The Weekend Aftermath

The Sun Devils came out firing early against the Huskies on Saturday, getting out to an early lead. Then, Deja Vu.  The Devils offense sputtered while the defense was exploited by another sharp-shooting guard.  Justin Dentmon shot 4-7 from behind the arc, while on his way to 30 points.  Isiah Thomas (no, not that Isiah Thomas) contributed with 25 of his own points, 10 of which were from the charity stripe.  Charity, seems to be what the Devils were all about this week.

For the Devils, it was the same old story.  Pendergraph had a great game with 21 points and 15 boards.  He did miss 2 pretty easy dunks.  When the team is slumping, don't be afraid to shoot the layup.  Points are hard to come by these days.  Harden was relatively ineffective the first half and ended up with 15 points.  He was 0-4 from 3-pt range.

Where oh where has Ty Abbott gone?  This guy can't make a shot.

Glasser's inconsistency running the "offense" is starting to really hurt the team.  He made several bad passes throughout the game while also taking some questionable shots.   

Kuksiks has gone cold.  Without him contributing from the outside, the Devils offense is stagnant.  Harden gets double or triple teamed because other teams aren't afraid of any of our role players. 

Herb seemed to be a bit stubborn yesterday.  It seems that  teams have figured out how to beat us.  If a team can hit wide-open 3-pt shots(which most can) then they will win.  In my opinion Herb needs to switch up his D to man to man or box and 1.  Get a defender in  their shooters face and make them beat us from inside.  We can't trade 2 points for 3 points all game and expect to win. 

All in all it was a very frustrating weekend of basketball for ASU, and a step back in the progress we had made.  Hopefully a trip to Corvalis and Eugene can cure the cold shooting of the Devils.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday everyone... GO STEELERS!

Here's a small writeup from ESPN's Andy Katz:

• Arizona State is in serious trouble. The Sun Devils got swept by the Washington schools and didn't look good in either game. The Sun Devils are 5-4, 16-5 overall and visit Oregon State next week. Yes, going to Oregon State is suddenly a tough gig. The Beavers' revival is coinciding with a complete collapse by the rival Ducks. OSU beat Oregon in the "Civil War" game Saturday. That means the 2007-08 Pac-10 winless Beavs are now 4-5 and tied with Arizona and Wazzu for sixth in the conference.

• Arizona is very much alive. The Wildcats still have quality wins over Kansas and Gonzaga to shout about from the nonconference slate, and sweeping the Washington schools puts them back in play at 4-5 (14-8 overall), with a trip to the Oregon schools pending.