Adam Miller ejected as frustrations boil over for Sun Devils

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE — Following Arizona State men’s basketball’s late loss to rival Arizona, senior guard Adam Miller spoke in his postgame press conference, calmly responding to each and every question with well-thought-out answers. One thing that Miller harped on multiple times was his ability as a leader and how he himself had to improve, given his position as a veteran on a relatively young team.

“I’m at a point in my career where I gotta be able to win and lead,” Miller said Saturday.

Miller said he was going to host a players only meeting before ASU’s Tuesday night game against Kansas State, but it is unconfirmed whether or not that happened. However, Miller came out in pregame warmups wearing a shirt with the saying “As One” displayed front and center.

Playing as a team on Tuesday was clearly a priority for Miller, but with just under eight minutes to go in the game, Miller removed himself from the game, allowing his emotions to take over. Standing in the corner guarding Kansas State junior guard Dug McDaniel, out of nowhere, and probably after some trash talk although that is not confirmed, Miller slapped McDaniel right in front of referee Tony Padilla.

Padilla immediately blew his whistle and, after a review, ejected Miller, assessing him a Flagrant two technical foul.

Following the ejection, the Sun Devils used the energy to put together a 7-0 run. But, in the end, ASU (12-10, 3-8 Big 12) came up short once again, losing 71-70 to KSU (11-11, 5-6).

“(Miller’s) a superior competitor and a winner, and I think the emotions of the game got to him,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said.

Hurley cited a reason for Miller’s frustration was the lack of energy on the team and in the arena as a whole prior to tip. It could be the bad emotions rolling over from the team’s collapse against Arizona or the Tuesday late-night tip, but pregame, the Sun Devils did not seem to be at their normal energy levels.

Despite that however, ASU blitzed out to a 15-0 start, hitting three of its first six threes and stifling a Wildcats team that had just beat then-No. 3 Iowa State by double digits. The remainder of the game was a different story.

Hitting just four of their next 19 three-point attempts, the Sun Devils became deep ball happy, ending the first half with 25 three-point attempts to just seven attempts from inside the arc. Hurley said that the shots were wide open, but eventually, an adjustment had to be made.

“With the quality of shooting that we’ve shown throughout the course of the season, to be five-of-19 [on unguarded shots] on our home floor is, you can’t win,” Hurley said. I “Guys that I expect to take those shots, we can’t win if a higher percentage of them don’t go in.”

Despite the 15-0 lead to open the game, the Sun Devils entered halftime down 35-32, suffering multiple stretches of over two minutes that saw them score zero points. These lulls in energy and scoring are the result of ASU playing what Miller describes as ‘superhero’ ball.

This ‘superhero’ ball is the source of Hurley’s and Miller’s frustration as the Sun Devils near the end of their rope. Sitting now at 3-7 in conference play and riding a five-game home losing streak, ASU doesn’t have too many cards left to play, and a win against the Wildcats would have been a life raft for a sinking season.

The longer the Sun Devils don’t turn the season around the more and more that frustration will build up. The past two games have both seen ASU ejections, Miller on Tuesday and senior wing BJ Freeman after head-butting an Arizona player on Saturday.

“Coming in today, we’re squarely on the bubble, and now we took another step back,” Hurley said. “So guys that want to go play in the postseason, like Adam Miller does, I think sometimes the fuse gets lit, and he’s seeing everything just kind of unraveling. Sometimes, you make a poor judgment.”

Both in the game and for the season as a whole, this season is unraveling. In the middle of the second half, as ASU continued to struggle on offense, the limited 942 Crew sent a message to Hurley, chanting “Fire Bobby” multiple times before the leaders of the section could get the chant to stop.

The fans are frustrated. Miller is frustrated. Hurley is frustrated. Something has to change.

“We all are searching,” Hurley said. “We’re right there. We’re knocking on the door in all these games, and we just can’t figure out a way to get over the top. … I’ve tried to do the best job I can with this team, and I’m not getting through to them enough. It’s not going well.”