The defensive renaissance undergone by ASU basketball this season has been the primary instigator behind the Sun Devils 8-2 start, as head coach Bobby Hurley and staff have transformed a previously defensively inept unit into one of the nation’s stingiest groups.
The team has found immense success marrying sound defensive principles with a quickened pace, thriving in a chaotic style built on ball pressure, hard close outs, and limiting the opposition to one shot.
Hurley’s team’s in his short time in Tempe have been consistently poor defensively, averaging a finish of almost 217 out of the 353 division one teams in defensive rating, including a 336th overall ranking in the 2016-17 season.