(Photo: Maya Diaz/WCSN)
TEMPE — As “B-Y-U” chants rained late in the game onto the Desert Financial Arena floor in Tempe, drowning out any rebuttal from Arizona State basketball fans, it was a scene reminiscent of a Shakespearean tragedy.
What had transpired was as dysfunctional a showing as was possible for 40 minutes. The No. 25-ranked Cougars (20-8, 11-6 Big 12) had handed ASU (13-15, 4-13 Big 12) its eighth straight home loss—the longest such losing streak in school history—in a 91-81 defeat that was doomed from the start due to a calamity of errors.
There, sitting on the bench with his head hung, was ASU head coach Bobby Hurley, looking defeated and dispirited. Once one of the most highly revered figures in the sport, having lost fan support in the place he had called home for 10 years.
In his college playing days, Hurley was arguably the most feared floor general in the country for the legendary Mike Krzyzewski-led Duke Blue Devils. He was a two-time NCAA champion in 1991 and 1992, a first-team All-American, the NCAA’s all-time career assist leader, and a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame. As ASU fans filed out of the arena early in disappointment amid a historically bad season, one of the sport’s most indomitable figures stood despondent in the shadow of his reputation—a fading representation of one of the most adulated figures the sport has ever seen.
“It’s just a microcosm (of how the season has gone),” Hurley said. I feel like ‘Is the universe talking or saying something? Are things just not meant to be?’ I’m scared to wake up (tomorrow). I hope I wake up tomorrow. I’m scared to see what tomorrow brings.”
Dysfunctional would be the word of the day to describe ASU’s loss to BYU. The Sun Devils were sentenced to a malfunctioned performance before ever reaching the starting gate.
Under Hurley, ASU had an eight-man rotation for most of the season. A week ago, starting shooting guard BJ Freeman was dismissed from the team. Before the game, it was announced former five-star recruit, freshman center Jayden Quaintance, was out injured, and starting point guard Alston Mason was out with illness. ASU would have to face its ranked guests with only five regular rotational players.
About a quarter of the way through the national anthem, which ran five minutes before tip-off, half of the already abbreviated ASU team sprinted onto the floor in confusion, hastily getting in line for the back half. The other half of the team and the entire staff waited in the tunnel.
Once Hurley, known to normally be clad in tailored suits, did emerge from the tunnel, he was sporting a black ASU hoodie with one sleeve rolled up and one sleeve rolled down. Four minutes into the game, as BYU was on the fast break, the play was unexpectedly stopped. No foul had occurred on the court. ASU senior guard Adam Miller was writhing in pain in the second row behind the scorer’s table. In the ensuing injury timeout, no stools were taken out, and the Sun Devils were forced to game plan sitting directly on the hardwood. A few moments later, a hard collision sent Miller into the locker room, unable to walk under his own power.
“When I walked in the building I had him for like 38 to 40 minutes,” Hurley said. “…(Miller) got elbowed early and like in the chest area. That was the first time and then he got caught right in his hip area so that was unfortunate.”
At some point in the first half, Hurley also received a technical foul. Ten minutes in, a calamity of errors had reduced the team with the second-worst record in the Big 12 to four regularly playing players, and the notoriously hot-headed coach was one errant word away from leaving the game himself.
The dysfunction didn’t improve in the second half. Miller came back after the halftime interval and attempted to play. He was assessed a technical for slapping BYU graduate guard Trevin Knell four minutes later, his second such offense of the season. An irate Hurley, whose face was now redder than ASU’s signature maroon, berated the referee. He wasn’t assessed his second technical but three minutes later Miller exited the game again due to injury, this time for good.
“We’re at a spot where everybody could do something better,” Miller said. “I mean everybody, and definitely myself included, there’s a lot I could do better. There are three games left. We should have been saying this a little earlier. Everybody could do something better.”
Hurley had given somewhat of an ominous premonition for the state of the program in his media availability the day prior to the calamitous showing Wednesday night. A legendary figure known for winning reflecting on the cruelest stretch he’s faced in the sport he’s dedicated his life to.
“(This season) has been a challenge,” Hurley said. “I spent a couple of hours awake last night in the middle of the night just sorting out everything and playing different scenarios in my mind, and the things that have happened this year. It’s the anxiety and the stress of what we’ve gone through.”
The game wasn’t completely marred by ASU’s errors. Hurley was forced to reach deep into his rotational pocket, unearthing freshman guard Trevor Best. Added midway through the season, the former high school point guard for Quaintance, Best had played just four minutes all season. In his 24 minutes against the Cougars, the 6-foot-2-inch, 17-year-old, guard showed every trick from his own pocket on the way to 18 points, shooting 62.5 percent from the floor.
BYU junior guard Richie Saunders, along with Knell, powered BYU’s scorching offense. Saunders poured in 26 points with six threes, while Knell provided 18 with five makes from deep. All told the Cougars dropped in a staggering 17 threes at a 50 percent clip. Stopping the barrage from downtown proved a nearly unattainable task for the Sun Devils.
“It was very difficult,” Miller said.” We were too relaxed on defense. We messed up our (defensive) switches. We got to get better at that.”
If there is a testament to the fierce emotion Hurley imbued in his team during his time in Tempe, it’s the sacrifice they’re willing to go through to support him. Only three tournament appearances in nine years (there was no tournament in the Covid year but ASU was well on its way to an appearance that season) and a less-than-.500 career conference record aside, his legendary unyielding resolve that he passed down to his players motivated Miller to take the floor again until his body finally completely gave out.
As fans filed out of the arena, turning their backs on the legend before them—having viewed his storybook fall from grace—his fiery spirit forever lives in those he’s coached. With only one year left on his contract and two consecutive seasons finishing in the bottom half of conference play, there’s been no immediate move to resign Hurley. If his days in Tempe are numbered, his impact still holds weight with anyone who has worked with him.
“I was just trying to do the best I could,” Miller said. “I didn’t want to leave my leave coach out there like that. At the end of the day the person who’s going to take all the hits is (Hurley). It wasn’t sitting well with me. I almost broke down a little bit because I didn’t want to leave my team and coach out there like that.”
