Sun Devils dominated by No. 9 Texas Tech on Senior Night, falling 85-57

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

The good, the bad, and the very ugly of Arizona State men’s basketball’s regular season has come to its end, concluding with one thing.

Senior night.

It’s the last time Desert Financial Arena will see the likes of senior guard Alston Mason and senior forward Basheer Jihad line up in the maroon and gold. One more chance for the bruised and beat down Sun Devils to try to draw any sort of positive take away from a not so positive season.

Saturday was a fitting finish to the season for the Sun Devils against No. 9 Texas Tech which was their fifth meeting with a current top-10 team. ASU’s season has been defined by their determination and ability to compete in games despite adversity. Tonight wasn’t one of those nights.

With only two normal starters and five rotational players left to suit up, the Sun Devils were unable to replicate some of the fight they showed against the same Red Raider team in early February. Propped up by a 49-point second half, Texas Tech (24-7, 15-5 Big 12) trounced ASU (13-18, 4-16 Big 12) by 28 points, 85-57.

Everything about this game felt different from the start. A more peaceful attitude fell across the stadium, honoring the seniors to the best of their abilities, regardless of the outcome.

“I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here. I’m grateful, very grateful,” Jihad said. “I wish things could have been better. (We) had a lot of close games that didn’t go our way. I wish we would have had those. We’d be talking a lot differently right now, but I’m just grateful for everything Arizona State has done for me.”

The seniors had a final opportunity to honor themselves both before and during the game. Jihad had a strong first half with 14 points, finishing with 22, which tied for a season high and the most points he has scored since the third game of the season. His strong first half was a significant reason why ASU was able to keep the game close early before losing it late.

Mason had a strong sendoff as well, coming off a season high of 33 versus No. 24 Arizona and his 10th appearance of 38+ minutes. Hurley’s workhorse all season, as he ranks in the top 25 in the country in minutes per game, scored 14 points in his final game in Tempe.

Texas Tech, unlike ASU, which relied on the consistent presence of many of their seniors throughout the season, is one of the younger teams in terms of talent. Their top two scorers tonight, sophomore forward JT Toppin and freshman guard Christian Anderson, are both under the age of 20.

Toppin dominated the Sun Devils last time out, scoring his season-high 41 points on 17-22 shooting, and tonight was no different. Toppin had a “slow” first half by his standards and what ASU expected from the big man, but 17 second-half points, bringing his total to 25, provided the push Texas Tech needed from their star.

“Toppin took over,” Hurley said. “He was a problem. Even when we got a miss, his second jump was so good that he got off his feet again and got the rebound put back. They put a lot of pressure on you because of the shooting ability and then the interior presence of a guy like Toppin.”

Combine that with Anderson’s 15 second-half points, including a deep four-point play that felt like a complete gut punch with nine minutes left in the second half, the young duo made for a combination of scouring that ASU, due to a lack of bodies to throw at the two, was unable to contain.

The reason ASU was left with no way to win this game was their inability to hit anything from long distance. The Sun Devils entered the final game of the season ranked 60th in the country in three-pointers made per game, but hit only two tonight on 15 tries, compared to Texas Tech’s 12 on 33.

It was nothing short of a miracle the stretched thin Sun Devils were able to put up triple digits against a team as good as Arizona last time out, especially when you consider there was a point in the game ASU was down to their last four available scholarship players.

Tonight, Texas Tech and their increased depth ran laps around the Sun Devils, who once again fought valiantly given their situation but were no match for the Red Raiders.

“It’s obviously tough losing a lot of guys, unexpectedly,” Jihad said. “We still have enough. We have five guys we can put out there to go out there and give our best effort.”

It was not the Cinderella send-off that some ASU fans could have hoped for. Given the lack of optimism coming into tonight, Hurley may have been able to pull off one last miracle, but this was not the case.

Although it’s difficult to be too critical of a loss when there have been so many of them, despite injuries and locker room turmoil. ASU went out one last time and put it all out there against one of the best teams in the country.

There were postgame questions about Hurley’s future with the team, as well as for seniors to reflect on their time here. All of which were left to a limited extent, and we may not have all of the answers until the season concludes after the Big 12 tournament.

With the season practically finished, you can tell it was not the ending most predicted, but with all the drama, plots, and games down to the wire, it would be wrong to suggest the season was at all boring.

“It’s haunting to hear the other team celebrate down the hall,” Hurley said. “It’s just a haunting sound and noise that you kind of internalize. It’s been brutal. Everybody deserves better. Our fans deserve better.”