Slow starts have been plentiful for the ASU men's basketball team this season, and against the University of California-Berkeley (Cal), the story was no different.
Arizona State University (11-8, 1-5 Pac-12) began their bay area road trip with a loss in Thursday night's contest versus the Golden Bears of Cal (13-6, 3-3 Pac-12).
Cal entered the game without the benefit of their leading scorer, senior guard Tyrone Wallace (15.4 ppg, 10th in the Pac-12). News broke earlier this week that Wallace suffered a broken wrist during a 5-on-5 team practice last Saturday.
The Sun Devils never managed to find its stride in the first half, shooting a season-low 33 percent from the field. Without a single ASU player registering double digit points, ASU only trailed Cal 38-30 at the break.
This marks the fifth time in the six conference match ups ASU has played in which they would be trailing at the half.
The second half started disturbingly close to the first half from the Sun Devils perspective: slow, slower and slowest.
It wasn't until the 12:35 mark when ASU got the spark they needed. A four-point play by junior transfer guard Andre Spight. That was the beginning of a 15-5 run by the away team.
The lengthy run put the Sun Devils hot on the tail of the Golden Bears, down just two as the clock read 8:01. A timeout by Cal allowed head coach Cuonzo Martin to gather his troops.
Martin called for wholesale changes coming out of the timeout, and four new bodies came to the floor. With the new lineup came a new sense of vigor and fight.
The Golden Bears, led by the efforts of freshman forward Ivan Rabb (20 points, eight rebounds and six assists), managed to keep their slim lead, up 65-61 with 3:33 left in the game.
Behind Spight and junior forward Savon Goodman, ASU was able to shake off their sluggish first half of shooting and reach a reasonable mark of 52.9 percent.
That was when the slow start by ASU would come back to haunt them. In the final 2:03, both schools spent considerable time at the free throw line. Being down four, it was ASU's job to limit the in-bounds plays and foul as quickly as possible, not allowing the Bears to run off more precious time.
In that span, Cal made eight out of their nine free throws to secure their 75-70 home victory over ASU.
Playing from behind for the entirety of the game is no easy task, as ASU can attest to. The Sun Devils failed to lead at any point in the contest.
With only 12 games left (all in-conference games), the Sun Devils must look to a sense of urgency. As the clock ticks, the Sun Devils' playoff aspirations are in danger.
Cal improves to 13-6 (3-3 in the Pac-12) and extending their home record to 12-0 this season.
With the loss, ASU is now 11-8 (1-5 in the Pac-12). Looking forward to their next challenge just up the road in Palo Alto, California as they take on the Stanford Cardinal.
Reach the reporter at Braxton.Fox@asu.edu or follow @braxton_fox_II on Twitter.
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