Two Sun Devils hit season highs in 95-89 loss to UCF

(Photo: Spencer Barnes/WCSN)

TEMPE – Like his team, Arizona State men’s basketball senior wing BJ Freeman’s 2024-25 season is one of major transitions. Moving from the Pac-12 to the Big 12 has resulted in a few missteps for the Sun Devils and the same can be said for Freeman, as he isn’t scoring at the clip he was for Milwaukee University last season.

Freeman’s 21.4 points per game as Panther earned him a spot on the First Team All-Horizon League, averaging just 12.1 points entering Tuesday’s late-night battle against the Knights. However, his last two performances both set season highs in points, scoring 22 in an OT loss against Baylor and following it up with a 26-point performance Tuesday against the Knights.

The career night wasn’t quite enough, however, as the Knights (12-4, 3-2 Big 12) rode a 40-point performance from junior wing Keyshawn Hall on their way to a 95-89, handing the Sun Devils (10-6, 1-4 Big 12) their third consecutive loss.

“I felt like we could get almost any shot we wanted if we just were patient enough,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. “The offense was not the problem. … We couldn’t do enough defensively.”

After struggling to 70 points in three of its last four games, ASU exploded for 89 points against the Knights, good for third-most in a game this season. Even with sharpshooting freshman guard Joson Sanon sitting out for a second consecutive game, the Sun Devils had no lack of offensive production.

As previously mentioned, Freeman seems like he is starting to find his groove. Without Sanon on the court these last two games, Hurley has allowed Freeman to dominate the ball like he did at Milwaukee, resulting in two 20+ point performances against quality Big 12 opponents. On Tuesday, Freeman was scoring from all three levels, scoring eight baskets, five of which were from deep, and hitting five of his six free throws.

Freeman also added four rebounds and three assists.

“He’s doing great,” Hurley said of Freeman’s scoring ability. “He’s really coming into his own that way. He’s put more time in. I’ve noticed him working since before Colorado, just getting extra reps, working on his shot and doing different things. I liked his passing tonight.”

While Freeman’s season has been a transition to Power Conference basketball, one person has made an even more drastic change from one year to the next. As the youngest player in college basketball, it might have been natural to expect freshman center Jayden Quaintance’s transition to be a rough one.

But as soon as he arrived on the scene, Quaintance made a significant impact, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. His 2.9 blocks per game is the highest in the country among the Power-four schools, but Sun Devil fans have been waiting for him to show similar development in his offensive game.

Tuesday might have shown a glimpse of the offensive player he will eventually become. With UCF freshman center Moustapha Thiam sitting out the game with an illness, Quaintance became a force down low, asserting himself by going 8-for-11 from the field on his way to a career-high 20-point performance.

“I always felt comfortable on the court,” Quaintance said. “I just feel like I’m trying to play a bigger role and make a bigger impact on the game. I feel like I’m doing a little bit better at that now, just trying to stay solid and stay impacting as many plays as possible.”

The Sun Devils have stumbled out of the gate in the Big 12, and losing at home to a UCF team without its starting center could be a scary sign of what’s to come for ASU. Despite the loss on Tuesday, ASU has been a defensively sound team overall, and 40-point performances from college players don’t come around very often.

Where ASU has struggled, both this season and under Hurley in general, has been consistency on the offensive end. As the season goes on, finding those consistent offensive options will be paramount for Hurley.

A healthy Sanon has already proven he can be a significant offensive threat, but Freeman’s performance over the last two games and Quaintance’s encouraging development on that side of the ball are necessary positive signs for a team that will need to score in order to compete.

Now, it’s all about finding that repeatability.

“I feel like a dam that has holes in it,” Hurley said. “One day, the offense isn’t showing up for a period of the game. Or, in this case, we couldn’t stop them from scoring. We’ve been doing that pretty well most of the season. We had a good night on offense for the most part, maybe a couple of bad turnovers, but that’s why I feel pretty good about how we played. We just didn’t win.”