Season-worst defensive performance leads to 95-89 loss to UCF

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE- Freshman forward Ameer Ali pulled up for three and drilled it. He immediately turned to his bench and started to celebrate. The shot put Arizona State men’s basketball down by three points.

In the middle of his celebration, ASU head coach Bobby Hurley, filled with his usual red hue, yelled at Ali to get back on defense. Ali soon played like his hair was on fire and immediately returned to full-court pressing. Luckily, Hurley told him to return on defense because he’d get a steal just moments later.

He pushed the ball up to senior guard Alston Mason, who passed it to senior guard Adam Miller who took a three himself.

Nothing but net.

Desert Financial Arena soon erupted in excitement as the Sun Devils tied the game up at 69. That type of effort and energy is needed to win in the Big 12.

Despite one of the better games of the season, that energy and effort weren’t enough. UCF (12-4, 3-2 Big 12) defeated ASU (10-6, 1-4 Big 12) 95-89. It’s the Sun Devils’ third loss in a row, and it was the most points they have given up all season long.

“I think I felt worse than Saturday (against Baylor), to be honest,” Hurley said. “I thought we played pretty well.”

The Sun Devil faithful heard a familiar sound all night: the referees’ whistle. The whistle was blown 45 times as both teams drew fouls left and right.

The energy the Sun Devils had Tuesday night for all 40 minutes couldn’t be said for their past two outings. In the Big 12, even if you have the energy, you have to convert it. The whistles led to ASU shooting a whopping 26 free throws, but the normally sound free throw shooting team hit just 65.4% Tuesday.

ASU has hovered around a top-30 defense all year. Against UCF, that number didn’t even look real. The Sun Devils gave up a season-high 95 points to the Golden Knights – Multiple fouls, shaky transition defense and leaving shooters wide open. It’s not a recipe to succeed. UCF shot 50/45/80 for the game and made every big shot needed to come away with a win.

Those percentages can be thanks to UCF junior forward Keyshawn Hall. Hall came out with a mission tonight, as he scored 40 points on 13-for-18 shooting from the field, seven rebounds and six assists. Hall came into the matchup shooting 29.8% from beyond the arc, but that didn’t seem true against the Sun Devils as he knocked down 4-for-6 of his deep shots Tuesday night.

The junior was also close to making UCF history as the single-game scoring record is 45 points, set by Jermain Taylor in 2009. He was just six shy from breaking it and might have if he didn’t face foul trouble in the second half. ASU was able to make a run late in the game, and it could’ve been thanks to Hall needing to take a seat for eight minutes.

“That kid put on a performance,” Hurley said. “I’ve been doing this here for a while. I’m not sure that I’ve seen a kid play that well against me in one half of the game.”

It was a game of career or season highs for both teams, as neither seemed to want to play any defense. Senior guard BJ Freeman has a season-high of 26 points, and freshman forward Jayden Quaintance achieved a career-high 20 points on the night.

Quaintance has been dominant on the defensive end all season. It looks natural to him, and on Tuesday night, he made his five blocks look effortless. The development of his offensive game has been something ASU fans are looking for, and against UCF, it clicked.

The coaching staff made it more of an effort to give him the ball, as he received it in more post-up looks, and in the paint. He shot 8-for-11 from the field and added seven rebounds.

“Just trying to trust myself a little bit more aggressive,” Quaintance said. “I feel again, slowly but surely, I’m trying to get a little better and showing off what I can do on offense.”

ASU will need more of that to succeed in the Big 12. It’s considered the toughest conference in college basketball, and the effort shown in the past two games is what is needed to win.

To have a defensive performance like Tuesday night won’t get the team very far. The team is 50-5 when shooting above 50% from the field under Hurley. Tuesday night was one of those performances, but it wasn’t enough.

ASU has played just four Big 12 games, and fans can start to wonder when it’ll win its second conference game. To get over that hump, extra possessions have to start getting more limited. The Knights had 13 offensive rebounds that led to 13 second-chance points. Senior forward Basheer Jihad has lost a couple of box-outs in the past two outings, which has led to second-chance opportunities for opponents.

Not having freshman guard Joson Sanon also hurts, but Hurley mentioned he could return in the coming days. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and especially in a conference like this, but if the Sun Devils want to make a push for the NCAA tournament. ASU has some mistakes and hiccups that need to be figured out quickly.

“I feel like a dam with holes in it,” Hurley said. “One day the offense isn’t showing up for a period of the game or in this case we couldn’t stop them from scoring.”