Arizona State men's basketball establishes defensive identity, but depth remains an issue

The Arizona State men's basketball team improved to 6-2 on the young season with a hard-fought 76-74 win over Southern Methodist on Wednesday night at Desert Financial Arena.

Jose Perez led the effort with 20 points, four rebounds and three assists while Frankie Collins added 17 points, six rebounds, four steals and a blocked shot as ASU rallied from a 63-50 second-half deficit.

Here are some takeaways from the most recent outing by coach Bobby Hurley's Sun Devils:

Defending home floor, avoiding 'bad' losses

Coach Bobby Hurley said defending home court was a point of emphasis coming into this season. Last year the Sun Devils were 10-5 at Desert Financial Arena and 13-8 elsewhere. The road record is actually commendable so just think where ASU might have been with a few more home wins.

Granted, there were no losses to sub-par teams at home, but it's a metric used in a lot of formulas when it comes tabulating a power ranking. You need to win a few more of those for your post-season resume.

So far this season the Sun Devils have not been dealt one of those "bad" losses that can cost you when your postseason worth is being assessed. Remember, ASU had two of those last season, a 67-66 overtime loss to Texas Southern on a neutral court, although it was in Houston, and a 97-60 loss at University of San Francisco. They don't have that signature win yet but they have won the games they are supposed to win and the two losses, although lopsided ones, were to Brigham Young and Mississippi State, which are a combined 14-2 and a week ago both were nationally ranked.

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Depth is an issue, especially in the front court

Right now Hurley is relying on about eight players and two of those are true freshman getting their first taste of college basketball.

Shawn Phillips, a 7-foot-1 transfer from LSU, has missed five games with a foot injury and is still in a walking boot so he's not close to returning. Zane Meeks, a 6-9 forward who came from the University of San Francisco, also is dealing with a chronic foot injury that affected him last year as well. They have missed five and three games, respectively, and the absence of those big men has been reflected in key categories. The Sun Devils were outrebounded by SMU 44-34 and they were outscored 44-24 in the paint. In the last two games ASU's two top rebounders were guards Frankie Collins and Jamiya Neal. That has put a lot of pressure on Alonzo Gaffney and Bryant Selebangue.

ASU also has yet to hear about the eligibility waiver of guard Adam Miller, who came from LSU and needs the waiver as a two-time Division I transfer. Hurley said Miller was having trouble dealing with the delay and having to sit out, so much so that he was not with the team on the bench as he typically has been even though he can't play.

The team's identity is defense

Every time the team has needed a run it has turned to its defense. Most of the time Collins is the catalyst. He has 28 steals and his 3.4 per game ranks him third nationally. He had four against the Mustangs, all of those in the second half. One came when he picked a defender at midcourt and raced in for a dunk that gave his team a 68-66 lead.

The Sun Devils had a similar game last month against UMass-Lowell, when they used the same defensive intensity in squeaking out a 71-69 win.

ASU has had to pick and choose when they turn up that defense because it can also result in picking up some fouls if an officiating crew is calling a game tight. And with the Sun Devils short on bodies right now they can't risk playing that way for an entire game.

Alonzo Gaffney has developed

The 6-9 graduate student showed flashes the previous two years of doing special things, particularly when it came to blocking shots. But he also got too infatuated with taking 3-pointers at times.

Gaffney is a menace on defense. He affects shots even when he isn't blocking them and gets a lot of deflections, enabling his teammates to scoop up loose balls. This season he has been shooting considerably better. He is 9-for-36 on the season, which is about the same percentage he was shooting last year, but he got off to a 1-for-17 start. He is 8-for-19 since that start and made five in a row in scoring a career-high 19 in a win over Vanderbilt. At 6-9 nobody is going to block his shot and he has made enough now that he will draw more defenders, which could open up the paint for his teammates.

Jose Perez will get to the line

This is one guy who won't be jacking up shots from all points. Perez is build more like a linebacker than a guard. He's going to back a defender down and try to get close to the bucket and make a shot or get fouled. He's already attempted 61 free throws, making 42. That's almost twice as many free throws as the next player on the team, Collins, who has attempted 32.

In Wednesday's game he was 4-for-7 from the field but 12-for-15 from the line. Asked after the game the most he remembers going to the line, Perez estimated 21 or so. His .689 free-throw percentage is second on the team to Kamari Lands' .696 but Lands only has 28 attempts.

ASU's next game is against University of San Diego

ASU's next game will be Saturday at 8:30 p.m. at the University of San Diego (6-3). They won't play at home again until Jan. 4 against conference foe Utah.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State men's basketball making strides with 4 straight wins