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TEMPE – Before senior forward Paulius Murauskas even played a game for Arizona State, his teammates voted him a team captain.
On Friday, Murauskas scored 33 points against Northern Colorado, the most he has scored in a college game. After the 90-63 win, he rang the victory bell at Desert Financial Arena.
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“We’re going to flip this thing and make this place great again,” Murauskas said after the game, referring to the announced crowd of 5,295 in an arena that seats 14,198.
Murauskas added 22 points in an 85-63 win against Hofstra on Tuesday, but he can’t lead alone. He won’t have to.
While Murauskas followed coach Randy Bennett to Tempe from Saint Mary’s, senior guard Bryce Ford chose to stay after former coach Bobby Hurley’s departure.
Together, they are hoping to lead a resurgence in the revamped program.
With just two players returning from last season’s ASU squad, Bennett had a captain in Murauskas who knew what the coach expected from players in his program, and a guard in Ford who had already played a season in the Big 12.
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Arizona State hired Bennett in March after the Sun Devils went three straight seasons without an NCAA Tournament appearance under Hurley. Dramatic change is already evident. Four transfers started against Northern Colorado, including Murauskas and his former Saint Mary’s teammate, Dillan Shaw, who was also in the starting lineup against Hofstra.
Murauskas started his college career in Tucson, but averaged only five minutes a game as a freshman at Arizona. He started every game in his first season at Saint Mary’s then led the Gaels in scoring the next at 18.4 points per game. Two assistants who coached him there also joined Bennett in Tempe. It was enough to convince Murauskas to join them at ASU.
“After not playing my first year, they helped me get through that and I trust them to keep making me a better player,” Murauskas said when ASU announced his signing in July.
Bennett said Murauskas was one of the first players his staff…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/something-old-something-bryce-ford-182413157.html
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Publish date : 2026-11-11 18:24:00
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