Arizona State Basketball: 3 takeaways from loss to San Diego State Aztecs
The 24th ranked San Diego State Aztecs took down 23rd ranked Arizona State Basketball 80-68 on Thursday.
San Diego State showed up to Desert Financial Arena ready to play on Thursday, as they jumped on Arizona State Basketball right away, and possessed an early 14-2 lead over the Sun Devils with 14:47 remaining in the first half. After Kimani Lawrence and Alonzo Verge Jr. each drilled a three-pointer, the Sun Devils trailed the Aztecs by just six points and managed to settle into the contest.
After the Aztecs went up by seven with 11:07 left in the first half (thanks to Matt Mitchell’s two free throws), the Sun Devils were able to cook up a mini 9-4 run, that helped them close the gap a little bit (they went from trailing 18-11 to trailing 22-20). Arizona State received their first lead of the half when Remy Martin knocked down a triple, which gave the Sun Devils a 26-25 lead with 5:14 left in the opening half.
Unfortunately for Arizona State, they were not able to hold on to that lead for very long, as the Aztecs scored three quick points to jump back in front of the Sun Devils 28-26 with 4:19 to play. Just 26 seconds later, Alonzo Verge Jr. connected a three-pointer to give the Sun Devils a 29-28 advantage. Once again though, the Aztecs responded right away, as Terrell Gomez connected on a three-pointer of his own, to help give San Diego State the upper hand.
Remy Martin gave Arizona State their final lead of the half with 2:17 left to play when he drilled another three-pointer. After a Jordan Schakel and Nathan Mensah layup, San Diego State regained the lead for good in the first half and clung to a 35-33 advantage going into halftime.
Despite not having the best first half, Arizona State was ready to get back to work early in half #2, and less than three minutes into the second half, the Sun Devils found themselves back in front of the Aztecs (after Alonzo Verge Jr. knocked down a three-pointer to put the Sun Devils up 39-37). However, after Josh Christopher gave the Sun Devils their last lead of the second half (after making two free throws) Arizona State began to unravel.
By the 11:23 mark, San Diego State’s offense began to take off, which resulted in them running away with the contest (by building a 12-point lead). The Aztecs were practically able to put the game to rest by the 2:35 mark, by obtaining a comfortable 19-point lead over the Sun Devils. Arizona State scored a few points at the end to help make the loss respectable, but ultimately, San Diego State was too much for the Sun Devils, as they knocked them off 80-68 on Thursday.
Arizona State competed well with San Diego State for a while, but when the Aztecs began to heat up offensively, the Sun Devils weren’t able to respond when it really mattered. The Sun Devils certainly could have used Marcus Bagley (who missed Thursday’s game due to a leg injury), but Arizona State cannot use Bagley’s absence as an excuse for their defeat.
In this article, I want to delve into my three main takeaways from Arizona State’s disappointing 80-68 loss to San Diego State.