Arizona State Basketball: Lessons for Sun Devils after losing to Villanova
Their depth is questionable
An important lesson Coach Bobby Hurley should take away from the 2K Empire Classic Championship game is he does not play enough guys to maintain their preferred tempo for two games in two days. The NCAA Tournament at any time will allow for at least a day rest in between games, but any minutes in March are harder than the equal amount of minutes in November.
During the two-game 2K Empire Classic, Remy Martin played 37 minutes in each game, with his second game being considerably worse. Verge Jr averaged 27.5 minutes and Christopher averaged 29.5 over the two games. Verge Jr and Christopher had the better of their two games versus Villanova, yet it was not enough without an effective Martin.
Coach Hurley only has one guard coming off the bench with Holland Woods, who provided just three points in his 19 minutes Thursday night. The Sun Devils did not begin to apply full-court pressure until there was 11:46 left in the game and being down 56-46.
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They were unable to garner any momentum off it as Villanova was able to push it quick and force the Sun Devils to expend even more energy.