When a team can see its season slipping through its fingers, there’s a make or break game that either ignites something within or breaks the will of the players. The ASU men’s basketball team was presented with that exact scenario Wednesday night in a basketball edition of the Territorial Cup.
The Sun Devils (14-13, 4-10 Pac-12), however, could not take advantage, falling to the Arizona Wildcats 99-61 at the McKale Center in their worst performance of their disappointing season. The loss marks the sixth in a row for ASU in Tucson and the most points for an opponent since the Wildcats scored 106 over a decade ago.
The Wildcats got off to a quick start, taking a quick 8-0 lead in the opening minutes, during which coach Bobby Hurley was forced to call a timeout.
Arizona extended its lead to double-digits before ASU’s offense woke up and put together by far its best stretch of the game. Trailing 17-7, The Sun Devils reeled off a 13-2 run to take the lead for the first time.
Unfortunately for Hurley and his team, it would also be their last lead.
“It wasn’t a great start, but we got ourselves in it and got it to 17-17,” Hurley said. “Then we missed a couple layups and they got away from us again and that was a problem.”
ASU made just one of its final 13 field goal attempts to end the first half, giving back to the Wildcats any and all momentum the Sun Devils gained during their run and faced a 38-24 halftime deficit.
Any hope ASU had of making a quick run to reignite its sputtering offense ended swiftly in the second half, as Arizona exploded to push its lead to 22 on a 3-pointer by senior guard Gabe York.
It didn’t stop there, because the Sun Devil offense was, at times, even worse than their defense, leading to long runs for Arizona and looks of anguish for the visitors.
“Our offense was really poor tonight,” Hurley said. “We have issues scoring around the basket because of their size, but we also missed open shots again that we almost have to make in these types of games.”
Through most of the second half, the Wildcats did whatever they wanted offensively, scoring in every way and breaking the will of the Sun Devils, something that hadn’t happened for Hurley in his brief tenure in the desert.
“There were periods of time we gave in,” Hurley said. “And that’s really unfortunate considering that was something that we were praised about early in our season, how hard we competed and fought.”
Back-to-back losses with just four conference games left has Hurley looking at the gravity of the situation, especially after losing in blowout fashion.
“We’re in free fall right now and we’ve got to do something about it.”
