ASU Men’s Basketball: Comeback falls short against Ayton, Arizona

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

(Photo: Nicholas Badders/WCSN)

ASU men’s basketball has a penchant for comebacks. In its most impressive wins of the season — upsets over Kansas and Xavier — Bobby Hurley’s team overcame double-digit first half deficits.

Thursday’s game against No. 17 Arizona followed a similar trend, but the No. 25 Sun Devils (19-7, 7-7 Pac-12) just couldn’t hold on, falling 77-70 in front of a sold out Wells Fargo Arena crowd. The Wildcats (21-6, 11-3 Pac-12) are plainly the better team, headed for another March run fueled by their talismanic stars.

There was a window — albeit brief — for ASU to take a commanding lead in the second half. The Sun Devils stormed back from down 18 and led 46-39 with 17 minutes to go.

Unfortunately for them, Deandre Ayton had his massive hands on the glass, slamming the window shut with a graceful violence. Generational talents tend to do that sort of thing.

“After competing against (Ayton) twice, he may be the best big that I’ve seen in college as a player and as a coach,” Hurley said. “He’s just scratching the surface of what he’ll be. It’s hard to imagine what he’ll be.”

Ayton finished with 25 points, 16 rebounds and four assists. He annihilated ASU on the offensive glass throughout his team’s second half run. With multiple Sun Devil forwards in foul trouble, Ayton took advantage, carrying the Wildcats to victory.

Arizona wasn’t without contributions from the perimeter, though. Its six three-pointers — five of which came from Dusan Ristic or Allonzo Trier — were timely. ASU’s misses on the other end were not.

“I thought we left some things out there,” Hurley said. “We had some chances, whether it was a missed layup or an open three or 1-for-6 from the foul line.”

ASU had to be perfect in the face of Ayton’s dominance. The slightest miscue can snowball into a collapse when you’re playing a team with clear advantages in size and talent. That starts and ends on the glass, where Ayton feasted.

Every offensive rebound the Sun Devils surrendered down the stretch acted as a counterweight to the miraculous plays they made earlier in the game. If they do end up in the NCAA tournament, a team with quality big men will look at the tape of Thursday’s game and salivate.

“They had nine (offensive rebounds) in the second half,” Hurley said. “That hurt. Some of the tip-ins hurt.”

Here ASU is again, tending to its wounds after a competitive bout with the Wildcats. The first game portended a new era of the rivalry. The second had a chance to be the moment Hurley’s team broke through and ushered in that era. Instead, fans continue to wait for the next defining moment.

It’s not far away. Hurley has this program on an upward trajectory. He didn’t get that contract extension just because he’s a good recruiter — there’s a culture change around Tempe that keeps drawing 10,000+ fans to an expanded Wells Fargo Arena.

Even in a season where ASU thrust itself into the national picture and ascended as high as No. 3 in the AP polls, patience remains a virtue.