Fouls and efficiency struggles the difference maker against No.19 Gonzaga

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/ WCSN)

TEMPE – Bobby Hurley was livid.

Arizona State men’s basketball’s head coach watched his freshman starting center, Massamba Diop, hit the ground hard after contact from Gonzaga graduate forward Graham Ike on a dunk attempt.

No foul was called.

Hurley threw his hands up in the air and let the officials hear his opinion. He walked away momentarily before deciding they hadn’t heard enough, spinning on his heels to give them more of his mind. He was called for a technical foul – ASU’s second in under a minute of game action.

Hurley needed a break.

The veteran head coach walked down the baseline to take a seat, attempting to calm himself, but his emotions didn’t disappear.

Hurley avoided ejection Friday night inside Desert Financial Arena, but after the game he frustration remained evident. His Sun Devils (2-1) had just lost to No. 19 Gonzaga (4-0), and the foul discrepancy, followed by the two squads’ contrast in efficiency from the charity stripe and lack of efficiency overall, certainly wasn’t making him feel any better.

“Did you see all the things that happened, or was happening?” Hurley asked a reporter when questioned about what was going through his mind after the technical foul. “I needed a timeout at that time, and I was running out of them.”

Ike stepped up to the line after the tech and made one of his two free throws. Earlier in the half, after ASU redshirt sophomore forward Santiago Trouet was awarded a technical of his own after staring down Bulldogs senior guard Jalen Warley following a block, Ike made both of his attempts.

Those four free throw attempts were just a few of Gonzaga’s 35 attempts. The Sun Devils, in contrast, only got 23 trips to the charity stripe. Hurley frustrated by the discrepancy has lost the desire to deliberate with the NCAA on these situations, claiming he won’t receive any feedback

“I’m not going to comment,” Hurley said when asked about no calls. “I could go into this, and we could spend 10 or 15 minutes talking about this.”

Of the Bulldogs’ 35 attempts, 27 went through the net, giving the team a very respectable 77.1% mark on the night, and an improvement on their 64.4% mark entering play. Ike did the most damage from the line for Gonzaga, nailing 12 of his 15 tries, which did the heavy lifting for his team high 20 points after he only scored eight points from the field.

Outside of Ike, the graduate and freshman guard duo of Tyon Grant-Foster and Mario Saint-Supéry helped out by going 4-of-6 and 4-of-4, respectively.

ASU’s performance wasn’t anywhere near as pretty. The Sun Devils saw just 13 of their attempts reflect in the change in score, struggling to the tune of 56.5%, the program’s worst showing since February 3, 2024, when the team shot 57% against California, and after posting a 72.2% mark from the line in their first two games of the season.

Trouet and junior guard Bryce Ford went 4-of-5 and 2-of-2, respectively, but 3-of-6 and 1-of-5 performances from Diop and senior guard Pig Johnson definitely didn’t help.

The Bulldogs beat the Sun Devils by 12 points. The difference in free throws made was 14. If ASU was able to match what Gonzaga did from the line, the story could’ve flipped completely.

“You can’t miss free throws,” Hurley said. “We haven’t been doing that at all this year. I know that that’s haunted us in the past here, under my tenure, missed free throws, but we certainly had no business doing that today against a team of this caliber.”

ASU’s struggles with efficiency weren’t limited to just one department. The Sun Devils shot just 36.2% from the field and 33.3% from three – well below the 47.2% and 38.3% marks they recorded over the season’s first two games.

ASU recorded just 11 two-point field goals, all within the painted area, but even getting closer to the hoop didn’t improve efficiency. ASU missed half the layups they attempted, and went 2-of-5 on dunk attempts.

Senior point guard Moe Odum and Diop, two players who have been highlights of the offense to start the season, combined for a paltry 8-of-25 from the floor against Gonzaga’s defense.

“I feel (like) they’re a real disciplined team,” Ford said. “But we could definitely hit more shots, as we did miss some open ones that they give us. Against a good team like that, we have to capitalize on making open shots, because you never know, you might not see them again.”

Gonzaga didn’t struggle with efficiency as much as ASU did, but still shot an underwhelming 43.1% from the field and a nauseating 28.6% from beyond the arc on 21 attempts.

As both teams stumbled toward the finish line, the Sun Devils remained in striking distance, finding themselves down by less than 10 points with 6:20 remaining. Unfortunately for the Devils, their struggles with efficiency kept them from hitting the shots they needed to turn the game around.

“We have to play better,” Hurley said. “We have to convert our free throws. We can’t have stretches on offense in the first half when we don’t score for minutes against a team like this. But it was remarkable, with all that went on, that we still were at nine and had a chance if we would have got a stop.”