TEMPE — Randy Bennett’s first game as Arizona State’s men’s basketball coach ended in a 75-65 win over East Tennessee State on Monday night at Desert Financial Arena, Arizona Sports reported.
Transfer forward Paulius Murauskas led the Sun Devils with 21 points and nine rebounds. Point guard Joel Foxwell added 15 points.
The Buccaneers hung around for most of the night and cut ASU’s lead to five with about 10 minutes left, but the Sun Devils held on. “That’s what I was pleased with: composure, because it was kind of ratty there for a while,” Bennett said.
Defense and rebounding were the problem spots. East Tennessee State shot 41.2% from 3-point range and grabbed 12 offensive rebounds, even though ASU won the overall rebounding battle 34-31. Buccaneers guard BJ Ward scored a game-high 25 points.
“Our habits aren’t where they need to be,” Bennett said. “We just make errors that we shouldn’t make.”
ASU’s shooting improved after halftime. The Sun Devils went 3 of 14 from deep in the first half and 5 of 12 in the second.
“We did an okay job at representing what Randy’s all about,” Foxwell said. “It’s good that we got the win, but we have so much more work to do.”
Sources: Arizona Sports. Thee Arizona Times uses AI-assisted reporting reviewed against the sources listed.
Photo: NASA / Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
