Junior guard Frankie Collins (1) had a key 3-point make to spark a late comeback which secured Arizona State's sixth win of the season, knocking off SMU 76-74 in Tempe on Wednesday night. (Alyssa Colwell / Inferno Intel)
Arizona State continues to find ways to win while it waits for two key interior players to return from injury.
Riding a three-game winning streak, the Sun Devils (6-2) had their backs against the wall on Wednesday against Southern Methodist (6-4). ASU rallied from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat SMU 76-74 to remain undefeated at home.
“I thought we showed a lot of heart, a lot of resiliency, never gave in,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “Didn’t look good, I think when they got up to 13, but we just kept fighting. We’re able to regain momentum in the game, you know, with our pressure.”
The Sun Devils defense was uncharacteristically ineffective through the first half hour of the game. ASU entered the night allowing an average of 62 points per game (No. 21 in the NCAA). The Mustangs led 63-50 with 11:28 remaining in the second half.
Junior guard Frankie Collins hit his second 3-pointer of the night on the next possession to cut the deficit to 10 points. All of a sudden, the Sun Devils defense received the spark that it needed.
ASU conceded only one field goal over the next eight minutes. The Sun Devils went on a 17-2 run in that span to take a 72-66 lead over the Mustangs with 2:47 remaining in the game.
“Press makes us play hard and makes us put an effort to turn teams over,” senior guard Jose Perez said. “Right now we’re playing well in transition as a team we’re sharing and we get in transition better than, in my opinion, the half-court set.”
The dominant run was kicked off by Perez. He scored four consecutive and hard-earned points on a layup and two free throws. Perez led the Sun Devils with 20 points and three assists. The bulk of his scoring came from the free-throw line, where he was 12-for-15. He finished 4-of-7 from the field.
“I feel like I’m getting a little groove back,” Perez said. “My teammates just trusted me. I’m gelling better, adjusting to their games where I could get them the ball, where they could give me the ball. And I feel like it’s noticeable on the court in this four-game win streak.”
SMU made it a 3-point game with 48 seconds left, but sophomore guard Kamari Lands knocked down both of his free throws to put the game on ice.
Collins had another standout performance. He tallied 17 points, six rebounds, and a team-high four steals. Collins was 6-of-10 from the field and 2-for-3 from behind the arc.
“I’m just happy to see some shots go in,” Collins said. “Early on, it wasn’t there, but I’ve been working a lot on the jump shot. Just having confidence. My teammates have confidence in me. The coaches do, too.”
The ASU defense forced eight turnovers during their game-changing run in the final 10 minutes. SMU made just one shot from the field in that span despite taking nine. The turnovers helped the Sun Devils have a 22-7 fast break points advantage.
“Sometimes I feel like when teams are out-scoring us it’s because we’re not turning them over enough,” Collins said, “or we don’t have enough pressure on the ball. So, with (Alonzo) “Zo” (Gaffney) being at the top and me being the ‘steal guy’, I think that can get us some easy buckets and turn the whole game around.”
Graduate forward Alonzo Gaffney was the catalyst of the Sun Devils’ aggressive press defense and made every inbound pass a struggle for SMU.
“When you have Gaffney on the ball, and with his length, he’s kicking the basketball out of bounds,” Hurley said. “I think by our numbers, he had 10 deflections in the game. So the inbounder doesn’t even know if he can throw the ball and bounce.”
Gaffney was 2-for-8 shooting and 1-of-5 from behind the arc. He finished with 11 points and was perfect from the free-throw line, making 6-of-6 shots.
The Sun Devils were aided by a significant free-throw attempt disparity. ASU was 32-of-43 from the line while the Mustangs were 10-of-19.
This was unexpected. SMU had made 70.5% of its free throws entering the game, while ASU was 58.7% from the foul line.
The Sun Devils were without their 7-foot center Shawn Phillips Jr. for the fifth straight game and 6-foot-9 forward Zane Meeks for the third consecutive contest. Both remain out with foot injuries. ASU missed their size in the lineup tonight. It was nearly too much to overcome.
“We got to get healthy man,” Hurley said. “We need Shawn Phillips back. We got to get some good news on the waiver front. We need help.”
SMU trailed by 10 points in the opening seven minutes of the game but roared back to take a four-point lead at the half. The Mustangs had a 42-22 point advantage in the paint and outscored the Sun Devils 12-3 on second-chance opportunities.
Mustangs junior guard Zhuric Phelps led all scorers with 24 points. He finished 10-of-18 shooting and collected 9 rebounds.
SMU senior guard Chuck Harris tallied 17 points and six rebounds. The Butler transfer was 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-4 from behind the arc.
“We knew their guards were really good, you know, Harris and Phelps,” Hurley said. “And they’re a team that’s an up-and-coming team. They got some good players, they’re a good team. So to get that victory, it’s, it’s really good.”
Neither team was particularly sharp from the 3-point line. SMU was 6-of-21 (28.6%) while ASU made 6-of-20 (30%). The Mustangs outshot the Sun Devils from the field overall (45.3% to ASU’s 36.5%).
ASU will play its first true road game of the year at San Diego (6-4) on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. MST. Last season the Sun Devils defeated the Toreros 91-67 on Dec. 18. Frankie Collins had 12 points and led his team with 11 assists and four steals.