The Arizona State men's hoops team came back to Tempe and achieved a statement win over the Oregon Ducks, outscoring them 45-27 in the second half for an 81-57 win. Jalen Graham led the Sun Devils with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists as the Sun Devils ran away from the Ducks, who had won 11 of their past 13.
ASU's effort allowed them to enjoy the lead during almost the entire game, as the Ducks' last time at the top was 15-14 during the first half.
However, the best minutes came after halftime, when the Sun Devils went on a 19-5 run, achieved in part by the high number of assists, recording 19 on the night, with six from Jay Heath.
The fans could celebrate some highlights as well like the two straight dunks, one by Graham and another by Kimani Lawrence, who put the exclamation point on the alley-oop throw by Horne for a 20-point differential (68-48).
Jalen Graham surely had fun on the court. One of his assists led Lawrence to score an open lay-up after Graham gave him the ball with a behind-the-back pass and made the entire Desert Financial Arena celebrate.
ARIZONA STATE FORWARD JALEN GRAHAM
On if he's now a point forward
"I think so (smiling). I got a behind-the-back pass and the pass was on. I'm just playing my game to be honest, just having fun out there. All smiles, it was a fun game."
On how it felt to have this good scoring performance from the team
"It was just fun, like I said. I feel like we could've done this the whole season, but yeah, it was just fun."
On how did it feel to knock down the first 3 of the season
"Man, good, because I missed the first one bad, and I was like 'uh-oh'. But then, you know, we were up, had it going. A little stepback."
On Kimani Lawrence's role
"He's the glue man for us. We play off his energy, off everything he does, he's a vet. I think he's coming up on most games ever played, I think he's gonna beat that. Proud of him, proud of him. He's just the glue man."