Thanks to Alonzo Verge and his 43 point outburst, Saint Mary’s and Arizona State provided us with one of the weirdest box scores that you are ever going to see on Wednesday night.
The Gaels put a beatdown on the Sun Devils, jumping out to a 28-7 lead in the first ten minutes thanks to 22 points from their star guard, Jordan Ford. They were up 51-19 at the half and cruised to a 96-56 win.
That’s not the crazy part.
Arizona State’s starters combined for a grand total of 13 points, but only one guy scored coming off of their bench. That would be Verge, who went for 43 points.
While coming off of the bench.
In a 40 point loss.
I cannot imagine that has ever happened before.
And to be frank, it’s a product of the weird game flow.
This thing was over 10 minutes in. The Gaels were up by 20, the Sun Devils very obviously did not want to be there and, as a team, ASU had just seven points. The only guy that seemed remotely interested in playing was Verge, so Bobby Hurley made sure that he got the rock on every single possession, more or less.
Verge was 18-for-29 from the floor. The rest of the Sun Devils were 5-for-35. Verge also led the team in assists with two, meaning he was responsible for all but three of Arizona State’s baskets on Wednesday night. It also gives you a sense of just how much 1-on-1 basketball he was playing.
I honestly don’t know if we’ll ever see something like this happen again.
The question I want to know is this: Is Alonzo Verge happy about scoring 43 in a 40 point loss?
Because I have to be honest ... I probably would be pretty happy about it.