East Coast basketball fans needed a post-11 p.m. weeknight bedtime to see Deandre Ayton’s down-the-stretch dominance at ASU on Thursday.
His 29-point, 18-rebound effort against Alabama on Dec. 9? His 24 and 14 at Utah? Also in games played until 11 p.m. Eastern time.
And at least those games had the widespread reach of ESPN coverage.
Ayton’s 23 points and 19 rebounds against ASU on Dec. 3 — and his 19 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks at Washington — were on late-night Pac-12 Networks broadcasts. His dominance at UNLV in overtime on Dec. 2 spilled into Dec. 3 for those East Coast viewers … who managed to have CBS Sports Network on in the first place.
So maybe it’s no wonder ESPN draft analyst Mike Schmitz noted that, while Oklahoma’s Trae Young has “gobbled up college basketball headlines,” the player he called “Arizona’s cyborg” is “quietly having one of the most productive and efficient seasons by a 7-footer in recent memory.”
But with the NCAA Tournament less than four weeks away, maybe word is finally getting out east of the Rockies. Reporters from USA Today and The Athletic followed Ayton around this week, while he made a recent appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” and was also prominently featured in a Jan. 30 Bleacher Report article entitled “Deandre Ayton Knows He’s No. 1.”
And he does, apparently. Ayton was quoted in that story saying “I don’t think — I know I’m the No. 1 pick in the draft.”
Schmitz and fellow ESPN draft analyst Jonathan Givony debated whether Ayton actually is that, in part because of his defense and also because of a skilled Slovenian guard named Luka Doncic.
But it was a long debate, a lot of words spent talking about a player so good that ASU coach Bobby Hurley said Ayton “may be the best big I’ve seen in college as a player or coach.”
And UA coach Sean Miller? He may have just about run out of ways to describe Ayton, after the Bahamian big man threw down 25 points, collected 16 rebounds (eight on offense) and blocked three shots — including a 3-point attempt by backcourt dynamo Tra Holder — in Thursday’s 77-70 win at ASU.
“I thought Deandre was a player … I haven’t seen a whole lot in my lifetime,” Miller said Thursday. “He was a dominant, dominant player and — really, a lot of our other guys played well — but he was the difference.”
Cool and confident, with a laid-back island vibe that sometimes shields his fierce confidence and intensity, Ayton can take it either way. He isn’t full of words, but also isn’t shy in interviews.
“I feel like I’m Superman,” Ayton told The Athletic.
Yet he also shrugs off all the recent attention he’s received.
“It’s been on the radar a lot,” Ayton said. “You don’t really pay attention to that type of stuff, because you know any of it can bring you down. So I try to stay focused” on basketball.
Ayton is also quite aware there are some other pretty good players around him, too, and is just as confident in their abilities.
When asked whether Allonzo Trier called for a pass that Ayton dished to him to set up a dagger 3-pointer toward the end of Thursday’s game, Ayton said he did. But he also indicated he would have thrown him the pass anyway.
“I know how he plays,” Ayton said. “I mean, we’re the best in college basketball, so we know each other’s role.”
Ayton also looked dumbfounded when someone asked what he thought of the two 3-pointers fellow 7-footer Dusan Ristic hit.
Like, as if, Ristic couldn’t hit them?
“What game was it that he hit those three 3s?” Ayton asked, referring to UA’s Jan. 27 home win over Utah.
“Yeah, Utah. We do that in practice. We shoot 3s in practice. So we’re used to it, to be honest, taking that open shot.”
But all this isn’t to suggest the cyborg doesn’t have a pulse.
Like everyone else inside Wells Fargo Arena on Thursday, Ayton could feel a charged atmosphere like few others he’s seen, one that compared with hostile environments the UA has faced at New Mexico, Utah, and Washington.
It all just threw another log on Ayton’s fire.
“This was pretty fun,” Ayton said. “This one was up there.”
