(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
TEMPE — Winning in college basketball can be extremely difficult at points, but even when times are tough, and a team might be struggling through a slog of a season, there is one thing a team doesn’t want to be.
Bad at home.
Winning in front of your home fans is a crucial part of building momentum as a program because if you can’t win at home, where can you win? In head coach Bobby Hurley’s ten years at the helm of Arizona State men’s basketball, he has done a good job of winning at Desert Financial Arena.
But in 2024-2025, with arguably the most talent he has had on the roster in his ten-year tenure, Hurley’s team has fallen apart in front of its own fans, often offering up some of its worst performances for its biggest supporters.
With Sun Devil legends such as Lionel Hollins and football head coach Kenny Dillingham in attendance, ASU (12-14, 3-12 Big 12) extended its home losing streak to seven, falling to No. 5 Houston 80-65 (22-4, 14-1 Big 12). ASU is now on pace for its worst season at home since 2011-12 when they went 8-11.
“I mean, it’s home court, everyone expects to win at home,” senior guard Alston Mason said. “You’re supposed to win at home.”
The Sun Devils have been losing at home all season, but falling to Houston at home is nothing out of the ordinary. On Tuesday, the Cougars extended their road winning streak to a whopping 12 games, setting a Big 12 record for most consecutive road wins. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t understand how difficult it is to win on another team’s court.
“To be undefeated on the road just shows you know how bad we want to win,” Houston graduate forward J’Wan Roberts said. “Everybody has home-court advantage. When you’re at home, you feed off the energy. You get going at home. When you are on the road, it’s just you and your teammates and your coaches.”
Roberts and Houston didn’t have any trouble quieting the energy within Desert Financial Arena, jumping out to an early 10-2 lead in the first two minutes. Scoring against Houston is hard enough, coming from behind is nearly impossible.
Entering this game with the nation’s best scoring defense, the Cougars allow just 57.3 points per game and are holding teams to shooting just 38.1% from the field, a mark that ranks fourth in the country. Whenever you do start fighting back, the Cougars counter with a barrage from three-point range, hitting 39.1% of their eight attempts per game, ranking 11th in the nation.
Throughout the first half, the Cougars did what they do best, limiting the Sun Devil offense and hitting 40% of their threes. Houston would send all different types of traps at Mason when he handled the ball by doubling the ballhandler after a pick was set. The high-intensity coverage threw ASU off its rhythm early, and it was something that the Sun Devils could never get back.
By the end of the first 20 minutes, the Cougars lead had doubled from eight points to 16, entering the break up 47-31.
“(Houston) has a bunch of men, grown men, and they really get after it on defense,” Hurley said. “It feels like there’s six guys on the floor, the way they’re able to put two guys on the basketball and still rotate around … We knew we would have our hands full.”
While Houston is known for having the best defense in the country, there was one player it couldn’t stop in the Maroon and Gold. Mason, playing in some of his final games as a college basketball player, delivered a career performance against all those double teams.
Scoring a season-high 26 points, Mason was decidedly more aggressive on Tuesday, searching for his own shot instead of deferring to others. He finished with just one assist on the game but was a blazing eight-for-nine from the field and four-for-five from three.
“I’m developing my own type of style, my type of flair, trying to figure out what I need to do to get my team a win,” Mason said.
However, outside of Mason the Sun Devils struggled to produce on offense. Removing Mason’s highly efficient performance from the game and a game where the Sun Devils shot 43.2% from the floor quickly becomes a game in which they shot just 31%. Remove Mason’s four threes and the Sun Devils shot just 4-for-18 from deep, resulting in a 22% three-point percentage.
“I don’t have a lot of answers,” Hurley said. “They’re one of the best defensive teams in the league, in the country.”
With five games left in the season, the Sun Devils don’t have many more opportunities to right the ship. ASU has just two more games at home and two of its final five games are against ranked opponents. After its all done, there will be questions to ask about how arguably Hurley’s most talented roster turned in arguably one of his worst seasons.
“There’s no guarantees in this thing,” Hurley said. “I mean, we had our chances. We didn’t cash in. I don’t know where it’s going. I can’t forecast that.”
