An early ASU barrage from deep against a formidable Gonzaga squad had the fans at Desert Financial Arena on their feet. By the end of the night, however, the No. 19-ranked Bulldogs proved their pedigree with a 77-65 win to hand the Sun Devils their first loss of the year.
"We have to play better," head coach Bobby Hurley said. "We have to convert our free throws. We can't have stretches on offense in the first half where we don't score for minutes against a team like this."
A nearly five-minute scoring drought in the middle of the first half allowed Gonzaga to go on a 19-2 run, and gain a 14-point lead that it never relinquished. ASU had a razor-thin margin for error against a top-25 team, but was unable to capitalize on chances even when they came by.
The Sun Devils shot 13-23 from the free throw line, a paltry 57%, and gave up 35 attempts at the charity stripe, including 15 to graduate forward Graham Ike.
ASU's emotions played a role during the Sun Devils' second-half comeback attempt; both sophomore forward Santiago Trouet and Hurley got hit with technicals that led to three easy points for Gonzaga and shifted the momentum away after junior guard Bryce Ford’s three-pointer cut the lead to five.
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Minutes later, graduate guard Adam Miller, who transferred to Gonzaga from ASU this past summer, hit threes on consecutive possessions in his old house to effectively put the game away.
Defensively, the Sun Devils held Gonzaga to 43% from the field and 29% from distance, and Hurley was visibly upset with numerous fouls, stating post-game that "there'll be nothing" in regards to feedback about the calls.
The Bulldogs dominated on the glass, 45-31, and inside, with 32 points in the paint to ASU's 22. ASU competed on the boards, with Trouet compiling five offensive rebounds, but Gonzaga was able to pull down more.
"Me, Mo, Pig, I feel like we could go help some of our bigs," Ford said. "Tyon Grant-Foster, he's really good at (offensive) rebounds, and he's cracking down all the time. Same with all their guards … so I feel like we could help stop that."
Senior guard Moe Odum was forced into a shot-making role on Friday night, taking a season-high 15 shots for a team-high 12 points to go along with his seven assists. The veteran playmaker looked to get his teammates involved, but the Bulldogs' defensive pressure led to five turnovers as well.
With sophomore guard Noah Meeusen sidelined due to an ankle injury, Odum played 37 minutes as the team's only true point guard, an amount Hurley deemed "too many."
"I think he got worn down as the game wore on, and that's the dilemma we're in because we need to get Noah back," Hurley said. "I had (senior guard) Pig Johnson trying to play some backup one … because I didn't have another point guard, so I have to find a way to get Mo down to about 32-33 minutes."
Freshman center Massamba Diop entered the contest riding high off an 18-point showing against Utah Tech, but was restricted to 11 points on 4-10 shooting against a physically dominant Gonzaga frontcourt led by Ike and junior forward Braden Huff.
The negatives stole the limelight, but the Sun Devils still believe that their showing against one of the best teams in the country highlights their ceiling as a "tournament team."
"We have gelled together so fast that in the long run, I feel we could be a really good team," Ford said. "Just going out there tonight, being able to compete with that team, that says a lot."
Edited by Jack McCarthy and Ellis Preston.
Reach the reporter at pvallur2@asu.edu and follow @PrathamValluri on X.
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Pratham Valluri is a sports reporter at The State Press. He is a junior majoring in sports journalism with a business minor. He’s in his 5th semester with The State Press working previously as an opinion writer.
