Arizona State Basketball: 3 takeaways from loss to San Diego State Aztecs

Jalen Graham needed more post touches early on in possessions.

Now don’t get me wrong, Alonzo Verge Jr. is certainly capable of carrying Arizona State offensively, but when the ball sticks in his hands for long periods of time, The Sun Devils aren’t as hard to defend. On Thursday, I believe that Arizona State would have gotten more out of each offensive possession, if they delivered the ball into Jalen Graham in the low post, with 15 or more seconds left on the shot clock more often.

The 6’9″ sophomore forward netted 10 points against San Diego State and was fairly effective when he had more time to operate down low (shot 4/8 from the field). Graham’s ability to keep his defenders on his backside, and make himself available to his teammates, allowed him to score around the rim when he did receive the ball in a timely fashion.

When Graham wasn’t able to convert on the left or right block, it was mainly due to the fact that he received the ball with less than 10 seconds remaining on the shot clock, and didn’t have enough time to feel out his defenders and make a productive post-move.

If the Sun Devils had committed to playing inside out basketball at the beginning of every possession, Arizona State’s guards would have been able to take high-percentage shots all night long, because Graham certainly would have drawn a few double teams, with plenty of time remaining on the shot clock (and made the correct reads).

San Diego State wanted Arizona State’s guards to play with the ball out on the perimeter for a while, before feeding the ball into Graham, because they knew that it would plague their offense. So essentially, the Sun Devils played right in the Aztecs’ hands, which is one of the reasons why struggled so much offensively.

Let me put it like this, if a guy like Alonzo Verge Jr. is scoring the basketball at a high clip, and can’t seem to miss many shots, I won’t have a problem with the ball staying out on the perimeter longer. However, if it is clear that he is not getting the clean looks that he is looking for, and can’t get into a rhythm, the offensive gameplan needs to be adjusted.

Fortunately for Arizona State, there is a lesson to be learned in every loss, and I believe that Thursday’s loss to a very skilled San Diego State team, will help the Sun Devils immensely as they move closer to the start of Pac-12 play.