ASU men's basketball lost 98-59 at Utah Saturday, allowing the Utes to score a season-high in the last game of the regular season.
In the first half, essentially nothing went right for ASU on either end of the floor. Senior guard Alonzo Verge Jr. was the only Sun Devil to step up offensively, leading the team with 13 first-half points.
After a lackluster 6-point performance Thursday from senior guard Remy Martin versus Colorado, Martin disappeared again, finishing the first half with zero points on 0-1 shooting.
ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said Martin "hasn't been in a good place these last two games."
"We need to find a way to get him more connected to the game and get him going. That'll be my job the next couple of days," Hurley said. "He's carried us through the valley when things were not going great so he's entitled to not being at his best, but we'll try and get him right heading to Vegas."
On defense, ASU let Utah shoot 58% from the floor and score 24 of their 41 first-half points in the paint. Sophomore forward Mikael Jantunen led the Utes with 13 points and four rebounds in the first period. At the end of the first half, Utah led 41-28.
In the second half, the Utes came out hot and continued to expand on their first-half lead. Utah outscored ASU 57-31 in the second half.
Martin finally got on the scoreboard as he went 1-2 from the free-throw line after Utah junior forward Timmy Allen picked up a technical foul for talking toward the ASU bench in the second half. Hurley did not comment on the interaction after the game.
Allen finished the game with 13 points, eight assists and seven rebounds and four other Utah players scored in the double digits. The Utes also got a big boost offensively as their bench scored 39 points. For comparison, ASU only scored 11 points from its bench.
Verge Jr. did not score a single point in the second half and finished with 13 points, while Martin finished the game with eight points, his second consecutive game scoring under 10 points.
Sophomore forward Jalen Graham and senior guard Holland Woods each pitched in double-digit points for the Sun Devils.
Woods called the team's performance "unacceptable" and emphasized how the team cannot let this loss carry into next week's Pac-12 tournament.
Despite the loss, Hurley said he is focusing on the positive news that ASU associate head coach Rashon Burno was named the head coach of the Northern Illinois Huskies earlier today.
READ MORE: ASU men's basketball associate head coach accepts head coach position
"Nothing really is going to dampen my happiness and perspective for coach Burno right now," Hurley said. "That game is, after I just addressed the team, as far as I'm concerned out of my mind and out of my system."
ASU's next game will take place on Mar. 10 in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament.
Reach the reporter at cfahrend@asu.edu and follow @chris_drop_ on Twitter.
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