Arizona State Basketball: 3 takeaways from home upset over No. 14 Oregon
By John Vaccaro
ASU can survive an off night from Remy Martin
This has been one of my biggest concerns throughout PAC-12 play. Remy Martin has obviously been absolutely incredible en route to leading the conference in scoring. His strong play has been a massive part of ASU’s success in conference play this season, but we hadn’t yet seen the Sun Devils get a win in a game where they couldn’t lean on Martin whenever they needed a big bucket. We found out on Thursday night that the Sun Devils absolutely can beat high-level opposition even when Martin doesn’t have his best game.
Martin has rarely been any less than his absolute best during the PAC-12 season. He has scored at least 20 points in more games than he has failed to during conference play and has carried the Sun Devils through quite a few games. However, on Thursday night, he just wasn’t able to get going. He was held to 11 points on 3-8 from the field and 2-7 from 3, but his teammates stepped up for him on the rare occasion that he needed it.
In the NCAA tournament, there are going to be plenty of teams who are prepared to take away their opponents’ best players (or elbow them multiple times in the face) and make their supporting casts beat them. Rob Edwards and Alonzo Verge showing that they can carry the load when Martin is the focal point of the opposing defense should give ASU fans hope that their team is going to be able to score in the tournament regardless of who they are facing.
It is especially important that Edwards was able to play so well in this game. His scoring has been a major factor in ASU’s ability to win games this season, but he has struggled to consistently score or have big games like this. If this game is the turning point for him to become another reliable option for the Sun Devils, then they will be trouble for any defense, even when Martin scores eight fewer points than his season average.
Throw in Romello White in the post and this team is finally looking like a team that can win games without getting 20 from Martin, something they couldn’t do against strong competition earlier in the season.
That makes them dangerous for any opponent going forward.