Arizona State (14-14, 8-9 Pac-12), in a continuation of the second-half effort seen against Washington, earned the series home split with the Pacific Northwest schools beating Washington State (21-7, 12-5) 73-61. The Sun Devils played one of their most balanced performances of the season in front of 9,586 in attendance en route to upsetting the 21st-ranked team in the nation at home, breaking up an eight-game win streak against a squad that topped the conference standings going into this contest.

The last time ASU was in a big game against a ranked opponent, they were trampled by 45 points, one week ago on the road down in Tucson. A week later, ASU needed to replicate at least the start from last week, holding a lead against the Wildcats well into the first half. Although WSU jumped to a 4-0 lead, ASU roared back on both ends of the floor.

“If we’re guarding with purpose and energy, and we’re in the right spots, and we’re flying around and getting deflections, then we can be pretty dynamic getting into the open court,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “It leads to our offense. They were at four points for a long time; we really started the game and sat down and defended them well.”

After settling into the game in the first minute and a half, ASU exploded offensively, going on a 13-0 run. WSU’s Kymany Houinsou attempted to break the run, but ASU fired right back, scoring five more to take a commanding 18-6 lead.

Over the span of the Sun Devils’ run, Washington State was all out of sorts as the ASU defense hunkered down. The Cougars had seven of their nine first-half turnovers occur during that stretch.

“I thought possibly the best defense we played of the season,” Hurley stated. “In terms of, they’re (WSU) a handful around the basket with (Isaac) Jones, and they got guys who can shoot, playmakers. They have a really good team.”

Offensively, ASU would not take the foot off the gas pedal for nearly 40 minutes, a sharp contrast from two nights ago. Arizona State consistently found ways to combat the visitors’ zone defense successfully and held a 36-29 lead at the half versus a team that was ranked 26th nationally on defense.

“They’re difficult because they show zone and end up matching up,” Hurley explained. “So we went with some of our motion, we wanted to get the ball to Jose a lot in the high post and in the elbow areas, that seemed to work nicely for us.

“We wanted to get them in some ball screen, even Jamiya (Neal) said to me at halftime, he hasn’t remembered seeing these types of gaps to drive into, so I think our spacing was pretty good, and that enabled our guards to get downhill.”

As WSU came out of the half with a renewed sense of focus and drive, the Cougars almost gave ASU a scare of a lethal run. WSU thanks to a 9-0 run to open that period and, took a 38-36 lead at the 15:49 mark of the second half.

Yet, that also proved to be the Cougars’ last lead of the night, as ASU successfully erased that lead, showcasing a depth aspect that tallied 14 bench points in the second. For a team that is statistically the worst in the Pac-12 when it comes to three-point field goal percentage (30.7%), the Sun Devils shot 43% from beyond the arc. Timely threes from Frankie Collins, Jose Perez, and Adam Miller kept the momentum going, with Washington State struggling from that range in the last 20 minutes, missing all seven shot attempts.

“Just being aggressive, Washington played zone against us, but they had (Braxton) Meah down there,” Perez said. “I feel like Washington State just didn't have enough people that altered shots. We were able to get down there, and we were also able to spread them out because we hit six threes.”

It was not just the guards who stepped up to the challenge down the stretch of curbing the dangerous Cougars. Forward Alonzo Gaffney was one of four SDun Devils to score double-digit points (11), but it was Gaffney’s energy and timely blocks that truly aided his team.

“The best thing I saw tonight was Alonzo Gaffney missing a layup and then continuing the play and fight,” Hurley remarked. “I think that symbolized why we were good tonight because he did not give up on a play, and he took the ball away from them and then went and laid the ball in. That was a key moment.”

All of Gaffney’s points came in the second half, but the smaller details, like having two assists in the first half and displaying solid defense, had Hurley very impressed.

“When I was in the locker room reviewing the stat sheet, I thought it was one of the best zero-point halves that I’ve seen,’ Huley recalled. “He had a couple of assists, he had a steal, he was forcing Jones away from the basket to even make catches. He was getting deflections so, he was putting the heat on defensively, was engaged and so I thought for a guy to didn’t make a shot or score, he had a really good half.”

Off the bench, junior forward Bryant Selebangue was on the cusp of double-digit points with nine. His four offensive rebounds (seven total) were another spark that continued to offset Washington State, who could only tie ASU on the boards with 35 rebounds.

“Making sure that when I come in, instant energy,” Selebangue said. “I always tell myself what gets it going is an offensive rebound. Trying to track it…I just try to time it, evade guys, try to be as agile as possible, and I know this is going to bring a spark to the team. Get an offensive rebound, kick out, or going to score, that's what I do, that's my job, and that's what I signed up for.”

With a rematch against its in-state rival coming up on Wednesday, ASU will try to replicate the effort shown today across the board in order to try and register a back-to-back vioctory over a ranked opponent. The great measure of chemistry that Arizona State manifested on Saturday night and even in the second half during a Washington loss, will have to make a repeat appearance in order to entertain any thoughts of upsetting the Wildcats, as well as ending the Pac-12 slate on the same high note that it began with a 4-0 mark.

“I think just overall, if we are going to have success the rest of the way, we're not going to do it with one guy,” Hurley said. “Anytime we seem to win, there are four or five guys in double figures. We need that type of production, and again, the box score shows that tonight, we have four guys with doubles, a couple of guys with nine, so when we have that many guys playing well at that end of the floor, it really gets everyone energized on both ends.”

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