(Photo: Jack Simon/ WCSN)
TEMPE–“We don’t give our fans any reason to show up with enthusiasm to think that we’re going to win a basketball game.”
Following Wednesday’s 75-63 loss to West Virginia, those were the words of Arizona State Men’s Basketball head coach Bobby Hurley. ASU isn’t the only Big 12 program with home‑court attendance on the lower end. The Sun Devils are one of nine teams averaging a crowd below the conference average of around 9,634 fans per game.
With Desert Financial Arena seating nearly 14,200, the empty rows stand out when the Sun Devils were averaging just 7,347 fans per game before Friday night’s matchup against Cincinnati. And during the game, the empty seats were still hard to miss, but the roars were hard to ignore.
ASU’s crowd of 6,950 was its third‑smallest at home this season. But sometimes quantity isn’t the whole story. Throughout the night, Sun Devil fans made themselves heard, their cheers echoing through Desert Financial Arena as ASU’s (10‑9, 2‑5 Big 12) 82-68 win over the Bearcats (10‑10, 2‑5) delivered plenty of highlights. Many of those big plays came from senior guard Moe Odum, who, in sharp contrast to Hurley’s comments Wednesday, said he was satisfied with the crowds.
“We keep getting good crowds,” Odum said. “I feel like we haven’t had a bad crowd since the first two, three, games of the season.”
Outside of the Sun Devils’ third game of the season against Gonzaga, a game that drew more than 10,000 people, Odum’s comments check out. Across ASU’s first four games of the year, two of them had less than 6,000 people in attendance.
Odum attributes this to the Valley’s lack of familiarity with the 2025-26 Sun Devil roster. Given that ASU opened the year with just one returning scholarship player.
“Nobody really knew who we were,” Odum said. “But ever since then, we’ve had good crowds.”
Through 20 games, the best answer is a team that leans on its leading scorer, Odum. ASU is 3‑4 when Odum scores 12 points or fewer, compared with 8‑5 when he goes above that mark.
Additionally, in the four games where Odum scored 24 points or more, the Sun Devils won all four. That list of games now includes Friday night’s 33‑point performance from the Bronx native, his second-highest scoring game of his career.
Coming off a three‑game losing skid, it may have been as good a moment as any for Odum to deliver what was arguably his best performance at the college level. The task now is making sure a night like that becomes a springboard, not a one‑off followed by a quiet stretch.
“If I’m off, I feel like we’re gonna be off as a team. So I just got to be consistent and just make shots,” Odum said. “I can’t have a good game like this, then the next game go 2-for-10, or 2-for-11 or 3-for-15.”
Along with putting the team on his back, Odum created scoring chances for others with a team‑leading eight assists. One in particular stood out for the momentum swing that followed and the degree of difficulty it took to pull it off. There were five and a half minutes remaining in the first half, and ASU trailed 25-27.
Odum stole the ball from Cincinnati sophomore center Halvine Dzellat. He pushed it up the floor and tried to get into the paint, but Bearcats guard Shon Abaev was already waiting for him. With another defender closing in behind him, a shot wasn’t there. Odum had to change course in the middle of the play. That was when he noticed junior guard Bryce Ford open beyond the arc.
Odum still had to get the pass around Abaev, who is six inches taller. He was diving toward the ground when he let it go, giving it just enough touch to stay in Ford’s window and stay inbounds. Ford sank the shot to finish the play.
“It’s all about controlling the controllables, our energy, our effort, keeping that at a high pace,” Odum said. “You make or give up possessions.”
Odum and the Sun Devils gave the fans in attendance reason to be enthusiastic on Friday night. And while Odum is pleased with the energy inside Desert Financial Arena, he knows the only way to keep it going is by stacking wins.
“We got to win or they’re not going to come anymore,” Odum said. “We just got to stack these wins together so we can fill the arena.”
