Five takeaways from ASU's road win at Hawaii

ASU’s first road test meant a 2,944-mile trip from Tempe to Honolulu, and for most of the night, it looked like a flat, disappointing showing. But a late 10–0 run and a 49-point second half flipped everything, stealing an 83-76 win from Hawaii and pushing the Sun Devils to 4–1.

Here are five takeaways from the win.

Bryce Ford’s career night

After shooting just 38% in the first half, ASU opened the second with the same stagnant rhythm. Hawaii kept knocking down shots at nearly a 50% clip, and the Sun Devils had almost nothing going offensively. Then junior guard Bryce Ford took over.

Ford scored 10 of ASU’s first 16 points after halftime, drilling three threes and pouring in 13 second-half points on his way to a career-high 20. He essentially dragged ASU back into the game, keeping them alive until the rest of the lineup finally settled in and helped close it out.

What makes Ford’s performance so encouraging is the versatility he showed—off-balance jumpers, catch-and-shoot threes, downhill drives, finishing through contact. Hawaii saw all of it. Ford can be an integral part of ASU’s success moving forward if he consistently knocks down open shots and heats up at the right moments.

His only blemish came with 11:28 left, when he was fouled on a three and missed all three free throws, a small part of ASU’s overall struggles at the line.

ASU continues to be a second-half team

There’s something about Bobby Hurley’s second-half adjustments. Now in his tenth season at ASU, this win marked his 49th victory when trailing at halftime, another example of his team’s ability to regroup and punch back. And they needed every bit of that resilience after an ugly first half in which ASU shot just 12-for-31 and went 8-for-13 at the line.

Even with the poor shooting, ASU trailed Hawaii by only one at the break and managed to hang around for most of the second half. But turnovers, rushed possessions, and shaky shot selection eventually caught up to them. When senior center Isaac Johnson buried a desperation, shot-clock-beating three to put Hawaii up eight—tied for their biggest lead of the night—it felt like momentum had completely flipped.

Instead, that’s where ASU finally woke up. The Sun Devils immediately ripped off a 10-0 run, sparked by back-to-back threes from senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson and Ford, giving ASU its first lead since early in the game.

From the 7:56 mark onward, ASU took control, outscoring Hawaii 26–11, echoing the 34–10 surge they had against Georgia State. The rally was fueled by 13 second-half points from Johnson, 13 from Ford, and nine from senior guard Moe Odum, who also contributed five assists and two steals.

Meanwhile, the defense tightened its grip. ASU forced eight second-half turnovers and repeatedly turned them into easy runouts, finishing with a 15–0 edge in fastbreak points—a swing that defined the difference between the sluggish first half and a dominant closing stretch.

ASU continues to drown in missed free throws 

In the moment, a missed free throw feels harmless. You split a pair, shrug it off, and move on. But miss after miss after miss starts piling up. Five “free” points vanish. Then ten. Suddenly, a winnable game is a lot tighter than it ever needed to be.

That’s exactly what happened again against Hawaii. ASU let a close game stay close by wasting chances at the line, just as it did against No. 13 Gonzaga. In that one, the Sun Devils went a brutal 13-for-23 at the stripe. They hung around with the Bulldogs deep into the second half, but shooting 36% from the field and repeatedly failing to cash in easy points crushed any hope of stealing momentum. They lost by 12 while leaving ten points untouched at the line.

Thursday felt like a rerun. ASU shot only 41% from the floor and went just 23-for-37 at the line. The only difference this time? Hawaii wasn’t Gonzaga. The Rainbow Warriors didn’t capitalize on ASU’s 14 misses, didn’t press the advantage, and couldn’t turn the Sun Devils’ struggles into momentum.

ASU now sits at 76-for-114 on the season, just 66% overall. At some point, the margins stop being theoretical. The Sun Devils are dancing on them every night.

Height and length alone haven’t proven to be a recipe for success

One of the more intriguing storylines heading into the season was ASU’s size and length. Last year, the Sun Devils had just two true centers and a single bona fide power forward, which contributed to struggles on the boards and in protecting the paint. This year, that problem should theoretically be solved.

Hurley has deployed a starting lineup featuring 7 ‘1 freshman center Massamba Diop, 6’11 redshirt sophomore Santiago Trouet, and 6’11 junior forward Andrija Grbovic in every game. Yet, when all three are on the floor together, the results have been inconsistent; Hawaii exposed the trio as the lineup’s weakest link.

Grbovic, who hit two threes against Gonzaga and played 27 minutes last game, saw just 13 minutes tonight, finishing scoreless with five rebounds. Trouet, who had back-to-back double-doubles against Gonzaga and Utah Tech but scored just two points against Georgia State, went 1-for-7 for six points against Hawaii. Diop notched his fifth straight double-digit game, mostly on easy baskets, and went 4-for-8 from the line. While he flashed potential with 18 points and two threes in game two, he has missed his only two three-point attempts since and hasn’t consistently imposed himself in the paint, though he remains efficient from the midrange.

Individually, each player has shown flashes, but collectively they struggled against Hawaii’s frontcourt. The Rainbow Warriors outscored ASU in the paint by 12, while the Sun Devils swatted only one shot. On nights like this, it’s clear that the trio still needs more comfortability in the post, to consistent stretch-three shooting, to rebounding and rim protection.

It’s still very early, and the potential is evident. But when all three struggle on the same night, even size and length can’t carry the team.

Even on “off nights,” Moe Odum and Pig Johnson remain key contributors

Early in the first half, nothing was clicking for Odum. Passing, shooting, and getting his teammates involved, everything that normally fuels ASU’s offense was off, leaving the team sluggish. Fresh off a season-high 24 points, nine assists, and five steals, Odum started just 4 for 11 from the field with one assist and three turnovers. His usual ability to spark the offense and deliver when ASU needed a basket was missing.

Johnson, meanwhile, went into halftime without a field goal and just three points. It mirrored his early struggles in the Georgia State game, though unlike that night, he hadn’t yet found his spark.

As the second half unfolded, Johnson became the “microwave” ASU needed. He scored 13 of his 16 points after halftime, largely fueled by aggressive drives and four made free throws.

Odum, despite scoring 15 points, struggled to find rhythm from the field, but he still delivered in the clutch. He hit a run-around three with 3:36 to go to give ASU a five-point lead and followed it with a pull-up midrange jumper a few possessions later to extend the lead to six. He also found his passing touch, dishing out five of his six assists in the second half while committing just one turnover, helping fuel ASU’s late surge.