Junior guard Peace Amukamara is greeted by her teammates as she returns to the bench during Friday's game. The Sun Devils would go on to win the game 45-42 over the Utes. on Feb. 27, 2015 at the Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)
As 11th seed Arkansas-Little Rock maintained its edge over sixth seed Texas A&M on Monday, ASU was presented with a new challenge.
While the team focuses on preparing for the game immediately ahead in the schedule, the NCAA tournament forces teams to look ahead and get a feel for potential future matchups. While ASU head coach Charli Turner Thorne called UALR a good team least week, her mannerisms made it seem like she expected the No. 21 Aggies to win.
UALR finished 28-4 won the SBC championship. Despite UALR’s coach Joe Foley saying he knew his team could win after the game against Texas A&M and ASU coach Turner Thorne saying the game could go either way, the Trojans' victory was an upset.
Now, ASU has one day to perfect the preliminary preparations it have made for UALR. During Sunday’s press conference, Turner Thorne said ASU needed to improve on yesterday’s performance.
“We think we can rebound better; we think we can take care of the ball better, can play better position defense without fouling,” she said.
One thing ASU will look to take advantage of is the Trojans' lack of depth. Four players average at least 30 minutes per game, and only three players on the team score double-digit points.
One of these is senior guard Taylor Gault. She’s been a go-to player all year; averaging 15.8 points per game, Turner Thorne said she was like a more athletic Kelsey Plum, Washington’s sophomore guard who ended the season seventh in the NCAA in points per game.
Gault scored 25 points and going 5-of-7 from deep to lead UALR over Texas A&M.
“The fact that she can just raise up above you and hit a pull-up shot consistently is a really impressive thing,” Turner Thorne said.
While Gault leads the team, the difference may come down to senior forward Kiera Clark. She has shown flashes of offensive superiority, but she struggles on the defensive end.
“That’s always been the drawback of Kiera, the defensive aspect of it,” Foley said during Sunday’s press conference. “But offensively, when we get her on the floor offensively, we become a much harder team to guard.”
On Saturday, she scored 22 points and pulled down 12 boards.
Senior guard Promise Amukamara will guard Gault for the majority of the game and an array of forwards will take on Clark. ASU will continue its mantra of “one-on-five” defense.
Foley said that his team doesn’t have to extend to the 3-point line to score.
“The good thing about our offense that a lot of people are starting to enjoy again, I think, is the mid-range,” he said. “We don’t have to rely on the 3-point or layups.”
He sounded concerned about the height ASU post players bring, particularly sophomore center Quinn Dornstauder. Foley said that by using screens, his team could create problems for the ASU bigs if they’re forced to stretch themselves out of the post.
Turner Thorne noticed the number of screens UALR set against Texas A&M.
“They were in motion about as well as any team I’ve watched this year,” she said during the press conference after ASU’s game against Ohio. “It was a thing of beauty.”
Junior guard Elisha Davis and sophomore forward Kelsey Moos pointed out that ASU has played against many teams with motion offense including Villanova, Utah and Ohio. It still presents a challenge, though, and Turner Thorne called UALR “the best motion team we will have played.”
ASU has become adept at keeping up with fast offenses, but pick-and-rolls could be an issue. Earlier in the year, Amukamara noted that defending screens was one of the tougher things for her defensively. After practice on March 15, redshirt junior Eliza Normen said guarding them comes down to being physical and running hard. The team needs toughness to keep up with the offense.
For the last two days, ASU players have spoken about the similarities in toughness between the two teams. On Saturday, redshirt junior Katie Hempen said this will be the difference.
“We have two tough teams playing each other, and it’s just who’s the toughest team,” she said. “Greatness resides in toughness and we’ll see who the winner is.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow @Logan_Newsman on Twitter.
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