PHOENIX — Moe Odum’s leadership has shown up at every juncture of this young Arizona State men’s basketball season, and there’s no one on the roster more key to how much it can improve.
Coach Bobby Hurley took mere seconds after Saturday’s 86-70 win over Oklahoma before mentioning Odum’s name as the catalyst for newfound defensive tenacity, which resulted in the fewest points the Sun Devils have allowed in a half (28) since Nov. 17 to Georgia State (23).
Oklahoma’s Nijel Pack, who entered with at least four made 3s in six of eight games this season while shooting 50.7% from deep, was held to a season-worst 1-for-5 by ASU.
Odum led the charge.
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“He practices really hard and because he practices hard, he’s prepared,” Hurley said. “We had very specific things that we worked on defensively that needed to change, and we needed to get back to getting stops, protecting the rim and rebounding.
“And the guys were really dialed into the scouting report and the things we were trying to do with Pack to make things difficult for him.”
Odum wasn’t involved in Pack’s four turnovers, but he did have a direct hand in how the other players were prepared.
ASU took two rest days after returning from its Hawaii trip that included a true road game at the Rainbow Warriors before three games in under 72 hours in the Maui Invitational.
Once the two days were up, back-to-back hard practices awaited them.
Hurley described it as a course correction after the bounce back from the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament the team traveled to the Bahamas for in 2021 didn’t go as planned.
“When we got back from the first practice, I just told them like ‘Maui’s over. Hawaii’s over. That was last month. The tournament doesn’t start in November, it starts in March,'” Odum said.
Hurley said what Odum and others are doing by self-policing, holding each other accountable and pushing each other to get better, are all traits of the best teams he’s been a part of.
The free lunch he was providing earlier in the season for big men getting rebounds falls into that category, as does the work that resulted in a breakout performance from Marcus Adams Jr. in Saturday’s win.
Moe Odum’s part in helping ASU’s Marcus Adams Jr. emerge
The 11 points and 20 minutes were both season highs for Adams, and he shot 3-for-5 from 3 after beginning the year 1-for-10 from deep. Injuries he dealt with in the preseason kept him from hitting the ground running to begin the year.
But Odum was one of the people in the program to recognize what Adams could provide when performing to his capabilities, and the conditioning has been a big step in that.
The point guard said he was staying on Adams throughout the week with extra running drills followed by worn down shooting and going back and forth between the two, with additional sessions on the off days.
“Getting (Adams) in practice and having even our own players — not only our coaches — our players encouraging him to practice harder to get some extra conditioning in,” Hurley said. “And that would be (Odum) because I saw him encouraging Marcus after practice was over.
“So (Adams) deserved to play well because of all the work he put in all week to get ready for this game. … Like, I knew in some way that he was going to have a positive impact because of the way he practiced all week.”
Odum said when Adams is spacing the floor at 6-foot-8, “domination” is achievable for the Sun Devil offense.
“There’s no steps back for Marcus. I’m back on him on Monday,” he added.
Before the season, Hurley said the point guard was every bit the competitor he would want out of that position, and he should know what that looks like.
So far, that’s showing up in every game with how he engages and involves his teammates, as well as how he shows up in the clutch.
It’s also showing up in how he’s raising the ceilings of everyone around him.
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