TEMPE -- If Remy Martin waited a little longer to drive inside for a shot attempt Thursday night, as Greg Hansen noted in detail, maybe James Akinjo's shot-pass-whatever never makes it to Azuolas Tubelis in time for Arizona to pull out its 84-82 win at ASU on Thursday.
Martin drove inside and tried to shoot with eight seconds still left, even though six remained on the shot clock, giving UA the chance to hit a game-winner, as Tubelis did with about 0.4 seconds left.
After Thursday's game, Akinjo was asked if that surprised him.Β
βNo,β Akinjo said. βThatβs their M.O. They want to play fast and give them credit β theyβre real good at it. They have a lot of good guards who play like that so I wasnβt surprised at all.β
Akinjo had 24 points to outscore Martin, who had 18. Akinjo earlier had 25 agianst UCLAβs Tyger Campbell, 18 against WSU and Isaac Bonton and 22 against Coloradoβs McKinley Wright.
He agreed when asked if he took particular challenge in facing the Pac-12βs top guards.
βI feel I'm one of the best guards in the conference, so I know when I play one of the best guards in the conference, I have to step it up to get to that level," Akinjo said. "Give credit to my teammates, though. Theyβve always given me the confidence to take on these matchups and the coaches have pushed me. So I feel like I step up my level of play when I play these guards.β
Miller said Tubelis rebounded not only from a rough first half, when he was 0 for 4 but also from struggles early in the second half.
βMaybe from about the 15-minute mark of the second half to the end of the game, he really became himself,β Miller said. βObviously the game winning offensive rebound or pass, whatever it was. That was a huge play.β
Tubelis was also in the middle of a couple of controversial plays toward the end.
He was called for a moving screen that resulted in a turnover with 32 seconds left β generating protests from Miller, even though replays showed it was called because Tubelis took another step out of his screen to effectively trip Remy Martin.
"That's a screening foul," ESPN analyst Bill Walton said.
However, Tubelis was not called for a foul while blocking Martin shortly afterward, when Martin crashed into him while attempting his layup with eight seconds left. While it didnβt appear to be a foul on the replay, a photo taken by the Starβs Kelly Presnell looked so suspicious that ASU coach Bobby Hurley tweeted it out.
— Bobby Hurley (@BobbyHurley11) January 22, 2021
Moving Bennedict Mathurin in front of Dalen Terry in the starting lineup last week at Oregon State might have been a delicate move for Miller but it turned out well for the Wildcats on Thursday, when Terry responded with 13 points four rebounds, one assist and a block while hitting all three 3-pointers he took.
βDalen was an unsung hero,β Miller said. βDalen really works at it. I mean, he gives as much effort working on his game as any player, especially freshmen, that we've had. He's up early, he's in the gym early, practices hard every day. A big part of his work ethic is to improve his shooting. I thought he shot good 3s β¦ it was the shot we want him to take. But a big reason we won the game is just his overall play.β
Even with a possible break on the Tubelis no-call, Arizona again lost the foul game, committing 23 fouls and sending ASU to the line 29 times. The Sun Devils were 21 of 29 from the line, scoring six more points than UA (15-17) from free throws.
βWe fouled in both halves too much,β Miller said. βItβs plagued us. Weβve got to look at what we can do to plug those holes, maybe foul less. Some of our fouls were just young fouls, inexperience, fouling on an offensive rebound when ASU has inside position. They just kind of have to see it for what it is-- recognizing they're in the bonus, 'so I'm really not going to go for the ball.' I think we had a foul at three-quarter-court once or twice.
βBut you forget in this game a year ago, we had I think 10 guys that played. Eight of them are not here. Wo we had a lot of first-timers in tonight's game, a lot of guys who weren't even a part of our program a year ago, so we have to continue to grow and get better. We're very inexperienced. Every time we play a game, we have an opportunity to get better and improve but I thought tonight was a hard-fought battle if we would have lost. We would have lost in a very tough, tough game.β
Arizona is now 1-2 in Pac-12 home games and 4-1 in Pac-12 road games. So even though the lack of fans this seasonb is not generally considered a big factor it may be making a difference for the Wildcats, especially at ASU.
βI know we're in COVID so fans aren't here (though) I know they have parentsβ on hand at ASU, Miller said. βBut β¦ it's college basketball and that's what makes it such a great sport. The home court versus away, it's just not easy to win on the road. And Arizona at ASU, it's a challenge, it really is. So we're thrilled to win. We've lost a couple games here exactly how we won tonight. Over time, that as a way of evening out.β
Miller said heβs straddled a line between pushing his players too hard in practice at a time when their depth is low, and trying to prepare them, but it worked out pretty well on Thursday. The Wildcatsβ defense struggled in the second half, allowing ASU to make 6 of 9 3s and take 21 free throws (18 of which the Sun Devils made).
βI feel like our team really relied on their daily habits, fought through, made some timely field goals, didnβt give in, didnβt give up,β Miller said. βAnd obviously we won just a great, great game.
βOur defense is not as good as our offense. We're hard at work to make it better. It has to get better. But sometimes you just have to figure out a way to try to get a win, almost in spite of your defense and that was really the storyline of tonight's game. ASU had their way with us, especially in the second half. And hopefully we can be better when we play them on Monday.β
