Coming into this game I had plenty of reasons to worry. This whole thing screamed “trap game” to me from the jump. On the surface, it seems like Arizona State isn’t a very good basketball team: they’re 1–4 in Big 12 play, 10–8 overall, and they don’t have any sure fire NBA players on the roster. To add a little context to their season though, 3 of their 4 Big 12 losses have come to top 15 opponents, their non-con schedule is riddled with power conference schools (including multiple losses in the single digits), and they have 3 players on their team who average roughly 15 PPG.
NOT EVEN MENTIONING the fact that they are one of the largest teams in the country. They have an average height of 6’7″ which is good for the 12th largest team in the country. They have 5 players who are 6’10” or taller and we… have one… in theory. We have our work cut out for us, and I think that Harlan Obioha will have to step up for us to have a real chance.
The first half of this game was a story that I’ve told on here multiple times; if Honor Huff isn’t going, our offense looks ROUGH. There were moments where it didn’t look that way, of course. Treysen Eaglestaff finished the half with 14 points after going on a bit of a solo run, and there were other players who chipped in, but it never really felt like we were playing that well on offense. If anything, the only reason that we had a close game was due to our defensive effort. We ended the half down 37–35 where we slowed the Arizona State offense down to a crawl. They went on a scoreless streak of around three minutes and we started to chip away at the lead, capped off with a buzzer beating 3 from Honor Huff before they headed to the locker room.
If you looked at the box score stats you would think that this was a pretty decent game for us: 46% from 3, 10 assists, only 5 turnovers, and we aren’t getting decimated in the rebounding department. You have to believe me when I tell you this though, it never felt like we were close in this first half, and that has me very concerned for the rest of the game. I need Eaglestaff to keep up the production, I need Honor Huff to get open looks so he can light it up, and I need Obioha to keep their team feeling small. Will that happen? Time will tell.
There was a noticeable energy shift when we started the second half. I’m not sure what Coach Hodge said in the “pep talk” portion, but I do know that he emphasized a need to be more physical in the game plan portion. Chance Moore led that charge as he was WAY more aggressive than he was in the first half. He got into the lane at will and a lot of his drives resulted in free throws. Now, he’s still not a great free throw shooter, but I’ll take the win where I can get them. I wish that we could have had this aggression all game (all year, really) but I will not look a gift horse in the mouth.
Another unlikely hero this game is a guy who I haven’t talked about since the first couple of games: Jasper Floyd. Jasper hasn’t played poorly this year, he just hasn’t play well enough to warrant talking about. He scores 7 or 8 points, grabs a couple of rebounds, and slings a couple of dimes a game, but for the most part his season has been unremarkable. This game, though? Floyd came up huge when we needed him. There were multiple stretches where our offense looked stagnant, and where Jasper would usually defer to let someone else get us going, he took it upon himself to deliver the offense and deliver he did.
The first half scared me a bit, and there were certainly some scares in the second half, but we walked away with the win. Winning on the road is never easy and I’m happy to say that we escaped the trap game without a scratch. As is the nature of the Big 12, we have basically zero chance to celebrate because we have to play Arizona on Saturday and they are the #1 ranked team in the country. Lucky us, right?
Great win for the good guys, and without further ado… The Roundball Big 3 of the Game:
Treysen Eaglestaff — 23 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals
Brenen Lorient — 15 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists
Jasper Floyd — 12 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals
I’m a bit nervous about Saturday. I’m sure I don’t have to remind you how it went for us the last time we faced a top 5 team, but someone has to beat this team, so why not us? I’m going to head to bed and celebrate this win. I love you, Pops. I miss you. I’ll see you soon.
Round The Game 
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