2022-23 arizona state

Arizona State was having a good time. Frankie Collins was having a good time. Jon Crispin was having a good time pointing out how good of a time Arizona State was having. The 95% Michigan fans in Brooklyn for the championship round of the Legends Classic were not having a good time. I have not checked in on Brian.

Sometimes one team makes shots and the other doesn't make shots, and you get a stupid basketball game. This was a very, very stupid basketball game.

Arizona State made shots. They made pullup long twos. They made fallaways, one-foot jacks, and threes contested and otherwise. They made 30-foot ones over zones, and another off a double-dribble. They went 11/19 on three-pointers and went 21/34 on twos, and the first of those anywhere near the rim was a fall-down flip that Duke Brennan managed to arc over Hunter Dickinson 6 minutes into the game. Michigan meanwhile couldn't get a dunk to go.

Arizona State shot better from the field (56%) in the first half than Michigan did from the free-throw line (53%), then shot 67% from the field in the second half. This was how it went until Collins put a layup over Dickinson on one end, Jett airballed an open three on the other, and Michigan stopped pretending their fortunes might change and inserted the bench.

This went in. [Wilcomes]

I wish I could report that there was anything interesting to this, but Arizona State just hit shots. For the most part they weren't good shots, advisable shots, well-coached shots, well-worked shots, or shots that revealed a fatal weakness in the defense. They just ran around until they thought they had a spot, put it up, and it went down. On the off chance it didn't rattle, roll, or bip bim bounce in, it caromed back out to a shooter who threw it or himself at the basket again, and that went in.

Okay, here's a couple: Frankie Collins put freshmen Jett Howard and Tarris Reed in a blender to create that shot at the rim. And after getting chased around the court by Jace Howard for an entire shot clock, DJ Horne made one off his chest at the horn. Jace Howard: not a guard. Frankie Collins: Still Frankie Collins. Analysis!

Michigan did have trouble against those defenders finding the types of shots they prefer. Frankie Collins in particular had an inspired night shutting down the guy he thought was recruited over him, Jaelin Llewellyn, who wasn't recruited over him. Lanes around the perimeter that were open in Michigan's first three games found Sun Devil arms tipping their passes out of bounds. Joey Baker couldn't get set up. Jett Howard's length made him somewhat immune from all this; everyone else found themselves dribbling until they could get rid of it.

This did not go in. [Wilcomes]

Michigan's guards especially struggled to find Dickinson at the rim, as Arizona State worked to deny him the ball and swarmed when it arrived. That and how luck was running contributed to Michigan getting a bagel from their star for the first 12 minutes. There was a missed dunk, and a bucket that ASU goaltended without a call along the way, but ASU's length and attention also helped hold Michigan's big man to an awful night. Tarris Reed entered with energy, ripping down three boards and drawing two fouls in 4 first-half minutes, but could only make 1/4 of the resulting free throws, part of another awful night at the line for this team. His defense was also hit and miss (see: blender).

Nobody had a more miserable night than Kobe Bufkin, who was 1/9 from the field, with three assists that could have been nine if his teammates didn't clang everything in the first half. He also drew ASU's DJ Horne (19 points, on 14 shots), and Austin Nunez (15 points on 10), neither of whom seemed to miss no matter how ridiculous their attempts. Michigan chipped the lead down to 14 in the first four minutes after the half, with Bufkin finally getting on the board with a layup/and-1 opportunity. But ASU countered with an alley-oop when everyone assumed Horne was taking another contested two from the top of the lane.

That's not to put the scoring on Bufkin. Michigan's strategy of going zone early against a traditionally bad shooting team backfired by getting Horne and Desmond Cambridge Jr. (who was 0/10 from three coming into this game) locked in. That pushed ASU's lead to ten, where it hovered until Nunez entered and hit a horizontal contested jack off the dribble over Bufkin to push the score out to 25-10.

Attempts to whittle away after the half were thwarted by Cambridge, who took over the second half. Out of the under-16 timeout he hit a contested triple, then hit a heat check on their next trip to push ASU's lead back up to 58-39. As Cambridge sat, Horne took over again.

As the baskets piled up for ASU, and Michigan's shooters were more likely to hit the heel than the rim, Dickinson started trying to put Michigan back in it himself. A few tough post moves drew buckets, but he also allowed himself to get swarmed, giving up a block/tie-up, and then several late turnovers.

Michigan finally put it a couple of three-pointers late when Dug McDaniel took a 30-foot heat check, and then Youssef Khayat put up a 35-footer that rattled in off a bank.

Drawing conclusions from this kind of game is beyond my skills. Bobby Hurley's going to conclude this means he's right to just have his career 29% shooters just jack up anything they feel like. QED.

[A cursed box score after the jump.]

THE ESSENTIALS

THE OVERVIEW

Arizona State! Michigan's strange cross-country nemesis they've never played! Bobby Hurley scooped up Josh Christopher in a "shock the world" recruitment that paid off with a 10-13 record, then swooped in on a discontented Frankie Collins after Michigan picked up Jalen Llewellyn. Meanwhile I've been talking trash about Bobby Hurley's coaching ability for five solid years now. Because, I mean: dude sucks. He's been at Arizona State for eight years, recruited a bunch of talent, and all he has to show for it are two First Four bids. He's had one season in the top 50 in offensive efficiency. He went to Duke.

This year, Arizona State has a three point escape against Tarleton State, an OT loss to Texas Southern (which was at Texas Southern, FWIW), and a four-point win over VCU.

I forbid Michigan to lose this game. Hear me? FORBID.

THE US

Seth's graphic [click to embiggen]:

faq for these graphics

We have issued Jett Howard as star despite the cyan on defense.

THE LINEUP CARD

Seth's graphic [click for big]:

Marcus Bagley is out. Hello, Frankie.