Arizona State Basketball: 2019-20 keys to beat Georgia in Tempe
By John Vaccaro
Defend the Paint
We saw against San Francisco that Arizona State can slow down teams that shoot it well from 3 to get a win. What we haven’t seen out of them yet is if they are able to stop a team that focuses their offense on attacking inside the 3-point line. They weren’t able to do it against Colorado, but they were missing Romello White and Taeshon Cherry for that game, so it isn’t the best representation of what they can do defensively. We’ll get a very clear picture against Georgia.
Coming into this game, Georgia is 9th in the country in 2-point field goal percentage, shooting 57.2 %, and they are getting themselves to the free throw line 24.7 times per game, which is the 10th most in the country. Overall, a little under 75% percent of their scoring comes from 2 point baskets and free throws.
Arizona State has been above average at making life difficult for opponents trying to score from 2, allowing just a 46.2% conversion rate, which is good for 96th in the country. However, they have not been as good preventing free throws. They were allowing 16.8 per game before the game against Prairie View A&M, which is right around average nationally (120th). Against Prairie View, they gave up an atrocious 33 free throws.
Against Georgia, ASU will need to be better in both of these areas if they are going to keep up with the nation’s second highest-scoring offense. If it means giving up a few open looks from 3, then that will be something ASU just needs to live with. If they don’t stop Georgia from dominating inside, then the offense is going to need to light it up to keep ASU in the game.