For 20 minutes on Saturday afternoon, the ASU men’s basketball team played good offensive basketball.
It was the first 20 minutes of the game that was the problem.
The Sun Devils struggled mightily on offense in the first half, but climbed out of the giant hole to feverishly rally and force overtime at Wells Fargo Arena.
However, in the overtime period, it was defensive breakdowns that cost ASU.
UCLA (14-7, 6-3 Pac-10) connected for a trio of three pointers to start overtime putting ASU in a hole that this time they couldn’t battle back from, and the Sun Devils dropped their seventh straight Pac-10 contest, 73-72.
The loss was ASU’s fifth in a row and second in a row that was decided by two points or less.
Video by Andrew Boven.
“They say these kinds of games break even over time, but ultimately you have to make the plays to win the game on both ends of the floor,” ASU coach Herb Sendek said. “We made some really good plays, we just didn’t make enough of them to win tonight.”
After carrying all the momentum into the extra session, ASU (9-12, 1-8) left juniors Lazeric Jones, Malcolm Lee and Jerime Anderson open beyond the arc.
All three buried their shots to give UCLA a 70-63 lead.
“We gave up four threes, which they made three of them, to start overtime, where we just had defensive breakdowns,” Sendek said. “That really put us in a hole. From there we battled back and had a chance to win the game, but didn’t get over the hump. To start the overtime period defensively, we didn’t do what needed to be done.”
The Sun Devils battled back, but unlike the second half, they couldn’t get it any closer than three points until senior Rihards Kuksiks hit a three with just 0.6 seconds left to give the game a 73-72 final score.
The final possession might have been different if freshman Kyle Cain wasn’t called for offensive goaltending just one possession earlier, wiping out what appeared to be a layup by freshman Keala King.
“He didn’t mean to do it. It is bang, bang,” Sendek said. “He is going to the offensive glass. At the time it is bonecrushing, but when you step out of the emotion of the second, he’s a freshman going to the glass hard.”
It took a great offensive second half to force overtime, because ASU’s first half was one of its worst of the season.
The Sun Devils made just six field goals in the first half, shooting a putrid 20 percent from the floor. UCLA outrebounded ASU 24-14 in the opening half and held a 32-19 advantage at the break.
“Of those six baskets [in the first half], only one was off an assist,” Sendek said. “You don’t even have to practice an offense to present those kind of numbers.”
The second half was a 180 degree turn around offensively. ASU connected on its first seven shots, led by senior guard Jamelle McMillan, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half.
“I had to start playing. I had to be a threat,” McMillan, who was held scoreless against USC on Thursday, said. “I knocked the first one down and the second one felt pretty good. Just being aggressive and being the player I need to be for this basketball team in order for us to be successful.”
Contributing to the second half success was ASU’s ability to crash the glass. The Sun Devils outrebounded UCLA after halftime, grabbing 10 of their 16 offensive rebounds, resulting in 10 second chance points.
Sophomore Trent Lockett’s ability to crash the offensive glass is what sent the game to overtime. Trailing 61-58 with 23 seconds to go, freshman center Jordan Bachynski was fouled and sent to the line.
Bachynski made the first, but missed the second. Lockett beat his man on the block and was able to tip the ball up and in to tie the score at 61-61.
“I just tried to time it off of Jordan’s release,” Lockett said. “It came to a perfect spot and I put it back in.”
Senior Ty Abbott, ASU’s leading scorer, was hampered by foul trouble the whole night. He picked up two early fouls, but Sendek needed him on the floor with the offense stagnant.
The gamble backfired when Abbott picked up his third foul with 11:22 left in the half and had to spend the rest of the half on the bench. Abbott returned to start the second half, but picked his fourth in just over three minutes and had to sit for over six minutes.
He finished with just eight points.
“Obviously it really hamstrings us when he has that kind of immediate, continued foul trouble,” Sendek said. “I don’t know if he ever really got into the flow of the game.”
While Abbott never fouled out, McMillan did and had to watch the overtime period from the bench.
Lockett led the Sun Devils with 17 points and seven rebounds, while Kuksiks added 15 points and six rebounds.
UCLA got double-doubles from sophomores Reeves Nelson (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Tyler Honeycutt (12 points, 10 rebounds), but were led in scoring by Jones, who had a game high 18.
As a team battling to make the NCAA Tournament, UCLA avoided disaster by hanging on for the victory.
“It was really, really frustrating how we were making mistakes down the stretch, fouling when we had the lead, stopping the clock letting them shoot foul shots,” UCLA coach Ben Howland said. “We gave up two offensive rebounds [on] not getting a good enough block out. It cost us twice in the last two minutes of the game. You have to give them a lot of credit. They fought back.”
At the midpoint of the conference season, ASU certainly isn’t where it wants to be, but McMillan hopes his team can build on their second half performance.
“It is obviously encouraging that we have a team that can fight back and get back into the game and give ourselves a chance,” McMillan said. “At this point, the wins and the losses, it has been the same story and it has been the same story for the past month now. We have to find a way to make the plays late.”
Reach the reporter at andrew.gruman@asu.edu
