Randy Bennett gets first win as Arizona State head coach

It didn't come without a little drama, but Randy Bennett has notched his first win as the Arizona State head coach in as many games.

The Sun Devils beat the East Tennessee State Buccaneers 75-65, leading for the majority of the game, though it never really looked pretty. Bennett's St. Mary's teams were known for their methodical offense and stingy defense, and that came through from the opening set.

However, the Buccaneers - whose tournament bid last year fell short in their conference title game - did not make it easy. They took advantage of some early chemistry issues for the Sun Devils and scored points off turnovers with consistency.

Arizona State came into this game wanting to feed their offense through Paulius Murauskas, the former Gaels power forward named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Year. Murauskas struggled early on, missing his first two shots and turning it over five times. Murauskas also picked up his fourth foul late in the second half and was forced to play lighter defense to avoid fouling out.

Yet, despite his struggles, Murauskas finished with 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 assists. He failed to hit any of his five three-point attempts, but Murauskas still led the Sun Devils in scoring.

The other major development for Arizona State was the injury to Emmanuel Innocenti. A transfer from Gonzaga, Innocenti came in as the team's best defender, and it showed early. But Innocenti left the game towards the very end of the first half with what appeared to be a sprained ankle.

The Sun Devil defense started to leak after Innocenti left, and the Buccaneers made it a six-point game at halftime. Innocenti would be ruled out for the rest of the night, but Arizona State was able to make some adjustments defensively and still force 13 turnovers, on which they scored 23 points for the night.

Point guard Joel Foxwell finished second in scoring with 15 points, hitting a couple long range threes and dazzling fans with his lethal floater. Dillan Shaw added 13 points and 6 rebounds, while backup center Filip Malesevic actually outplayed starter Ben Defty in terms of minutes, with 25 minutes for Malesevic compared to 13 for Defty.

Defty got in foul trouble early in the game, leading to Malesevic subbing in, but then the Serbian transfer started showing out. He finished the night with 12 points, 6 rebounds (4 of which were offensive rebounds), and a block. Bennett seemingly stuck with Malesevic to preserve the hot hand, though it will be interesting to track the playing time of these two going forward.

All in all, the Sun Devils played an uneven game to start the season off. Murauskas admitted as much after the game, saying the team played very poorly relative to their expectations.

Arizona State had 10 turnovers and shot only 31% from deep while allowing a 41% clip from three to the opponent. None of those are things Bennett wants to see, and there will be work to clean things up from this game.

The Sun Devils will play their next game on Friday, playing host to Northern Colorado.