ANAHEIM, Calif. — The strain of a playing with a limited roster caught up to Arizona State on Saturday night, when its game group of six scholarship players was unable to keep bullish UCLA from completing a sweep of the Arizona schools in a 75-58 victory.
But this time, unlike in some other losses this season, the Sun Devils were simply out-talented. It happens, especially when UCLA is able to put 6-foot-10 wide body Josh Smith on the floor. He missed the Bruins' victory over Arizona on Thursday with a concussion.
The final score was not pretty; UCLA ran away in the second half at the Honda Center, outscoring ASU by 14 points while dominating the inside.
"UCLA ratcheted it up, and we weren't able to respond they way we needed to," ASU coach Herb Sendek said.
At the same, ASU's takeaway from the trip is more than simply a road split thanks to a win over USC on Thursday. The Sun Devils showed signs in the first half they that just might have turned the corner in what has been an underachieving season — even while playing without suspended leading scorer Keala King, starter Kyle Cain and reserve Chris Colvin, all of whom didn't make the trip because of "unacceptable conduct."
Their status is to be reviewed this coming week.
Sendek did not want to go the "turning the corner" route, but he did like what he saw, especially the way captain Trent Lockett took control of the team as the Sun Devils tried for their third sweep of the L.A. schools and the first since a Steve Patterson team did it in 1987.
"We are not talking about splits or sweeps — we're talking about getting better. We're talking about playing as hard as we can and executing. We're really focused on us," Sendek said.
"I think we made some real progress coming together as a team this week. I think Trent's leadership has been as good as we've had. He's taken it up a couple of steps. We're playing with a small margin for error. The thing that we have to focus on is execution, and I liked the execution.
"There are a lot of very positive things that you won't be able to measure with numbers that are important for our program and our culture moving forward."
ASU ran its offense as crisply as it has all season in the first half, entering the ball to center Ruslan Pateev, who either took the ball to the basket against UCLA's man-to-man defense or returned it to the perimeter for good looks. The Sun Devils were patient and methodical and did not freelance or lose their composure on extended possessions, although they did not handle the Bruins' second-half press with similar efficiency.
Pateev got into foul trouble — he played only 19 minutes — while jostling with Smith underneath and fouled out midway through the second half. But he finished with 10 points — 4 for 4 from the field, 2 for 2 from the foul line — and two rebounds. A junior, Pateev seems to be developing along the same career arc as Eric Boateng, who developed into a good role player later in his career.
The Sun Devils also uncovered a player in 6-foot-7 freshman forward Jonathan Gilling, who started in place of Cain in both L.A. games and had back-to-back career highs with 12 points at USC and 17 against the Bruins.
Gilling, who chose ASU because of a connection between his coach in his native Denmark and ASU assistant Lamont Smith, was 5 for 6 from 3-point range and added two assists. Gilling has shown court awareness in limited time early in the season, as he was the only Sun Devil with more turnovers than assists entering the weekend.
Gilling hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions midway through the first half, the first under duress as the shot clock expired, to give ASU a 24-14 lead, finishing a streak in which the Sun Devils scored on 10 of their first 13 possessions.
"I'm a streaky shooter, so if I hit the first one, I can hit the second one and the third one, too," he said.
Starting did not faze him.
"No, I wasn't really nervous, because I know how to play basketball. It was fun to play in front of this crowd. They made a lot of noise. I'm used to maybe a maximum of 2,000 back home," he said.
The game turned on ASU's inability to bother Smith, who had 18 points and three of the Bruins' 13 offensive rebounds in 21 minutes. He scored the final four points of the first half and had 15 in the second half, shrugging off defenders with little difficulty.
"On the chalkboard, it is easy to maneuver," Sendek said. "The reality of it is, he's a mountain of a young man physically and an outstanding player.
"He just caught the ball too close to the basket and (we) gave him 'and-ones.' We can't even foul him, because fouling him is like a fly landing on him. We can't even foul him hard enough to make him miss unless they would let us play with a 2-by-4."
Sendek said he will review the suspensions of King, Cain and Colvin when the Sun Devils return home.
"We will continue to monitor the situation. We will continue to move forward," he said, adding that he has not placed any specific requirements on their return.
"I haven't done anything yet, because we're here and they're there. I haven't spent any time talking to them since we left."
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