For Wildcats, win on the House

Wildcats' secret weapon: Rim

David Soto of the State Press UA freshman two guard Gilbert Arenas skies over ASU guard Eddie House during Wednesday's 82-55 Wildcat victory. Arenas shot 10 of 13 from the field for a game-high 24 points and helped to limit House, the Pac-10's leading scorer, to just eight points.

Doom'sDay
by Justin Doom
State Press

It's tough to win a basketball game when the other team's best defender is a sturdy, steadfast, immovable object who makes his presence known each and every trip down the floor.

I'm not talking about UA's Loren Woods, here, although 7-foot-1 center certainly stuffed his share of Sun Devil shot attempts.

I'm talking about "Rim."

Not to be confused with "him," or anyone else for that matter, Rim is circular and comprised of orange metal, and can usually be found hanging 10 feet above the floor at one end of the court.

Wednesday night, he was nothing short of spectacular.

It's puzzling how ASU ignored recruiting such a masterful defensive maestro but Rim got his revenge in a big way, turning back 67.2 percent of the Sun Devils' shots.

"I didn't even have to move around very much," Rim said. "I just stood around and pretty much anything they (ASU) chucked at me bounced right off."

Rim, of course, was being a bit modest, and noted how many times shots also deflected off Woods.

"Loren played great," said Rim, who was the main reason the Sun Devils scored just 55 points, their lowest output of the season. "Anything that I didn't get to, Loren did. He had a great game."

Rim's sheer dominance was evident by halftime, as ASU, which leads the conference in scoring, went to the locker room with just 22 points on 9 of 32 shooting.

"Yeah, I think I held them (ASU) to only like 28 percent or something," Rim said, who was only off by one-tenth of a point (28.1 was the actual figure). "My goal was 40 (percent). I guess I just played a great half."

No matter where ASU stopped and popped, nothing plopped, and much of the 14,203 on hand were headed for the parking lot early in the second half.

One wondered if this were one of MTV's Rock 'n' Jock games if the Sun Devils could have made enough 10- or 25-point buckets to keep themselves in the game. When asked if double-digit-point baskets could have helped ASU, Rim's reply was blunt but fair: "Probably not."

Rim mentioned how the only thing disappointing about the game was that his parents weren't able to make it up for the game.

"Yeah, mom and dad couldn't make it out of the McKale Center tonight," Rim said.

Rim's folks have played key roles in seeing that the Devils have won just once in 16 trips to Tucson since Lute Olson became the 'Cats coach.

"They taught me everything I know," said Rim, tears welling up in his eyes. "I hope I made them proud tonight."

He surely must have -- almost as surely as their pride was ASU coach Rob Evans' utter chagrin.

"This game was a total disappointment for me," Evans said. "They just totally dominated us."

They did, indeed. Rim and all.

Justin Doom can be reached by e-mail at justin.doom@asu.edu.