Junior guard Gerry Blakes stands formidably against the USC offense on Feb. 22, 2015, at the Wells Fargo Arena. The strong defense by Blakes and the entire Sun Devil team along with keen with a offense would lead the Sun Devils to a 64-59 victory over the Trojans. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)ASU men's basketball coach Herb Sendek said before Sunday's game to "beware of the wounded tiger" because of its opponent's loss of three players to suspension. As it turned out, his team had to beware and battle in a game that was closer than many anticipated.
The Sun Devils (15-12, 7-7 Pac-12) beat USC 64-59 Sunday night at Wells Fargo Arena. The win is the seventh in ASU's past 10 games after starting Pac-12 play 0-4.
The Trojans (10-17, 2-13 Pac-12) were without sophomore starting guard Katin Reinhardt, their third leading scorer, and two bench players for the game after they were sent home for a violation of team rules.
In the first half, neither team could truly gain an advantage and neither team could get much going on the offensive end.
Junior guard Gerry Blakes was the lone Sun Devil to make more than one field goal in the first half, scoring 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting, including two 3-pointers.
The Trojans same out strong in the second half and held a lead as large as 10 points with just under 10 minutes left in the game.
One of the main reasons for the Trojans' lead was sophomore guard Khalil Dukes. In his 72 total minutes leading up to Sunday, Dukes scored 18 points. Against the Sun Devils, Dukes matched that total.
USC coach Andy Enfield said that he has gotten dramatically better since the start of the season, but the rest of the team has as well.
“He played well," Enfield said. "So I’m happy with his performance, but it’s the same with everyone else on the team. You have to keep getting better. I’m very proud of this team and the effort we’re giving in practice. They’ve improved as a team dramatically since the beginning of the season."
At that point, senior forward Jon Gilling said that something changed within the team.
Senior Jonathan Gilling scores a Sun Devil 3-pointer to retake the lead with 42 seconds left on the clock on Feb. 22, 2015, at the Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils would win the game 64-59 over the USC Trojans. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)"We just looked each other in the eyes and said 'We can't be down 10 with 10 minutes to go,'" Gilling said. "The look in our eyes changed and then we got some big stops and big rebounds from (junior forward) E(ric Jacobsen) and (sophomore forward) Savon (Goodman), like they have been doing all season."
From that moment on ASU controlled the game and kept whittling down USC's lead.
The Sun Devils did not allow USC to score for a near-5 minute period to close out the game, making a comeback a true possibility.
ASU ramped up its play in the final stretch and was finally able to tie the game on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Tra Holder with over a minute remaining.
With the shot clock winding down, Gilling, who struggled for most of the night, nailed a 3-pointer to give the Sun Devils a three point lead. Gilling said that it's easy for him to move on after misses and that allowed him to be calm enough to hit the game-winner.
"That's what they always say, right," Gilling said. "When you're a shooter, the only shot that counts is the next one."
Sendek noted Gilling's recent struggles, but put an emphasis on what has made him such an asset for ASU.
"Obviously he hasn't been shooting like he's capable of," Sendek said. "But when that shot went in to put us ahead by three, it reminded all of us why, throughout his career, we've nicknamed him the Danish Dagger."
The Sun Devils have been steadily improving as the year has gone on and that has shown in their record.
ASU closed the game on a 14-3 run, with the only points for USC coming on a goaltend by Goodman with 1.5 seconds remaining.
Winning seven out of their last 10 games, the Sun Devils seem to have found a formula at the right time.
"We started 0-4, like you guys probably all know and now we're 7-7, so you can do the math," Gilling said. "We're getting better and you can feel that at practice and in the games. Seven out of 10 is 70 percent of your wins, right?"
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or on Twitter @Tonis_The_Tiger.
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