Sun Devils battle through injuries and early deficit to knock off Utah

(Photo: Aiden Longbrake/WCSN)

TEMPE – When Utah cut Arizona State basketball’s lead to only six points with seven minutes left in the game, it felt like the Sun Devils were on the verge of adding another bad loss to their lengthening struggles in the 2025-26 season. In games against then No. 1 Arizona, West Virginia, UCF and more, ASU had squandered chances to add key victories to its NCAA tournament resume.

However, this time, the Sun Devils didn’t surrender and battled through adversity to prevent Utah from coming from behind and taking the lead in the second half.

ASU (15-14, 6-10 Big 12) went on an 11-2 run to help itself pull away and win 73-60 over Utah (10-19, 2-14), in its penultimate home game of the season.

The Sun Devils’ grit needed to beat Utah won’t be found in the box score. Numerous players played through significant injuries, as graduate forward Allen Mukeba played through an ankle injury sustained in a loss to TCU earlier this week, while senior guard Moe Odum played after spraining his foot in the same game.

“I’ve had some teams that if their guys have had their injuries, they might be out for six to eight weeks,” head coach Bobby Hurley said.

Yet, Mukeba and Odum didn’t miss a minute, despite not practicing the two days leading into Saturday’s matinee.

“If I could walk, I could run,” Odum said. “If I could run, I definitely could play. I’m not really worried about baby injuries or lingering injuries.”

Odum’s presence was especially needed, as he led the team in scoring with 15 points, while also delivering one of his most efficient shooting nights of the season. Odum converted three of his five three-point attempts, while going 6-of-11 overall.

Without either Odum or Mukeba, the Sun Devils could have been limited to a seven-man rotation for yet another game this season.

“We came out with an objective to bring 15 guys in,” Hurley said. “That’s the world we live in, unfortunately. And I just can’t thank enough the guys that are playing, that are pushing through injuries.”

While ASU is once again undermanned in a similar fashion to last season, this time, at least for one game, it found a way to push through and end on the right side of the winning column.

“It’s only us, and this is all we got,” junior guard Bryce Ford said. “We’ll keep pushing and pushing and pushing. In the practices, we go hard every day, because I’d say all of us, we all really love hooping, so losing is not going to discourage us.”

As Ford mentioned, his teammates and his own lack of discouragement from two consecutive losses on a Texas road trip was on display when Utah opened the game hot.

Utah stormed to a nine-point lead at the first media timeout, but by halftime, the Sun Devils had flipped the script to feature a ten-point lead for themselves.

“They just came out with a lot of energy,” Ford said. “I feel this team, we always punch back. So when that happened, I wasn’t really worried. We went to the media timeout, got things right, and then we came back and threw one of our punches.”

When ASU threw its punches, those donning Utah’s red and white must have felt like they were in the ring opposite one of the great heavyweights.

Some of the hardest blows would have been from Odum’s non-stop attack on offense, even without scoring the ball. While he only finished the night with four assists, his ability to manipulate Utah’s defense to create shots for others appeared all night.

The Sun Devils’ big-man duo of freshman center Massamba Diop and redshirt sophomore forward Santiago Trouet reaped the rewards from Odum’s labor the most. Diop finished with 15 points, while Trouet added 12 points.

“I watched film with the coaches, and they were telling me how I kept holding on to the ball whenever I came off the screen,” Odum said. “I got off of it a little earlier to give my teammates more room to work. So when I got off of it, Massamba made a play, or Santi made a play.”

Odum’s seniority, mixed with his willingness to accept criticism, has continued to pay meaningful dividends for this ASU squad.

As for Diop, he continued to make plays inside the arc, but against Utah, he knocked down two three-pointers, the first time he’s made multiple threes in a game since the second game of the season against Utah Tech.

“He’s super smart,” Odum said. “He could pick and pop, shoot the three. He could pick and short roll, shoot the mid-range, and he could pick and lob, and I could throw the lob. So I got so many different options with Massamba. He’s just super great.”

Meanwhile, Trouet was yet another Sun Devil who battled through injury to play significant minutes.

“He personifies the type of players that I like to coach,” Hurley said. “Just thankful that he’s pushed through injuries this year. He has not felt perfect in probably a couple months.”

One thing that was perfect for ASU was its late-game management with the lead. In previous games, the Sun Devils have been far too brazen in their decision-making, speeding up their tempo and making poor decisions.

Down the stretch against Utah, senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson opted to slow the pace of the game when he could have pushed the intensity and added to the scoreline.

“It’s definitely growth from us as a team, and definitely growth from Pig,” Odum said. “I give credit to him because he can go get a bucket whenever you want. One-on-five, one-on-four don’t really matter. It showed his maturity.”

The Sun Devils will need to continue to showcase their maturity in their final two games of the regular season against No. 14 Kansas and No. 4 Iowa State before turning their attention to a run at the Big 12 tournament.

“We’ve got to string a win streak going on,” Odum said. “We can’t just win one, drop one.I feel like we could shock the world, but it’s all about us believing as a team and just following the scout and following what Coach says.”