Men's Basketball Exhibition Recap: Lots of Buckets in 108-41 Win
The Sun Devil men's basketball team got a Monday evening victory against the University of Saint Katherine Firebirds 108-41 in an exhibition contest at Desert Financial Arena.
ASU came out hot from the locker room, starting the game with a 16-0 run, followed by a 15-2 run to make the score 31-7. It repeated this trend in the second half, increasing their lead after achieving a 21-5 run that was highlighted by an alley-oop thrown by Luther Muhammad and finished by Kimani Lawrence.
The Sun Devils' top scorer was sophomore Jay Heath with 18 points, on 6-11 from the field off the bench. Another big performance was put up by D.J. Horne, with 15 points (5-6 FG, 4-5 3PT).
Out of the 26 assists that ASU recorded, Muhammad and Marreon Jackson were the top contributors, with five each. Lawrence was leader in rebounding with eight, adding also 12 points.
ASU will face Portland in a non-conference matchup in what will be the home opener for the Sun Devils on Tuesday (Nov. 9) at 5 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on Pac-12 Arizona.
ASU HEAD COACH BOBBY HURLEY
On his impressions from the game
"I think it was a positive for us, just to play in front of some other people, and get a taste of what that will be like next week. Just bringing some guys back, that didn't play in the scrimmage, so it was good for them to get more time in this game. Overall, I thought there were a fair number of positives. I want to thank Saint Katherine for coming in and playing the game. I think it's good for us now, we have a whole week of practice, taking a look at some things, we gotta show up at the practice court. The guys have been working extremely hard, so I think we'll have several good days leading to next Tuesday."
On playing in front of people again
"I think having played in front of a crowd, with people, we just turned the ball over too many times in the first half, so that's one thing that I really haven't seen a lot of in practices to that extent. It's good that, no matter if you played a lot of games, if you're Marreon Jackson, or if you're a freshman. The first game, in front of people, you're maybe a little more juiced to play. It's just finding the net, that comfort level, and I think just getting everybody out in front of the crowd again was good, and accomplished what we hoped for."
SOPHOMORE GUARD DJ HORNE
On his big shooting night
"Being locked in, and telling myself, because I know it's one of my strengths, I know I can shoot the ball really well, so just locking in before game time, just really trying to focus. Once I see the first one going, it's pretty much automatic after that."
On the chemistry that the team showed from the beginning
"For this to be a brand new team, and with a lot of guys coming from the East Coast, a good majority of the guys are, so I feel like that has to do a lot to do with it. For us to be a brand new team, the chemistry has been one thing that has been growing very fast, and I feel like that's gonna be something that we can definitely link back on later on down the road, when stuff starts to get tougher."