It had been 21 days since Arizona State Men’s Basketball last took the court due to complications with COVID-19.
The Sun Devils had redemption on their mind after a disappointing loss to UTEP back on Dec. 16, but ASU (4-4, 1-1) fell short in overtime against UCLA (8-2, 4-0) 81-75 on Thursday night.
The Sun Devils overcame their COVID-19 situation but were without four key players for the second Pac-12 Conference game of the year. Those four players were senior guard Remy Martin (personal), sophomore forward Jalen Graham (Mononucleosis), sophomore guard Jaelen House (non-disciplinary/non-injury and junior forward Taeshon Cherry (non-disciplinary/non-injury).
“I like how our guys stepped up, it’s been a tough stretch,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “To be short-handed and have four guys play over 40 minutes in a game and still compete the way we did I thought was very honorable.”
The long 21-day layoff and absence of key players showed its effect early in the game for the Sun Devils.
ASU came out flat offensively and the Bruins seized the opportunity, going on a 12-0 run to put UCLA up 14-6 in the first five minutes of action.
The offensive woes would continue throughout the first half for the Sun Devils, which included a stretch where ASU missed 12 consecutive field goal attempts. However, freshman forward Marcus Bagley would get things going for the struggling Sun Devil offense.
In his first game back since sustaining a lower left leg injury, Bagley knocked down a couple of three-pointers and scored eight of his 11 points in the first half.
With UCLA going cold on offense to close out the first half and buckets provided by Bagley, freshman guard Josh Christopher and senior guard Alonzo Verge Jr., ASU somehow had a 30-28 lead at halftime despite shooting just 29 percent from the field.
The second half represented UCLA and its head coach Mick Cronin well: gritty.
Despite the physical and tough style he was up against, Verge Jr. led the Sun Devil offense in the second half. The 2020 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year scored 16 of his game-high 25 points in the frame.
“I just wanted to let things flow and come to me,” Verge Jr. said. “Regardless if Remy is here or not, I’m going to do what I do.”
Verge Jr.’s offensive output was key for ASU while keeping pace with UCLA’s second-half shooting, but another key factor was the Sun Devils’ rebounding.
ASU has struggled on the glass throughout the season and Hurley made it an emphasis to improve upon it over the break. Against UCLA, a step forward seemed clear as the Sun Devils had two players with a double figure rebound total (Bagley and Christopher) and matched UCLA on the offensive glass.
“Marcus having double figure rebounds and Josh having double figure rebounds, it’s important for us, Hurley said. “If we can [rebound] well, we have guys that can play in the open-court and it is going to be really beneficial for us moving forward.”
The game came down to the final seconds as ASU had to foul UCLA sophomore guard Tyger Campbell down 64-63 with nine seconds to play. Campbell would go one-for-two from the line giving UCLA just a two-point lead.
Verge Jr. would then slice through the lane and draw a foul that set him up to drain the game-tying free-throws and send the game into overtime tied at 65.
In the overtime period UCLA’s gritty style finally wore down ASU. The Bruins would pull away behind junior forward Cody Riley, who scored eight of his 22 points in the OT period.
“We didn’t handle him as well during that portion of the game,” Hurley said of Riley’s late-game performance.
As Riley continuously punished the Sun Devil defense down low and Verge Jr.’s hot hand wavered off, ASU eventually gave UCLA its first 4-0 start in Pac-12 play since the 2012-2013 season.
Despite the loss, Hurley was pleased with his team’s performance.
“I’m proud of my team’s effort, I thought we battled extremely hard,” Hurley said. “I thought we held our own in the paint and held our own on the backboard and those were points of emphasis.”
The Sun Devils now look ahead to their matchup with USC (7-2, 2-1) on Saturday. The Trojans’ standout freshman forward Evan Mobley – who is a potential lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft – could be a tough matchup for an ASU defense that has struggled against opposing bigs all season.
Tip-off for the game against USC is set for 4 p.m. MT Saturday at Desert Financial Arena.
