The Arizona State Sun Devils traveled to San Diego to take on the San Diego State Aztecs on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, ASU traveled to New York City for the Jimmy V classic at Madison square Garden, Purdue blew them out.
The Aztecs and the Sun Devils are similar teams and are in the same pivotal positions in their seasons.
In the post-game press conference after their loss to Purdue ASU head coach Bobby Hurley did all he could to give his team a spark.
"Right now we’re a soft team we don’t have any backbone," Hurley said.
The Aztecs were coming off of two straight losses, the first time they have lost back-to-back in 126 games. They are a tall and long team with a physical defense that anchors their game.
The Sun Devils are a talented team on the perimeter who can score the ball from deep. Their weakness comes down low where they lack size.
The Aztecs have tons of height and can score the ball in the paint with authority. Their weakness comes on the outside where they cant seem to find any offense.
Both teams are hot and cold.
The deciding factor in this game was going to be who could have the least worse night when it comes to their weaknesses.
In the first half, the Aztecs, out played the Sun Devils.
San Diego came out with a vengeance, scoring in the paint three possessions in a row while managing to keep the Sun Devils scoreless on the other end.
SDSU made all of their shots from the free-throw line and shot 46 percent from the field. The Aztecs junior guard Trey Kell was the only player on either tem in double figures with 10 points.
The Sun Devils once again had no offensive rhythm and looked lost.
However in the second half, it seemed that Hurley’s squad couldn’t miss a shot.
The Sun Devils used their sharp outside shooting to their advantage- at one point shooting 67-percent from beyond the arc.
ASU found their offensive rhythm and the Aztecs lost theirs, it wasn’t from shockingly good ASU defense, shots for the Aztecs just weren’t falling.
The Aztecs shot 29 percent from the field and 30 percent from deep in the second half.
Historically the Aztecs are not a strong offensive team, they rely on free throws to be the different maker for them.
Coming in to the game, fouls were a concern for the Sun Devils. It would be easy for ASU to give away a lot of fouls trying to make up for their lack of size.
However, what SDSU hoped would happen didn’t. Hurley did an excellent job of rotating his players to prevent foul trouble.
The Aztecs exposed the Sun Devils weak spots in the first half, ASU exposed SDSU in the second half.
As simple as it may sound- the game came down to shot making. Both teams are streaky; whoever came out on top was going to be the team who found their stroke and gained momentum in the first five minutes of the second half.
It was ASU, who won 74-63.