ASU Men’s Basketball: Sun Devils blow lead, fall to Texas A&M

(Photo: Scotty Bara/WCSN)

Turnovers proved to be too costly for the Arizona State Sun Devils who fell to the Texas A&M Aggies 72-71 in a second-half collapse.

The Sun Devils (5-3) avoided another slow start, going up 8-2 in the first two minutes of the game. They quickly fell victim to turnovers, giving up three in three minutes and allowing the Aggies to pull ahead 13-8.

But back-to-back layups from forward Shaquielle McKissic sparked a 26-16 run by the Sun Devils over the last ten minutes of the first half, allowing the Sun Devils to go into the locker room with an 11-point lead.

Arizona State maintained steady control throughout the first 10 minutes of second half play, outrebounding the Aggies on defense 21-13.

But a sturdy ASU defense started to deteriorate around the 10-minute mark, giving up 9 unanswered points to allow the Aggies to pull back within two, at which point Texas A&M forward Kourtney Roberson drove baseline, dished it back out to guard Alex Robinson who sank a three to give his team the first lead of the second half at 63-62 with six minutes left to play.

Three more turnovers over a two-minute span plagued ASU’s offense. With one minute remaining the teams were notched at 69, and another ASU turnover allotted shooting guard Alex Caruso a layup to put the Aggies up 71-69 with 41.5 seconds left.

Cue Tra Holder, who collected 14 points in the losing effort. The guard drove hard to the basket, picked up the foul, and knocked down both free throws to tie it back up at 71 with 34 seconds left.

But in a mirrored attempt Roberson drove and drew a  foul that knocked Sun Devil forward Eric Jacobsen out of the game with five seconds left. Roberson made one of two free throws to pull his team up one over the Sun Devils for the victory.

Player of the Game: Alex Caruso

The Aggie swept the leader board, leading his team in points with 23, and rebounds and assists with six apiece. Caruso was the catalyst in this Aggie comeback and made the do-or-die layup that put the Aggies up with 41 seconds left, which thwarted ASU’s attempt to put Texas A&M away.

Stat of the Game: 90 percent from the charity stripe

This proved a huge improvement from the first couple games of the season where ASU was hitting around 50 percent. If ASU can keep up this recent success from the free-throw line, it will help to inhibit small-margined losses, assuming that the team doesn’t turn the ball over as much as they did in this matchup.

Biggest Concern: Too many Turnovers

While forcing eight of their own, the Sun Devils handed the Aggies 22 points off 17 turnovers — roughly a little less than a third of of their total points. 

What’s next?

Arizona State will face the Pepperdine Waves in Wells Fargo Arena Saturday at 12:00 p.m. The game can be seen on the Pac-12 Networks.

You can reach the author via Twitter at KristinaV_18 or by email at kvicario@asu.edu

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