ASU Men’s Basketball: Strong start not enough in 91-79 loss to Arizona

(Photo: Paige Cook/WCSN)

TEMPE – When Arizona State Men’s Basketball head coach Bobby Hurley asked his team after its 3OT, 87-84 upset win at home over then-No. 3 ranked UCLA on Saturday what “they thought [Desert Financial Arena] would be like on Monday” when No. 4 ranked Arizona came to town, he wasn’t wrong about the atmosphere both teams would walk into.

The Sun Devils fed off a lively home crowd – perhaps as intense a one since the COVID-19 pandemic began – in the early moments of Monday’s game against the Wildcats. They got out to a stunning 14-1 lead thanks to three three-pointers and a swift transition game. Then, ASU senior forward Kimani Lawrence and Arizona sophomore guard Dalen Terry traded ferocious dunks, and ASU led 16-3 with 15:49 left in the first half.

But the later stages of the first fell apart for the Sun Devils, as Arizona made it a point to play 6’11 sophomore forward Azuolas Tubelis and 7’1 junior center Christian Koloko simultaneously, bullying ASU in the paint while the Sun Devils jacked pull-up jumper after pull-up jumper. That led to a tie of 19-all and Arizona leading 40-36 at halftime, while a 15-4 run by the Wildcats out of the break was the catalyst in ASU’s 91-79 loss.

“I credit Arizona, they were really good tonight,” Hurley said.

“It’s disappointing to lose to your rival like this.”

Arizona, at the start of the second half, looked like the team ASU did to begin the game. It ran, rotated and fought hard every possession. The Wildcats threw down three massive dunks and sunk a three-pointer. The Sun Devils looked lifeless, similar to the rattled nature the Wildcats displayed in the early moments of the game.

“I told the guys at the first media [timeout of the second half], ‘I don’t think we got one stop,’” Hurley said. “They scored every time down in a variety of ways.”

In an instant, the contest was over thanks to the Wildcats’ energy.

“I just think we came out flat,” Lawrence said. “They just went on a run and we were chasing from there on out.

“It’s something to learn from. You can’t do that against a team like U of A.”

After ASU’s hot first half start, Arizona came right back, scoring 11 points in a row to make it 16-14 ASU with 12:46 left in the half. The Sun Devils’ pace and ball movement came to a near halt – a trend that continued throughout most of the first half.

ASU jacked many pull-ups on possessions with one pass or less. The hot shooting it possessed early on regressed to the mean, giving ASU’s possessions hardly any meaning.

“I was nervous that, because we hit a bunch of threes, that we would fall in love with that,” Hurley said.

A sliver of hope seemed to come with 8:10 left in the first half. Sophomore guard DJ Horne ran a pick and roll at the top of the key with one of ASU’s bigs. As both maneuvered to the rim, Horne faked a layup on the right side of the hoop with one hand while using his other to drop a pass in front of Lawrence, who cut to the rim back-door and was there to tie the game at 23.

But between then and halftime, the Sun Devils’ offense stagnated, and their shots just didn’t go down. Arizona led by four at the break.

The Wildcats’ twin towers look with a duo of either Tubelis, Koloko and junior center Oumar Ballo gave ASU immense problems late in the first half. One of the two were almost always in position for a put-back if the initial shot didn’t fall. Their physicality on post-ups was overwhelming.

“Things we have tried to avoid, [like] points in the paint, [where] we’ve been good lately,” Hurley said before stuttering. “It wasn’t only their size in the front court that hurt us. They had some run-outs in the transition game.

“It’s rare that a team has that quality of an inside game that they can go to in a half-court offense.”

Halftime provided the Sun Devils a seemingly needed break – Arizona’s lead of four seemed destined to be larger had it not come. But instead of rallying, the wheels fell off for ASU and the Wildcats never looked back.

“It was just [us] coming out with the wrong approach,” Lawrence said. “We played a great first half, but it’s a 40-minute game.”

Despite the disappointing outcome in the rivalry game, not all is lost for ASU. A win against the Wildcats would have resulted in something the Sun Devils have never done – beating AP Top 5-ranked teams back-to-back.

Hurley knows his team has shown fight against top opponents, but for them, it’s simply about putting a full effort together.

“It’s tough and not easy,” Lawrence said. “But we talked in the locker room how, if you want to make a run in the Pac-12 Tournament, we’re gonna have to play teams like that.

“Games like that, you have to find ways to dig deep and win.”