bounce-back given where we were mentally late Saturday night.”
ASU hosts Harvard (7-2) next on Dec. 28 at Wells Fargo Arena. Tip off is expected at 12 p.m.
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter
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