Less than 24 hours removed from senior guard Maurice Odum’s 36-point explosion to beat the University of Texas, Arizona State men’s basketball found itself looking at another formidable opponent in Washington State.
The Cougars played before ASU on Monday, Nov. 24, evening, beating Chaminade 90-85 in a miraculous comeback effort. Having won despite a 19-point deficit in the later stages of the first half, the Cougars proved to be a battle-tested opponent, and as the sun set off the coast of the Hawaiian islands, the night was young for these two fast-paced teams. As they say, history repeats itself, and WSU found itself on the wrong side of history on Tuesday, Nov. 25, night.
The Cougars came out red hot from deep, starting the game on a 9-0 run that included three 3-pointers, two from freshman guard Ace Glass, who was a major factor all game for WSU.
This quick deficit did not phase ASU however, as it stormed back on a 14-0 run to take a five point lead early.
The teams spent the majority of the first half trading threes, as Glass ended the half with four threes on only five attempts.
The Sun Devils entered the second half facing a six-point deficit, but it felt like their energy had stalled just a little bit, and with WSU knocking down shot after shot, the Cougars opened up an 11-point lead quickly thanks to buckets from sophomore guard Tomas Thrastarson and junior forward ND Okafor.
Yet, with 15:40 left to go in the game, senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson threw down an emphatic right-handed slam to cut the Cougars' lead to nine, which sent the ASU faithful in attendance into a frenzy. This newfound energy from not only the crowd but the Sun Devils as a whole propelled them to tie the game at 65 on a run that took just over three minutes.
The remainder of the game saw Odum and junior guard Bryce Ford trade clutch buckets, as they’d end up combining for 44 of ASU’s 100 points.
Odum only took nine shots, a significant change from his 21 attempts the night before, but made six and all nine free throws. His presence, not only shooting, but also handling and running the offense, was the key for the Sun Devils, as they tried to run away and hide with a slim lead.
While WSU kept the game close, its never-ending barrage of threes slowly came to an end. The Cougars shot 66.7% from behind the arc in the game's first 30 minutes, making it look like it was a contest they were just destined to win.
“You could be locked in the gym by yourself,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said postgame, “and not make 14 out of 26 threes.”
However, in the final 10 minutes, WSU’s faucet slowly turned off, as it only made 4 of 11 attempts, two of them coming with less than 90 seconds left to keep the game within striking distance.
Glass finished with 40 points on 9/14 shooting and 16/18 from the free-throw line, a standout game for the freshman.
The Sun Devils proved in this game that strength is in numbers, as they had four players in double figures.
The game concluded 100-94, as Odum sank two free throws with 1.1 seconds left to put ASU over the century mark and effectively end WSU’s chances at a tournament win.
The surging Sun Devils now take their 6-1 record into a clash with USC at 12:30 p.m. MST, hoping to take home some tropical hardware in the tournament's championship game.
In what has been an inspiring start to the season for a team that was picked to finish last in the Big 12, a win on Wednesday, Nov. 26, might just put a program that was just recently searching for any direction back on the map.