Teams can start off sluggish when returning from a holiday hiatus like this past week. For Arizona State (8-5), they just needed one half to shake off the rust and get back to playing their brand of basketball.
In the Sun Devils’ 70-54 win over Lipscomb (5-8) on Thursday afternoon, ASU took a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime. Leaning on their defensive mindset and on-ball pressure, they outscored the Bison 20-5 in the third quarter.
The ability to pick up the intensity on the defensive side of the ball was especially important because Arizona State was without their second-leading scorer and top rebounder Mael Gilles, who was not in uniform but on the bench for the game.