ASU Basketball: Winning-streak extended to nine, Sun Devils score 24 points off turnovers vs. San Diego

It was a good night to be a Sun Devil watching ASU (11-1, 2-0 Pac-12) take care of business against San Diego (6-6) 91-67 Sunday night in Tempe.

How about nine straight wins? How about these Sun Devils? This team is slowly but surely grabbing the attention of the top dogs in college basketball, and it will take a lot to hold them off the rankings this week.

The run continued Sunday night at Desert Financial Arena. It wasn’t a runaway for the majority of the game, but it never felt as close as it was towards the end of the first half. There was an 18-2 run that lasted for five minutes in the second half that really put the game to bed, but the Sun Devils refused to let the “Sunday scaries” linger against San Diego.

The ASU defense put immense stress on USD, forcing turnovers and capitalizing on those mistakes, turning them into points which played a big difference in this game. Thanks in large part to Frankie Collins’ four steals and Warren Washington’s five blocks, the Sun Devils scored 24 points on turnovers alone.

Sunday was a good night for the stat sheet, too. For the first time since 2019 against Central Connecticut State, all five starters were in double digits in scoring, including two double-doubles by Devan Cambridge (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Frankie Collins (12 points, 11 assists). Desmond Cambridge was lighting up the field with his casual 23 points on 57% from the field, including five threes, leading the team from deep.

The offense was flowing from start to finish, and it was just a matter of when that toughness and grit we’ve seen all season long was going to kick in. There were lob passes, pocket passes, aggressive dunks, step-back threes – this game had everything a complete team effort asks for.

The rebounding on both ends of the floor has been impressive in the first month of the season, as the Sun Devils won the battle on the glass for the fourth straight time and have done so in over half their games this year. Warren Washington is becoming a legitimate inside threat for this team and Devan Cambridge has a nose for the ball with seven offensive rebounds on the night.

ASU has one more matchup at San Francisco before what is shaping up to be a New Year’s Eve battle-for-the-ages against Arizona. If you’re around for the holidays in Tempe, I highly recommend getting tickets for Dec. 31 at Desert Financial Arena.

Until then, we could see the Sun Devils in the Top-25 before its contest against the Dons of San Francisco.