(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
The No. 19 Arizona State Sun Devils (2-1) suffered their first loss of the 2019-20 season on the road in Minneapolis Sunday, falling 80-66 to the Minnesota Golden Gophers (3-1).
The Sun Devils started off slow and they were never able to catch up as they fell 80-66 to a talented Gophers squad.
Minnesota was led by Destiny Pitts who had 22 points on the night, and Gadiva Hubbard who had 20 points.
Ja’Tavia Tapley led the way for Arizona State with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Taya Hanson chipped in 14 points as well.
ASU was missing the talent of starting center Jamie Ruden. The senior forward from Minnesota is dealing with a foot injury she aggravated against Army.
“Clearly not having Jamie out there was impactful,” head coach Charlie Turner Thorne said. “We just have all brand-new post players, and that showed today.”
The Devils were hit in the mouth early, as Minnesota jumped out to a 9-0 lead to start the first quarter before Turner Thorne called an early timeout.
Arizona State responded with seven straight points, but the Gophers didn’t give in as they ended the first quarter up 20-9.
ASU put up a strong second quarter behind senior guard Robbi Ryan. Ryan scored all 10 of her points in the second quarter, and ASU was only down five at the end of the first half.
However, on a night where ASU committed 14 turnovers and only shot 33.8 percent from the field, the Devils were not able to keep up with Minnesota’s hot shooting in the second half. The Gophers finished the game shooting 50 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from three.
“I think you need to credit Minnesota they had incredible timely shooting,” Turner Thorne said. “But they were wide open, it was our game plan to take away their layups and their threes, and our lack of communication on defense showed up.”
Arizona State is still trying to get its young roster acclimated early in the season, and that showed tonight in Minneapolis.
“Hopefully it can be a defining moment for our program,” Turner Thorne said after the loss. “There were a ton of great teachable moments, and I definitely knew there were going to be some growing pains with this team, probably better sooner rather than later.”
Arizona State will look to rebound from this loss on Sunday night at 5 p.m. against Cal Poly in Tempe.
