A 13-20 finish last year meant ASU men's basketball entered 2025-26 with few projecting them to make noise in a difficult Big 12 Conference. One game is certainly not a large sample size, but the Sun Devils shelved some of that pessimism on opening day during a commanding 81-64 win against Southern Utah.
For the most part, ASU played clear, hard-nosed basketball on both ends of the floor. They held Southern Utah to 37% shooting and a paltry 16% from long range, although head coach Bobby Hurley wasn’t pleased with the Thunderbirds' 44 points in the paint.
"We were not always up in ball screen like we need to be," Hurley said. "We were hugging our men off the ball too much, allowing big gaps to drive into."
Despite the head coach's displeasure with the defense, ASU's offense more than made up for the lack of rim protection with its unselfishness and ball movement. The Sun Devils had four players score in double-digits and shot an effective 49% from the field and 39% from three as a team.
The energy was apparent from the first tip, and the group's connectivity paid dividends throughout the game.
Senior guard Moe Odum ran the show with the ball in his hands, compiling nine points and setting up his teammates with eight assists. The Pepperdine transfer took advantage of the Thunderbirds' drop coverage, especially in the first half, stepping into pull-up jumpers or finding rollers over the top for uncontested finishes at the rim.
Freshman center Massamba Diop was the main recipient of Odum's numerous feeds inside, and even though he earned the start from Hurley in his first-ever college game, his performance simultaneously showed flashes and his inexperience. Diop's 14 points on 75% shooting from the field were second on the team, but he wasn’t able to provide much rim deterrence.
On the first possession of the second half, Diop was over-aggressive on a closeout, leading to a Southern Utah layup, and was immediately pulled by Hurley. But he finished with 27 minutes, a testament to his perceived potential by the coaching staff.
Behind Diop, graduate student Allen Mukeba made an instant impact with an efficient 11 points, a team-high six rebounds and four blocks. The forward was able to pressure the ball on the perimeter and moved his feet when challenged by the Thunderbirds' guards, swatting a number of shots in the process.
Mukeba wasn't the only spark off the bench, either. Senior guard Anthony "Pig" Johnson and sophomore guard Trevor Best stretched the lead with the second units, bringing nonstop hustle and pace to both sides of the floor. Johnson finished with a team-high 17 points on 6-9 shooting, but it was his ability to get out and run in transition that really propelled ASU's offense at times.
The Sun Devils had 24 fastbreak points and 35 points off the bench, a sign of the depth this retooled roster could possess.
"Next man up," Johnson said. "We got good people everywhere, not just the starters. All through the bench, everybody (is) good."
ASU didn’t take its foot off the accelerator in the second half, continuing to find open looks and limiting the Thunderbirds from distance. Reinforcing habits was a crucial talking point for Hurley, and he emphasized that with his actions.
In the second half, he pulled four players because they didn’t get back on defense two straight times. However, the group's collective positive attitude and off-court conduct led to Hurley saying he was able to coach them hard with a "free mind."
"If I wanted to sub someone out, I wasn't worried about the fallout, and that could be a number of things, but this group, they accepted it at times,” Hurley said.
Turning the ball over 14 times, giving up 16 offensive rebounds and a lack of a consistent defensive presence in the paint give ASU clear pathways for improvement, but one game in, the Sun Devils' outlook this season appears to look a little bit brighter.
Edited by Jack McCarthy and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham Valluri is a sports reporter at The State Press. He is a junior majoring in sports journalism with a business minor. He’s in his 5th semester with The State Press working previously as an opinion writer.
