TEMPE—Tied 67-67 with just under a minute-and-a-half remaining TCU men’s basketball was looking to vanquish Arizona State’s comeback attempt. It had been a stagnating offensive performance for both sides. Multiple scoreless stretches plagued both rosters. The Horned Frogs were trying to survive with a win.
TCU’s senior guard Noah Reynolds double-clutched a three-point attempt that kissed the rim before taking a friendly Horned Frog roll to create a three-point gap. ASU (12-13, 3-11 Big 12) had just completed a 12-2 run over the three minutes prior and was firing on all cylinders.
Instead of sprinting down the floor and attempting to claw back, ASU senior forward Basheer Jihad didn’t get completely out of bounds on the inbounds. The whistle blew and the Sun Devils surrendered free throws before they even got their chance to even the score.
With eleven seconds left, the Horned Frogs had opened a five-point advantage. After two missed TCU (14-11, 7-7 Big 12) free throws ASU senior guard Alston Mason buried a desperation three to cut the game to two with just five seconds remaining. The visitors promptly hit their next free throws to cement another dramatic Sun Devil loss. It’s been a near never-ending cycle
Amid five straight losses, four of which by an average of 4.5 points, Heartbreak and ASU basketball have become one and the same. It has been a near never-ending cycle of one step forward and two steps backward for the Sun Devils.
“(The players) are fairly frustrated that we haven’t been able to close these games out and are finding new ways each game, to not be able to get a win,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. “We’re all at a premium frustration level at this point.”
Much like it did in Saturday’s 74-70 loss to the Horned Frogs, ASU has trailed at halftime in four of the five games during this losing streak. They’ve fought back to competitiveness more often than not but haven’t been able to close any comebacks.
“Coming out sluggish in the beginning, first four minutes of each half,” ASU Senior guard BJ Freeman said. “Then we have to play and get back the last eight minutes. That’s not good basketball for us.”
Saturday night’s game against TCU was a less offensive affair relative to the double-overtime barn burner ASU had raced in against No.12 Texas Tech, away in Lubbock, just three nights prior.
A combination of stingier Sun Devil defense, and TCU’s dismal No. 315th-ranked offense spelled a comparatively at-time lethargically low-scoring affair that sent many fans home at halftime.
A season-high in points scored with 106 against the Red Raiders earlier in the week. A desolate first-half offensive performance that included an over seven-minute stretch without a field goal from the Sun Devils.
It was Freeman’s game-saving chase-down block, in Lebron-like fashion, that forced Texas Tech into overtime. In the second half, Saturday night, Freeman – who carried the ASU offensive load with 21 points – found himself nearly even with TCU’s senior guard Brendan Wenzel on the fast break. He was in a perfect position to replicate his block from days earlier.
He ducked out of the way allowing the easy basket instead.
“That game on Wednesday (against Texas Tech) was an electric environment,” Hurley said. “When we were playing one of the top 15 teams in the country, guys had the juice to play. It felt like an NCAA Tournament game. They played to the level of the competition, and we were able to play arguably, one of the best games we played all season on the road. But we did not have that same look, that same juice or pop (tonight). It was, it was hard for us to get really engaged in the game.”
Out of the halftime interval, and in front of a noticeably emptier arena, Senior ASU guard Adam Miller attempted to reignite the dying crowd with a steal and emphasis transition dunk just under four minutes in. The highlight brought ASU to just a four-point deficit. Miller was promptly ejected the very next play for dissent toward the ref.
With five-star freshman center, Jayden Quaintance already sidelined due to injury, the Sun Devils were forced into an abbreviated seven-man rotation. Miller’s ejection leaving his team only six strong down the stretch wasn’t ideal for the comeback effort.
“We can’t afford to have any of those guys that are playing, not be available for any portion of the game,” Hurley said. “Whether it’s Adam or other guys that have had some stuff go on with technical fouls or projections, it’s going to impact winning for us”
It was Miller’s second ejection in the past month and the last of a long line of disciplinary issues ASU has suffered over its recent downslope. Freeman had been ejected for a headbutt against Arizona, both senior guards missed the game against Oklahoma State due to a suspension for conduct detrimental to the team.
The team embodies the fiery spirit its head coach so famously played with, in his college hall-of-fame career. Hurley knows better than anyone what comes with repeated emotional explosions beyond what the team permits. It’s a team with a quickly growing target for the ire of referees.
“Coach said that they were going to be nitpicking on us and watching us the rest of each year,” Freeman said. “So (the repeated disciplinary issues) is something that’s not listening to the coach, and not taking (Hurley’s warning) seriously.”
Hurley has seen the repeated offenses in another light. As painful as the losses have been combined with the repeated suspensions and ejections it has not been for lack of effort. Saturday night was Freeman’s fourth straight game in double figures, and second straight game over 20 points.
Miller only dropped four points in his shortened stint but did pour in a team-high 22 points in the shoutout against Texas Tech. Both of the Sun Devils most combative warriors have also been their most offensively productive.
“If we were just getting smacked by 30 every night and we were a disaster of a team, then they probably wouldn’t care enough to be issued some of these violations and some of the conduct stuff,” Hurley said. “But the group truly cares, and they want to win. It’s been a lot of hard games we haven’t been able to win. I’m very conflicted again about how I feel about it.”
If the Big 12’s eighth-ranked team in TCU with its statistically near absent offense proved too much for the Sun Devils, signs aren’t pointing to smoother roads ahead with No.6, and the Big 12 conference leaders in Houston coming to Tempe on Tuesday. Feelings will have to be reigned in from another heartbreak that’s become all too common in the Valley of the Sun.
“It’s tough, real tough,” ASU senior guard BJ Freeman said. “It actually kind of hurts. We played so hard to try to fight back the basketball guy just didn’t reward us again tonight, and just got to keep pushing through and just keep trying to fight.”
