(Photo: Alyssa Buruato/WCSN)
For the fifth time this season,, Arizona State men’s basketball suffered another second-half collapse, but this one is unlike any other.
The Sun Devils have now allowed more than 40 points in the second half of a loss five times this season and in back-to-back games. The previous four times could be chalked up to the opponent making over half its threes, such as Washington shooting 13-25 from behind the arc in the final 20 minutes on Jan. 11, but not this time. UCLA (8-10, Pac-12 3-4) only made three threes in the second half, but making 16-21 second-half free throws off four ASU technical fouls is what ultimately led to a 68-66 victory over the Sun Devils (10-7, Pac-12 4-2).
The Bruins were held to just 23 first-half points and were down by 13 points at the break, but the turning point that sparked their comeback victory occurred with 10:10 left in the game. Redshirt junior guard Adam Miller was assessed a flagrant foul after falling on top of UCLA junior guard Lazar Stefanovic in a block attempt and sophomore center Shawn Phillips Jr. was subsequently ejected with two technicals after arguing with the referees. The fouls resulted in UCLA capitalizing on a seven-point possession, which resulted in the Bruins first lead of the game.
The four technicals the Sun Devils received in the second half was a point of emphasis from ASU head coach Bobby Hurley in the postgame presser, especially as UCLA only had one in the same time period.
“I’m not going to talk about it, but some responsibility certainly lies with our need in a heated game where I’m sure there’s just a lot of communication,” Hurley said. “And we’re the bad guys. Say hello to the bad guys. You may never see a bad guy like us again. But that’s what we were tonight. We were the bad guys. So I’m sure no one else said anything, except us, all night.”
ASU has lost several games this season and it is likely to lose a few more, so why does this game feel like more of a wasted opportunity? UCLA is one of the biggest brands in college basketball — a “blue blood” everybody would say — and it has a losing record during Pac-12 play. The bench boss knew he needed a home victory against a historic program that has been down this season, and he felt that the referees forced the Sun Devils to grab a defeat in the jaws of victory.
Hurley is the leader of the team, but junior guard Frankie Collins is the leader on the court. After junior forward Bryant Selebangue committed the team’s fourth technical foul with over two minutes left, Collins was in his teammate’s face, motivating the big man to not commit silly fouls. If ASU is going to make a run deep into March, the Michigan transfer knows that his squad can not play like this down the stretch.
“We have to control our emotions,” Collins said. “We can’t let this happen. We have a young team but we have to grow up early if we want to continue to do what we say we want to do and get to NCAA tournaments and things like that. We have to mature and not let things like that happen. And especially at home. You can’t give up a home game like that.”
It can be easy for a team to be dejected after a loss like that, especially when Hurley sarcastically said his team was ‘as close to being a winner as you could be’ in response to the referee’s propensity to blow the whistle on his team. However, the Sun Devils only had six turnovers and played well offensively despite UCLA sophomore forward Adem Bona seemingly erasing every shot in the paint, notching all seven of the Bruins’ blocks. In the midst of Hurley venting out his frustration, the head honcho acknowledged how proud he is of his offense in the face of Bona and the Bruins’ stingy defense.
“I am not going to say how I really feel,” Hurley said. “So I am just going to start out by saying when you look at the statsheet. [I’m] proud of my team’s shooting percentages, from three, from two against a very good defensive team, that’s starting to find itself.”
The Sun Devils will have a clean slate when they take on the other LA school, this time it will be USC coming to Tempe on Saturday. Freshman phenom guard Isaiah Collier will not play as he is out 4-6 weeks with a hand injury, but fellow freshman guard Bronny James and the Trojans will march into Desert Financial Arena after losing to Arizona 82-67 on Thursday. Collins knows that the team needs to put this loss behind them and move forward to a highly-anticipated matchup with the Trojans.
“I mean just put this in the past and understand in moments like this we can’t do this and moving forward that we just got to let our game do the talking,” Collins said. “Regardless of what the other team is saying or doing, I think we just have to go out there and play and leave everything else behind.”
