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The Nebraska-Omaha Mavericks (3-5) gave the Arizona State Sun Devils (6-0) all sorts of fits for the first half. The Sun Devils struggled to keep senior guard Zach Jackson and sophomore forward Matt Pile in check. For much of the first 18 minutes of the game the Omaha duo kept their them neck-and-neck with the Sun Devils.
They could only hang on for so long before Arizona State started to break away. While those two dominated the Mavericks’ scoring, ASU spread more of the wealth in their 89-71 win on Wednesday.
ASU’s leading scorers were freshmen guard Luguentz Dort and forward Taeshon Cherry with 19 points apiece, sophomore forward Kimani Lawrence closely trailed them scoring 18 on the night. After battling back-and-forth in the first half, the Sun Devils started to make a run into halftime to go up 50-40. The second half was much more of a convincing performance as the Sun Devils outscored the Mavericks 39-31
Rebounds have been a topic of discussion with ASU becoming a very good team hitting the boards. The Sun Devils once again dominated the glass, grabbing 41 rebounds compared to Omaha’s 27.
Sophomore guard Remy Martin, redshirt junior guard Rob Edwards and redshirt junior forward Mickey Mitchell all missed the game due to injury. Edwards has missed five straight games with a back injury, but looks to be returning soon. Martin and Mitchell have battled injuries throughout the season, and head coach Bobby Hurley seemed to try to give them a rest.
With the injuries it tested the Sun Devils’ depth as a whole. Cherry made his first start of his career with Martin being absence from the starting lineup. Sophomore forward Vitaliy Shibel and freshman guard Elias Valtonen got a handful a minutes.
The Sun Devils will host Texas Southern, who just upset Oregon a few days ago, on Saturday with tipoff at 7:30 p.m. local time. The game can be viewed on Pac-12 Networks.