(Photo: Haley Spracale/WCSN)
TEMPE – Arizona junior forward Azuolas Tubelis steals the ball from Arizona State senior forward Alonzo Gaffney, putting the Wildcats on a fast break. The Lithuanian is all alone, striding toward the basket and hammering down a thunderous slam to balloon the Wildcats’ first-half lead to 18, prompting an ASU timeout. “UofA” chants echoed through Desert Financial Arena as the Arizona faithful in attendance overpowered the voices of ASU fans, who were left stunned by the bull rush by their most hated rival.
The first-half buzzer sounded and those chants continued to ring loudly as the Sun Devils made their way to the locker room depleted after a disheartening first half. Moral in Tempe was dissipating fast within the home fans as ASU (11-3) needed to show an ounce of fight spirit. Which is exactly what it did.
Instead of waving the white flag to its in-state rival, the program came out swinging in the second half, cutting the deficit to single digits in the opening minutes of the second half. ASU relayed on its defensive identity, which sparked a 19-4 run to bring the game within two points. But the strong second-half play was spoiled by first-half miscues, as Arizona State Men’s Basketball failed to upset No. 5 Arizona (12-1) 69-60, marking its first home loss of the year.
“It was always a little bit of carryover from the way we lost last week. In the first half, we were trying to get our confidence back,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “I appreciated how we fought our way back into the game and defended and got stops and started playing like we have been playing all season.”
The Sun Devils struggled in the first 20 minutes, in large part due to their lack of success behind the arch, missing their first 13 attempts and finishing the half 2-of-16. The Wildcats’ physical defense was crucial for the poor shooting performance.
“I thought they were doing a good job defensively, taking some things away,” Hurley said. They were expending tremendous energy.”
Arizona fought over ball screens sticking to ASU’s ball handlers. The Wildcats’ defenders made their presence felt, bumping guards off screens and holding the Sun Devils to little success with dribble hands-off. The tight defense was critical in the large first-half lead.
“[Arizona] were switching some things and jump-switching with some guys,” Hurley said. “They’ve had a week to prepare. They’ve watched us and they put some things away and we have to be able to counter them a little bit better.”
When ASU got the ball downhill, Arizona collapsed into the paint, denying any passes to the Sun Devils’ big men. The strong interior defense was difficult to crack, especially with the Sun Devils’ shooting woes, allowing the Wildcats to leave shooters open and focus on protecting the paint.
Freshman forward Duke Brennan gave ASU some first-half hope, remaining attentive on the offensive glass. Brennan finished the first half with six points and six rebounds, four of which were offensive rebounds.
“I loved the way [Brennan] played,” Hurley said. “He was the one area of the game we won in the first half, which was the hustle game. We had nine offensive rebounds at halftime, and you know he had six and six. So, for a freshman to play that way when things were not going well says a lot about him.
However, those sparks always fizzled out quickly because of the offensive onslaught of the Wildcats. Arizona came into Saturday’s matchup as the best statistical offense in the Pac-12 averaging 84 points a game, and it looked like it in the first half.
Arizona shot 41.7 percent from the 3-point line, a common thread of all its wins this year, but found most of its success from the charity stripe. ASU struggled to contest at the rim without fouling, gifting the Wildcats 15 free throws.
“The other thing that hurt us was their size,” Hurley said. “The free throw differential anytime you’re minus 17 or 18 at the free throw line in made free throws, it’s hard to overcome.”
Arizona flexed their muscles in the first half, building a 45-28 halftime lead.
Hurley and the Sun Devils opened the second half with a fiery rage, relying on its defensive intensity and the playmaking of sophomore guard Frankie Collins to outscore the Wildcats 19-4.
“The difference was our energy,” senior forward Warren Washington said. “We just had to be physical and match their energy.”
The stretch saw Collins lead the offense into the paint, finding Washington for the easy finishes. Collins, who finished with six assists, penetrated the interior, dishing it off to the seven-footer, which ignited the run early.
“They were playing the same kind of [defense], but I feel like we just got the ball to the paint more in the second half,” Washington said. “Instead of being stagnant, quick shots were the biggest difference. We had a lot more motion and flow.”
The Sun Devils also used their length on the defensive end by returning to their hard-nosed defensive identity. ASU’s aggressive on-ball defense, while not allowing an inch of separation to Arizona shooters, led to a reversal of the first half. The Wildcats were 0-of-9 from beyond the arc, failing to establish a rhythm.
The poor outside shooting forced Arizona to adjust its offensive game plan by attacking the paint, but ASU’s length made the adjustment difficult. The Sun Devils’ defenders had seven steals en route to force 13 turnovers, leading to transition offense. ASU had 11 fastbreak points, a majority of those points were scored during its 19-4 run, which saw Arizona’s lead fall to 2 points.
“We were a step quicking at times in the second half to take things away and raise some turnovers and get back in the game,” Hurley said. “We got it to where it was a manageable game, and we got a chance to win.”
Despite the large scoring run by ASU, the first-half mistakes began to haunt the offense, as many key players were in foul trouble, including Collins, senior guard Devan Cambridge and fifth-year guard Desmond Cambridge Jr.
Collins played only 11 second-half minutes, leaving ASU without its primary playmaker and ball handler. The Sun Devils relayed on contested outside shots rather than its aggression toward the basket. The change of play helped the Wildcats’ lead grow to double digits. While the defense didn’t let up, ASU couldn’t get out in transition, with multiple outlet passes sailing over the head of streaking Sun Devils.
“The other thing is we didn’t do a great job at times in transition in the second half,” Hurley said. “It was stuck on 52-59 forever. We had a few opportunities in the open court, and we just threw some suspect passes, so we have to make sure we make good decisions.”
ASU had a chance to win the game after Tubelis picked up a technical foul, gifting the offense the ball down the six. But, the offense settled for a contested 3 from Desmond Cambridge Jr.
“There were a lot of guys who had open looks, and of course, down the stretch, there were a couple of shaky, contested ones, but we were trying to get from six to three, and we couldn’t quite nail one of those threes,” Hurley said. “This is something to build on.”
The Sun Devils held the best offense in the Pac-12 to 21 points on 26.9 percent shooting from the field in the second half, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the horrid first half to upset their in-state rival, extending their losing streak to Arizona to five.
“It’s crazy the top-five team in the country, who have beaten some really good teams in the league, we lost by nine and went 3-for-27 from 3,” Hurley said.
