In sports all around the world, from 6U peewee basketball to pickup games at the local rec center to professional leagues, defense is seen as the driving factor behind success.
This mindset is taking hold in Tempe, where women’s basketball coach Molly Miller has placed a heavy focus on defense in her first season. After picking up win number 21 Saturday, ASU has reached its highest win total since 2018-19.
Since arriving on campus, Miller hasn’t hidden her team’s identity. After picking up an important win over Arizona Jan. 28, she highlighted how much emphasis she puts on defense.
“Rely on our defense,” Miller said. “(The Wildcats) were scoring and we weren’t scoring, so that was the problem. We’ll go on droughts where we don’t score. This team’s nature is to get stops. So if we go on droughts where we don’t score, we have to prevent the other team from getting back-to-back buckets. We usually say three stops in a row.”
That reliance on defense has worked all season for the Sun Devils.
ASU (21-6) boasts the fifth best defense in the Big 12, holding teams to 59.4 points per game.
The Sun Devils’ defense comes from their philosophy on how to stop teams from scoring.
“You can control the defensive end,” Miller said. “You can control communicating and talking. You can control getting on the floor for loose balls. You can control grabbing that thing out of the air. Every 50/50 ball is 100% ours. The team that fights, the team that’s the toughest and plays the hardest, I’ll bet on them.”
The fight from ASU also comes across on the stats sheets.
Among Big 12 teams, the Sun Devils sit second in opponent turnovers, fourth in steals and fifth lowest in opponent field goal percentage.
Despite the high-level defense, ASU has not been perfect in 2025-26. On the offensive side of the floor, the Sun Devils have struggled. They are 14th in the Big 12 in scoring, averaging 67.4 points per game. Despite shooting a Big 12 11th best 43% from the field and 13th best 29% from three, the Sun Devils have still found ways to win games.
Senior guard Gabby Elliott leads the team in scoring, putting up 17.3 a night, good enough for fifth best in the conference. However, everybody has had a chance to shine on offense in many different ways. After taking down UA, Elliott commented on the value each player brings to the table for ASU.
“Everybody has a role as long as everybody is shooting confident,” Elliott said. “Then tonight we have people that were shooting open shots, rebounding very well, that pays off. You never want to be a team that only has one or two people that score the ball. Of course, it’s good to have that consistency, but it’s always a great night when everybody’s involved.”
The theme of all players getting involved was highlighted in ASU’s 74-69 win over Oklahoma State Feb. 4 where redshirt junior forward Deborah Davenport scored a season-high 18 points. After the game, Davenport was humble before Miller cut her off.
“I’m very proud of myself and my teammates,” Davenport said. “Especially Coach Molly. All week, she was speaking life into us to stay positive. That really helped us a lot to win this game and bounce back from our loss. So I think that’s what really pushed us and …”
Miller then took over, giving her praise to Davenport.
“I will say something, because she will not toot her own horn,” Miller said. “This child right here, I tell her to talk, and she’s the loudest. I need more, Deb, ‘yes, ma’am, I got you.’ Deb, do all the intangibles. ‘No problem, coach, I love that role.’ This is a winner. This is what we want our program to be built on. This is who we want to continue, the types of kids we want to recruit.”
While Miller compliments her roster in the team finding success, the players return the favor to their coach. While she may have a different mindset from other coaches around the country, the players see how valuable Miller’s input is.
“Molly is one of the first head coaches that I played for that has been defensive minded and not offensive minded,” Elliott said. “You know what type of energy and intensity she’s looking for, and you can see everybody buying in. That’s part of Molly because that’s what she wants. She likes points, but she’s more focused and keeping on the defense for sure.”
While Elliott recognizes the extent to which Miller favors defense, she notices the value in the philosophy. With everyone bought into the Molly Miller way, Elliott is happy to live with the new mindset.
“The game is never over,” Elliott said. “Offensive coaches, it’s about making shots, and if you don’t, then we’re dead in the water. With Molly, it is literally to the last second. If you have a chance to get the ball back, you never know what can happen.”
The philosophy of defense-first has not stopped the Sun Devils from finding success. Through 27 games, 14 of which were in the conference, ASU sits seventh in the Big 12, and the defense could certainly take credit for the success.
In 26 of the Sun Devils’ 27 games, ASU held its opponent’s offense below their average scoring mark.
With four regular season games left on the schedule and her team sitting right on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, there is everything to play for in Miller’s locker room. As she focuses on the rest of the season, the message is clear.
“We just need to keep our brand,” Miller said. “Moving into March, moving into the end of February, the pressure, the defense, the intensity, the focus, the team-first approach, selflessness. We got to carry that game to game.”
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