Utah freshman forward Jakob Poetl blocks ASU sophomore forward Shaquielle McKissic's attempt to dunk, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
McKissic struggled all game from the field, shooting just 30% in a 76-59 Arizona State
loss. (Daniel Kwon/The State Press)
Heading into Thursday night's game, it was assumed that the ASU men's basketball team would have its hands full. As the game unfolded, those fears were more than confirmed.
The Sun Devils (8-9, 0-4 Pac-12) fell 76-59 to No. 8 Utah in front of a record-setting student section at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Utes (14-2, 4-0 Pac-12) dominated the contest nearly from the start and coasted to their fourth conference win. Senior guard Delon Wright led the way for Utah once again, scoring 21 points in 32 minutes.
The Sun Devils made just 39 percent of their shot attempts in the game, which coach Herb Sendek said seemed to build upon itself as the game went on.
"I thought that once we started cold, it really bothered us and effected us in our play," Sendek said. "I thought our guys really tried to do what we asked them to do, we did not convert."
ASU's three-point shooting, which has normally been a strength, was cold in the first half as the team made just two of 10 shots.
ASU kept the game close, however, for about the first ten minutes of the game. The Utes scored the next nine points and seemingly controlled the contest from that moment on.
Utah also forced three of ASU's most important players, forwards Jonathan Gilling, Eric Jacobsen and Savon Goodman, into foul trouble. Sendek said that those fouls — and fouls in general — are a recipe for disaster, but that they're fixable mistakes.
"We're not going to be in the position we want when Eric (Jacobsen), Jon (Gilling) and Savon (Goodman) are in the kind of foul trouble they were in," Sendek said. "But that's on us and we have to play without fouling. We have too many unnecessary fouls."
Goodman said that the fouls were an issue in terms of the personnel that could be on the court, but the way ASU played was just as detrimental.
"I think it was more of us not playing as a collective group together and hard," Goodman said.
When questioned further, Goodman said that the team needs to focus more on the task at hand rather than worry throughout the game.
"I think everyone just needs to go in a game and get lost in the game," Goodman said. "We prep so well and we're so focused in practice during the week that it's hard to come in here and sit down here and talk to you guys with a loss."
Goodman said that the losing streak, which is now at four, is not weighing ASU down and the team is still focused on winning games.
"Who doesn't want to win?" Goodman asked. "Everybody in our locker room right now, I think, wants to win. It's just us. We've got to key in a little more."
ASU hosts Colorado (9-7, 2-2 Pac-12) on Saturday, Jan. 17 in Tempe. Tip-off is expected at 2:30 p.m.
Reach the reporter at mtonis@asu.edu or on Twitter @Tonis_The_Tiger
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