Following a 73-86 loss to Oklahoma State on Feb. 9, ASU men’s basketball continues to plummet down the Big 12 rankings. The season is rapidly unraveling for the Sun Devils and their offensive woes continue to show.
ASU was down redshirt senior guard Adam Miller and senior guard BJ Freeman due to suspensions, and freshman forward Jayden Quaintance left nine minutes in after injuring his ankle. However, the Sun Devils struggled with the same issues they've had all year, namely on the offensive end of the court.
Oklahoma State outscored ASU in the paint 32-16, turned 12 turnovers into 17 points and outrebounded the short-handed Sun Devils 46-34, furthering a season-long pattern.
ASU averages the third-most turnovers per game in the Big 12 at 13.3, which has led to 15.8 points by the opposition. Many of these giveaways can be attributed to attempting dangerous passes up the court or trying to drive through traffic with a loose handle.
The Sun Devils have been playing an offense that frequently devolves into isolations or post-ups, adding to their struggles. The Sun Devils shoot just 39.3% from the field in the half-court, which ranks in the 27th percentile compared to all other Division-I schools, and 33.1% from distance.
However, when the ball moves, ASU consistently creates good opportunities. Its shooting percentage goes up to a stellar 62.2% in transition, ranking in the 90th percentile, and its three-point accuracy shoots up to 53%.
After the 71-70 loss to Kansas State on Feb. 4, head coach Bobby Hurley said he charted the "unguarded threes" ASU took in the first half of that contest.
"I wrote down what our percentages were in the first half on unguarded threes, so we were 5 of 19 from shooting the three with barely anyone near (us)," Hurley said in a post-game press conference. "We know there were a lot of points we left out on the board."
In fact, ASU has mostly improved on their poor outside shooting numbers from a year ago, making 8.9 threes per game at a 35.3% clip compared to 6.7 threes per game at a 30% rate last season.
It has been the inability to finish on the inside that has really hampered the Sun Devils, shooting a meager 59.2% at the rim. The two bigs, Quaintance and junior center Shawn Phillips Jr., have been the only players to shoot above the national average.
Exacerbating the issue is ASU’s lack of offensive rebounding. The Sun Devils are tied for 280th in the nation with an offensive rebounding percentage of 24.2%. Of the 16 teams in the Big 12, only West Virginia has a lower mark.
Roster personnel has contributed to the team's offensive struggles. Senior guard Alston Mason is an experienced campaigner and the team’s best playmaker, but also averages 35.8 minutes. Miller, Freeman, senior forward Basheer Jihad and freshman guard Joson Sanon all have a piece of the scoring role. However, none consistently create the same amount of offensive opportunities as Mason.
"I felt like we started the second half off a little better rebounding," Miller said after the 81-72 Arizona defeat. "Basheer was down there getting some boards, and then our big started to challenge some shots, as their guards were getting downhill and their bigs were ducking in so it started to get challenging."
Sanon has struggled to garner points since returning from injury. After Sanon’s 5-20 shooting performance against Oklahoma State, Hurley told The Arizona Republic that "no shot was a bad shot" from Sanon.
The combination of these issues has contributed to ASU fumbling a multitude of close games, a trend that has hurt them with only eight more regular season games left.
"We started off really well today and then in between, we just kind of fell apart as a team," Mason said after the one-point loss to Kansas State on Feb. 4. "When you're in the Big 12, you can't do that at any moment of the game."
Edited by Katrina Michalak, Sophia Ramirez and Natalia Jarrett.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham is a sophomore studying sports journalism with a minor in business. This is his fourth semester with The State Press.
