(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)
TUCSON — It was difficult not to conjure up thoughts of the last time Arizona State men’s basketball made the trip to Tucson. Desmond Cambridge’s shot will forever live in the minds of Sun Devil fans, and in the opening minutes of Saturday nights, it looked like they might have had a chance to repeat last season’s magic.
Through the first eight minutes of the game, the two teams traded blows, running very similar styles of offense. Under head coach Tommy Lloyd, Arizona has been one of the fastest teams in the country, turning opponents’ made shots into fast-break opportunities. ASU plays in a similar style, using its high-effort defense to force turnovers into easy points, but very quickly, the Wildcats’ talent began to show itself.
In a game that was only close for the first few minutes, the Sun Devils (13-13, 7-8 Pac-12) lost to the fifth-ranked Wildcats (20-5, 11-3 Pac-12) 105-60. The 45-point deficit is the largest margin of victory between the two historic rivals.
“I’m not disappointed personally,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “I feel bad that there was a demoralizing loss. I understand what the rivalry means to Arizona State, but we had no answers tonight to what they were doing.”
It was clear early that Hurley was worried about redshirt senior Oumar Ballo’s presence, taking senior forward Alonzo Gaffney out of the starting lineup in favor of the seven-foot sophomore center Shawn Phillips and his normal four-guard lineup. The plan went awry almost immediately, and Phillips was forced to be subbed out with two personal fouls in the first four minutes.
The Sun Devils were able to hang with the Wildcats to begin the game because of an early hot streak, as they hit nine of their first 14 shots. However, Arizona’s dominance in the paint was clear — it scored 12 of its first 20 points from inside the restricted area.
“We talked about a lot of things in our game plan,” Hurley said when asked what his plan to stop Ballo was. “In real-time and talking about it, it’s hard to actually see what it looks like. He was very physical, and we got into early foul trouble and had to play some different combinations. We weren’t able to support the paint at all.”
The early foul trouble from Phillips, as well as two early fouls from Gaffney, forced Hurley to go to junior forward Bryant Selabangue and sophomore forward Kamari Lands down low, resulting in even more paint dominance for Arizona. Eventually, the hot start from the Sun Devils began to cool down, and the Wildcat route was on.
Beginning at the 11:46 mark in the first half, where the two teams were tied 20-20, the Wildcats went on a 29-10 run to end the half. The Sun Devils made just three shots down the stretch of the opening 25 minutes, and the Wildcats went into halftime up 49-31.
The next two quarters didn’t get any better, and it was clear the Sun Devils were overwhelmed with the amount of talent Arizona was displaying on the offensive end. Arizona dominated ASU in the paint, outsourcing them 52-16 down low. Ballo finished 100% from the field, hitting all five of his shots for 15 points while adding 11 rebounds for the double-double.
Not only was Arizona able to enforce its will in the paint, but the Wildcats were able to get out in space and dominate ASU at its own game. Usually, the Sun Devils generate some offense by forcing turnovers and transitioning into easy fast break points, but on Saturday, the Wildcats forced seven more turnovers and scored 17 more fast break points.
Arizona had five players score double digits on its way to scoring 100 points for the fifth time this season. Senior guard Caleb Love torched ASU in the first half of his first Territorial Cup game, scoring 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. With Love only playing 28 minutes, sophomore guard Jaden Bradley got the opportunity to show off his talent, scoring a team-high 21 points on an impressive 72% field goal percentage.
“They’re big, and they’re talented, and they’re experienced, and they understand positioning,” Hurley said. “They really run the court. Their big guys are as good as any in the country at running the floor and starting to post up. You have to deal with that, and you have to deal with guys like Love, (sophomore guard Kylan) Boswell, Bradley and (senior guard Pelle) Larsson. All these guys can go off the dribble, so it becomes your pick your poison.”
Last season, ASU returned to Tempe with one of the best shots in the history of the Territorial Cup, a moment fans will never forget. One year later, Sun Devil fans will forever want to forget this performance.
“We’re doing the best we can,” Hurley said with a note of exasperation. “This group of players is doing the best we can. We were overwhelmed today. We were outgunned today. We had very little hope today.”
