Moe Odum’s work in the film room paid off immediately when ASU needed him most

Last Friday’s matchup with No.13 Gonzaga ended in a hard-fought 77-65 defeat for Arizona State; however, for senior guard Maurice Odum, his 4-of-15 shooting performance was frustrating. To add insult to disappointment, he turned the ball over an additional five times. 

To combat his overwhelming night, Odum went straight to the tap, deliberating with everyone from the coaching staff to his father to address a deficient performance against a formidable opponent. What everyone he talked to agreed upon was that he settled for the outside shot far too much. 

“I was taking too many threes, too many bad shots,” Odum said following the Sun Devils’ 75-62 victory Monday against Georgia State. “Forcing the game, not letting it come to me. So that was my game plan, to come out here and just let the game come to me, take what the defense gives me.” 

It didn’t take long for the game to arrive in Odum’s grasp. Against the Panthers (1-4), he finished with game highs in points (24), assists (9), and steals (5) on 10-of-19 shooting and just 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. 

It’s hard to pinpoint which half was more productive from Odom, because whatever head coach Bobby Hurley needed from him, he provided, scoring 15 points in the first half, starting 6-6 from the field with just one three-pointer while in his rhythmic state.  

“The Floater, I do work on that,” Odum said. “So just not being able to fall in love with the three so much, because I got other things to my game.”

Odum’s point of attack was in the midrange; his first two buckets were floaters he scored with the backboard; he then hit a stepback midrange from the elbow; and later, his second and-one floater to complete the sequence. Odom’s first four shots were all from the mid-range area. 

He was able to get these shots away through the pick-and-roll, most of the time with starting center 7-foot-1 freshman Massamba Diop. Because of Diops’ supreme athletic ability and verticality, Georgia State played a defensive scheme known as “drop coverage” because NCAA basketball doesn’t regulate against defensive 3-seconds, a player can sit in the paint and take away shots at the rim. 

But drop coverage leads the midrange wide open, and Odum didn’t hesitate to take advantage. 

“It was his night to be more offensive-minded,” Hurley said. “He was getting those shots almost anytime he wanted those mid-range pull-ups, the floaters, and then a couple of threes as well. So it’s just, more or less, how he was being defended, that those types of shots became available for him.” 

As a passer-first player, many defenses aim to remove a playmaker’s ability to get others involved, and to the Panthers’ credit, it worked. ASU was shooting 2-of-14 from three at the half, and an unlikely five-point advantage at the break had fans at Desert Financial Arena in shock, but the pint guard knew he was making the right plays because it’s what his coaches all needed from him. 

“After every game, I go watch film, and I’ll send the text out to the coaches and tell them what I think I did wrong,” Odum elaborated. “So I spoke to all the coaches. I spoke to coach Nick (Irvin). He told me I needed to work on my floaters more. So I got in the gym after practice the other day, just been working on my floaters with him. I spoke to Coach Mickey (Mitchell) I spoke to Coach Hurley, and it was all just telling me the same thing. All criticism is good criticism if it’s coming from the right place. So I’m just one ear in taking it all, in letting it go out, trying to add more to my game.” 

Odum’s offensive bag has never been one-dimensional; recruited for his NCAA fourth-highest assist per game mark at 7.5 per game, it’s easy to gloss over his efficient 13.1 points shooting 45% from the field and 38% from three-point range as Pepperdine’s primary ball handler. However, Hurley certainly didn’t forget and gave him the green light. 

“He’s older. He knows who he is,” Hurley said. “He knows he could take over a game score in the ball. He did it in the WCC tournament last year. Had some big scoring games. So it’s not like he’s could only pass, he can’t score at all. He could do a little bit of both, but he would prefer to get his teammates involved.” 

When ASU turned up the tempo in the second half, using multiple pressing schemes and forcing 12 second-half turnovers, it was exactly the time for Odum to get his teammates involved. He collected five of his nine assists in the second half, and as his passing game opened up, a free-flowing transition offense recorded 17 fast-break points. 

Yet, Odum’s best assist of the night was perhaps never on the hardwood; in the locker room before the second half, Odum let his teammates know on a personal scale that the first-half performance wasn’t up to standard. 

“In the first half, our energy was low,” Odum admitted. “I was sluggish. I said some things to them in the locker room, and they responded really well.” 

The team responded with a dominating 20-1 run, leapfrogging Georgia State and swinging a 10-point disadvantage to a nine-point lead in just 2 minutes and 30 seconds. 

At halftime, the Sun Devils had just four bench points compared to 17 from the Panthers. Senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson, who averaged 11.3 points off the bench, was scoreless with three fouls at the break. After a conversation with Odum at halftime, he notched a team-high 13 second-half points on 5-of-5 shooting.

“I spoke to Pig. He responded, Well, (Graduate forward Allen Mukeba) was slow in the first half. I spoke to Allen. He responded, Well,” Odum said. “So just being able to get on my teammates to me, that was what clicked for us. Me being able to just criticize them. They respond. Well.” 

After four home contests to start the season, Odum will be tasked with being a leader for ASU in uncharted territory. The band of new players travels on a flight on Tuesday morning to Hawaii for a game against the Warriors before heading to next week’s Maui Invitational. The tournament play doesn’t start until Nov. 24 against Texas; however, the Sun Devils get a true road test against Hawaii on Thursday, and Odum understands that every game will be a new trial.

“It’s a mid-major; they may have transfers from high majors. They may have transfers from D2,” Odum, a former mid-major player, said. “We don’t underestimate nobody. We came in the game underestimating Georgia State. We almost got our heads blown off. So we can’t underestimate them. And I hope it’s a lesson for my teammates, never underestimate anybody that’s not Power Five, because at the end of the day, we’ve all been at the mid-major level. So we should know how that feels.”