Arizona State men's basketball avoids early trap game, beats Texas Southern at home

Arizona State men’s basketball hasn’t figured out its shooting just yet, but the Sun Devils still earned a much-needed first win of the season.

ASU finished Saturday afternoon’s 63-52 win over Texas Southern 21-for-57 from the field, following a 17-for-53 shooting performance in a big loss to Mississippi State on Wednesday.

"Usually after a win, we're happier, but I didn't feel the locker room overall was pleased with what we just did," head coach Bobby Hurley said. "That's what I hope to see because I don't want that to be the standard because it's not acceptable for us to do some of the things that we did statistically in this game and have any expectation of beating an elite opponent in our future."

ASU played Texas Southern as part of the Legacy series which pits Pac-12 schools against those from the Southwestern Athletic Conference. The Sun Devils went to Texas last season and lost 67-66 on a tip-in at the buzzer in overtime. Although early in the season, that loss put ASU in a tough position in the last three weeks of the season trying to make the NCAA Tournament field.

It’s very early into the season and most of the players haven’t played together, which means ASU hits dry spells on offense. ASU couldn’t get anything going in the last two-and-a-half minutes of the first half and that seemed to carry on early in the second half when TSU roared to a 6-0 run early on.

ASU still struggled to rebound and losing the rebounding battle, 49-44. Frankie Collins led the Sun Devils with eight rebounds.

ASU had a slower start to the game and shot 10-for-29 (34.5%) in the first half, but were helped by TSU’s shooting struggles as the Tigers went 9-for-31 (29.0%).

It wasn’t the best game for ASU’s shooters, however, the Sun Devils improved marginally in the second half and went 11-for-28 (39.3%).

Key moments

As the second half wound down, both teams made it a shootout as ASU made four consecutive field goals and TSU made three consecutive field goals. ASU went 4-for-4 from the 3-point line as Zane Meeks and Frankie Collins both shot two-straight 3s.

ASU held a 12-point lead, but with how many times the momentum changed in the game, the Sun Devils needed to continue pressing.

The Sun Devils pulled further ahead, racking a 6-0 run over 48 seconds on free throws from Collins and two layups from Shawn Phillips Jr., including a dunk at 1:40.

Top performers

Frankie Collins drained two 3-pointers, both coming in the second half, and led ASU with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Kamari Lands sparked the Sun Devils with a 3-pointer at 17:40 for a 35-28 lead in the second half to break TSU’s 6-0 run. Lands finished in double figures with 12 points, on top of two steals.

They said it

"Texas Southern is a good team and they're going to scrap and fight. They usually win one or two games a year like this and unfortunately, it was us last year. It was part of the reason we had to go to Dayton. Obviously, this put that game behind us." —ASU head coach Bobby Hurley on losing to Texas Southern last year.

Up next

ASU (1-1) will continue its homestand with UMass Lowell on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State men's basketball avoids trap game, beats Texas Southern