Arizona State cannot be doubted anymore after impressive road win at Kansas
No longer should there be any debate about the legitimacy of Arizona State’s once-unfathomable unbeaten start.
The Sun Devils proved they’re one of college basketball’s best teams on Sunday by winning in an arena where visiting teams almost always lose.
Arizona State upset fifth-ranked Kansas in Lawrence, handing Bill Self only his 11th loss at Allen Fieldhouse in 15 seasons as Jayhawks head coach. What’s more, the Sun Devils’ 95-85 victory was no fluke. They surged back from an early 15-2 deficit, pulled ahead early in the second half and led by six or more for the final 13-plus minutes of the game.
The catalyst for the biggest win of Bobby Hurley’s Arizona State tenure was a speedy perimeter corps that has spearheaded the Sun Devils’ 9-0 start. Tra Holder, Shannon Evans and Remy Martin were too explosive and too dynamic even for a Kansas team that surrounds rim-protecting center Udoka Azubuike with four experienced guards.
Given a green light to attack at will in Hurley’s fast-paced, free-flowing system, Holder, Evans and Martin took turns carving up Kansas off the dribble or bombing away from behind the arc with step-back threes.
Holder, a 6-foot-1 blur of a point guard, torched Kansas for 29 points and 7 assists. Evans, a 6-foot-1 wisp of a combo guard, gashed the Jayhawks for 21 points and 5 assists. Martin, their heralded 6-foot freshman understudy, came off the bench to contribute 21 points and 2 assists.
Throw in the outside shooting of perimeter marksman Kodi Justice and the versatility of freshman forward Romello White, and Arizona State is awfully tough to contain. The nation’s seventh-most efficient offense sank over 50 percent of its shots, buried 14 of 28 3-pointers and got to the foul line 20 times en route to a victory that will force any remaining skeptics to concede the Sun Devils are for real.
Not only is Arizona State one of only seven remaining unbeaten teams in college basketball, the Sun Devils also have maybe the best collection of wins of that group. They’ve toppled Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, they’ve hung 102 points on Xavier on a neutral floor and they’ve also notched solid victories over Kansas State, San Diego State and St. John’s.
That resume should vault Arizona State into contention to be No. 1 on Monday when the new AP Top 25 is released. The Sun Devils don’t have the size, talent or pedigree of Duke, Michigan State or Villanova, but nobody has more top 50 KenPom wins or fewer losses.
That Arizona State is even in the conversation is proof that the Sun Devils are college basketball’s biggest early-season surprise.
Only five times in the past 36 years has Arizona State reached the NCAA tournament and only one of those teams advanced to the Sweet 16. The Sun Devils went a combined 30-35 in Hurley’s first two seasons and were projected to finish sixth in the Pac-12 this season.
The way Arizona State outplayed Kansas on Sunday, it sure looks like the Sun Devils will exceed those modest expectations this season.
They aren’t very big, they aren’t very deep and they don’t rebound very well, but man can they flat-out score.
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Jeff Eisenberg is a college basketball writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
