ASU overpowers NAU with a paint-dominant victory

College basketball can get complicated, but matchups like this don’t have to be. ASU had a simple blueprint against NAU: throw the ball inside, again and again, and let size do the talking. Every. Single. Time.

Hurley made sure his team understood that.

“Literally, I just told the team they got to have better recognition in games like this,” Hurley said. “That if we literally threw the ball inside every possession down the floor, we would have gotten a high-quality shot.”

To this point, dominating the paint hasn’t exactly been ASU’s identity. Even with a roster full of long, mobile forwards, the Sun Devils have leaned more toward pick-and-pop than pick-and-roll.

But against an NAU squad whose tallest player stands 6-foot-9, and facing a matchup where ASU starts three players taller than that, the formula practically handed itself over. Punish the mismatch inside, make them prove they can stop you, and maybe solve the offensive rebounding issues that have haunted ASU in recent weeks.

Early on, ASU drifted from that advantage. The Sun Devils played a little too loose, a little too pretty, trying to replicate the 13-three outburst against Oklahoma. NAU brought enough energy to hang around, and ASU led by just nine at the break. In the second half, Hurley’s message landed: attack the paint and overwhelm the smaller team. The Sun Devils responded with a bruising, methodical 38-point half, fueled by size, discipline, and physicality. They held NAU to 33.3% shooting, scored 40 points in the paint, and dominated the glass by 16. Freshman center Massamba Diop set the tone with a season-high 19 points as ASU rolled to a commanding 73–48 win.

The clearest sign of the transformation came from the player who usually dictates how ASU scores: senior guard Moe Odum.

Odum entered the night averaging 18.9 points per game, a figure that places him among the most productive guards in the country. Mix that with six assists per game and a dangerous three-point range, and he usually bends a defense simply by touching the ball.

Against NAU, he did not make a single field goal. His only two points came on free throws in the final moments. And ASU hardly blinked, controlling the game from start to finish and trailing for only 39 seconds.

“The positive side is Moe wasn’t anything like Moe usually is at all,” Hurley said. “Just had one of those games, and we were able to more than survive that.”

This was not a night when Odum was asked to carry anyone. It simply asked him to deliver the ball where NAU could not survive. Feed the post. Let the size advantage grow teeth.

The players who needed to step forward did exactly that. Diop controlled the interior with 19 points, six rebounds, three assists, and a block. Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet muscled his way to 12 points and eight rebounds. Senior forward Allen Mukeba came off the bench with the energy of a spark plug, adding 10 points, six rebounds, and two steals.

“Massamba made things look really easy,” Hurley said. “I think he can still score against players comparable to the size. Allen, his physicality is plus, getting to the basket. Santiago knows how to play around the basket, so getting those guys touches is important.”

Junior forward Marcus Adams Jr. provided the lone splash of perimeter color on a night painted mostly in bruises and footwork. He added 11 points, including two threes, along with four rebounds, a block, and a steal as his rhythm returns after a foot injury.

“Some games are going to be the guards, some games are going to be the bigs, and today was the bigs, and we took advantage of that,” Mukeba said. “It’s really about adapting to the situation.”

Alongside their 40 paint points, the Sun Devils earned 22 free throws and made 15, the natural reward for playing downhill instead of drifting outward.

ASU’s identity sharpened even more on the defensive end. NAU could not breathe in the second half, nearly matching turnovers with made shots as the Sun Devils tightened every inch of space. ASU was far from perfect offensively, turning the ball over 13 times, missing seven free throws, and shooting just over 31 percent from deep.

This game was never about crafting an offensive showcase. It was about denying NAU the space or the scoring to stay afloat. Hurley gave the team a mark they needed to keep NAU under, and they did just that — by a single point.

“We had a goal coming into this game,” Hurley said. “It was more how many points we were prepared to try and give up, and that goal was reached, and it was very close. It came down to the last possession.”

“We had a goal to keep them under 49,” Adams Jr. said.

Fatigue settled heavily on the Lumberjacks as the night wore on. Their bench provided just three total points, compared to ASU’s 33, and the strain showed during the pivotal 19–2 second-half run. ASU did not simply get hot. They smothered NAU on one end and immediately turned empty possessions into points on the other. NAU could not attack inside, and they could not hit from outside, leaving ASU to dictate every possession and close the game with complete control.

With the win, ASU improves to 8–2, one victory shy of matching last year’s 9–2 start. Of course, last year’s team collapsed afterward, winning only four more games. This group carries a different feel. Not necessarily a guarantee of something greater, but a roster tied together by a single goal, with players who raise each other and fight through stretches together. They have already shown resilience, growth, and a steadier identity.

Hurley sees it taking shape.

“We’re feisty. I think we’re resilient,” Hurley said. “We’ve got a bunch of games that we’ve been down, and we fought back. We find a way to win. We’ve now had two games where we got serious separation in the game, which is good to see. We are capable of doing that. Our defense has improved over the last two games. So that is something that was very necessary coming out of Hawaii, because our offense was making very good progress and our defense needed to catch up and our rebounding.

“So to out-rebound them, I know they were undersized, and Massamba had a clear advantage, but we out-rebounded them by 16, and that’s great, because that was something that’s hurt us throughout.”