Redshirt sophomore forward Romello White plays a small, but essential role on the ASU men's basketball team. White primarily crashes the offensive glass for put-backs and plays defense that doesn't show up on the box score.
White resides in the paint, scoring his points off dump passes on drives and put-backs off of offensive rebounds. The easy baskets he attempts are responsible for him averaging about 60 percent shooting from the field on nearly six attempts per game, the fourth best mark in the Pac-12.
White is especially effective against zone defenses, knowing exactly where to slide and when.
Here, White waits for the ball to enter the middle of the zone. He knows the man who is guarding him is now the last line of defense. He sinks to the block to open up the passing lane, receives a pass from redshirt senior forward Zylan Cheatham and lays it in.
White also knows how to move within a zone to open lanes for himself. Here, he moves to the opposite side once the ball was passed toward him. Once the ball entered the middle of the zone, he immediately seals the man on the weak side, giving him wide-open space to the rim.
Because of this, he is uncontested on the offensive glass. He collects the offensive rebound and puts it back in.
This type of awareness puts White in position to grab a number of offensive rebounds. He averages 2.4 offensive rebounds per game, tied for the fifth-best mark in the Pac-12.
White also possesses solid back-to-basket skills on offense. Simple drop-steps like these generate points for him as well when he's called upon to score.
Coach Bobby Hurley asks his big men to hedge high on ball screens on defense, and White executes this well.
White displays good effort nearly every time he does this. Here, even though the pass gets through to his man, he makes sure his man is not able to get a shot up and forces a turnover.
White also makes consistent efforts to deny his matchup the ball if that is where the opposing offense wants to go. Here, he fronts his man every time an entry pass could be made to his man, essentially taking one player away from the opposing offense.
After the ball is swung around, he then provides great help to contest a drive and force a miss.
White's primary concern with his play on the team is the energy he brings to the game.
"Just try to be a good teammate by me playing as hard as I can," White said. "Just try to keep going hard for my teammates and for the team."
But White also believes getting him going on offense early in games can help his team perform to its greatest ability.
"When I get started early, I feel it opens up the floor for everybody else," White said. "They're trying to focus on me, then we kick out. We got driving lanes."
Reach the reporter at jhorst2@asu.edu and follow @HorseySeven on Twitter.
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Jeffrey Horst is the digital editor-in-chief of The State Press. He previously served as the publication's sports editor and worked at Cronkite News and ArizonaSports.com.
