ASU men's basketball team has been bitten by slow starts against Pac-12 opponents, leading to a 1-6 in-conference record.
The Sun Devils have had several close finishes, but haven't yet closed a close game.
Simply put, starting slow is ASU's kryptonite.
ASU head coach Bobby Hurley shared his game plan coming into the second half of the conference schedule.
"We want to avoid droughts and putting ourselves in a deficit early in games," he said.
"Deficit" wasn't in the Sun Devils' vocabulary on Thursday night as they only trailed for a mere 40 seconds.
ASU came out firing on its way to a win over Oregon State University, jumping to an early 20-5 lead only three minutes into the game.
"It's a good feeling seeing the team play that way," Hurley said.
The Sun Devils continued adding to the margin. At one point in the first half, they held a 30-9 lead. By the end, they led 36-17.
Senior forward Willie Atwood said, spoke to his coach's philosophy heading into tonight's game.
"Coach (Hurley) said he wants to do something different," Atwood said. "He wants us to start our practice with great energy and translate it over to the game."
The 36-17 lead was the team's largest halftime lead since before conference play began.
After building such a large lead in the first half, the question now became whether or not ASU could play with the same level of intensity throughout the rest of the game.
It didn't take long for ASU to answer that question.
Five of the first seven baskets scored in the second half came courtesy of Sun Devil players.
Senior guard Gerry Blakes played arguably his best offensive game of the season, registering 16 points, five rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes of play.
Blakes was quick to praise his teammates after the important win.
"It was a team effort tonight," he said.
Blakes was one of five Sun Devil players to score double digits while two other Sun Devils scored eight points. ASU won 86-68.
Blakes ushered what teammate Willie Atwood spoke of earlier in the press conference.
"(Hurley) emphasizes starting the game the right way," Blakes said. That's what led us to this victory, starting off the right way."
Reach the reporter at Braxton.Fox@asu.edu or follow @braxton_fox_II on Twitter.
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