Sun Devils Look for Semifinal Victory Over Washington
Halftime: ASU 38, UW 21
Devils are really looking good right now, running Washington out of the gym so far after their slow start. Devils close the half on a 33-10 run, which would have been more if Ty Abbott hadn't fouled Justin Dentmon while Dentmon was hitting a 3. Dentmon converted the 4-point play to conclude the scoring for the half.
The Devils did a spectacular job playing "rope-a-dope" with a very aggressive Huskies team. Neither Washington nor ASU could hit early on, but it would inevitably jynx the Huskies and motivate the Devils. Harden looked like the Pac-10 Player of the Year for sure and Abbott continues to be an incredibly key role player on both sides of the ball. Together, they're lighting up UW. Let's hope for more of the same in the 2nd half.
Ty Abbott has 12 points, giving him back-to-back double digit games for the first time since he scored 14 and 15 points against Idaho State and Central Connecticut State, respectively.
We'll be back with a new post for the Second Half, stay right here with us.
Fourth Media Timeout: ASU 28, UW 15
The Devils are really getting rolling now, with back-to-back threeballs by James Harden and a gorgeous jump hook by Eric Boateng putting the Devils up 13. It's now a 21-4 run, including the 13-0 run, eerily similar to a similar run that did in the Lady Devils earlier today against USC. For more information on that game, check the posts below.
Third Media Timeout: ASU 20, UW 13
Devils go on a 13-0 run on Friday the 13th to take the lead for the first time tonight. On an odd play, Ty Abbott makes a running teardrop, but is apparently called for a foul after the shot, which was at first called no basket, and later reversed. A midrange jumper by Isaiah Thomas puts a stop to the run, but Pendergraph hits another for ASU to bring us to the break.
Second Media Timeout: UW 11, ASU 7
The teams combined to go 3 for their first 18, before a Ty Abbott 3-pointer and a Jon Brockman layup gives us a 5-point Explosion of Offense. Elston Turner hits a three and it's a six-point Washington lead. Ty Abbott is continuing his nice play of late with 5 straight points for the Devils, we'd love to see him stay hot...
First Media Timeout: UW 6, ASU 2
Devils come out cold offensively, luckily so does Washington. Lots of turnovers and misses for both teams in the early going but Washington has hit enough to lead by 4. The teams are shooting a combined 3-of-11 with 6 turnovers in the first 4 1/2 minutes.
Starting Lineups:
ASU-Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott, Rihards Kuksiks, James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph
UW-Quincy Pondexter, Jon Brockman, Darnell Gant, Isaiah Thomas, and Justin Dentmon
Welcome to Staples Center in Los Angeles, California for this semifinal contest between your Arizona State Sun Devils and the Washington Huskies. This is the Blaze 1260 AM's Live Blog presentation with Adam Ostrow and Ben Benya of the Sports Lounge. For this conversation, Adam's message will appear in normal font, while Ben will be typing in italics.
Adam, yesterday we noticed that ASU played incredibly strong against the Arizona Wildcats with James Harden leading the way. What will the Devils need to do this evening to beat a Washington team that they are currently 0-2 against this season?
They'll need to do a better job of controlling the perimeter, on both ends of the floor. In two losses to the Huskies this year, the Devils were just 11-of-46 (24%) from three-point range. They defended the perimeter better in the second game, up in Seattle, but allowed a Washington parade to the foul line. Washington, in two games vs ASU this year, has averaged 32.5 free throw attempts, which is simply too many. In both games, Washington made more free throws than the Sun Devils even attempted.
The Devils got into foul trouble early against Arizona yesterday, having to rely heavily on a shortened bench without Jamelle McMillan. Both Eric Boateng and Jerren Shipp played big minutes that were crucial to the Devils success, and when they went to the line, they rarely missed. However, the Devils struggled to draw many fouls, garnering only 11 fouls from the opposition. The Devils were also very weak on the offensive boards.
That's a major area of concern going into this game. The Devils were minus-10 on the offensive glass and minus-6 over all on the boards against UA, and Washington is a much better team in the paint than Arizona. However, the Devils held their own in the two games with Washington, averaging only a minus-3 and actually garnering one more offensive rebound over the two games.
Sparky Sun Devil has finally achieved the glory we've been waiting for all season. That's right, he's wearing the new Arizona State Men's basketball jersey.
No more Ike Diogu-style jersey for Sparky, at least from what he was wearing at the Women's game.
It's about time, and it's about time we get ready with just under 15 minutes to go before the opening tip. Keep checking out the blog for updates at each media timeout courtesy of The Sports Lounge on The Blaze!
last updated on 09.03.13 at 6:28 PM