A gritty defensive effort and timely offensive shooting allowed Arizona State to hang around in the first half of the Sun Devils Saturday trip to No. 3 Arizona, but the consistency that has evaded ASU all season long persisted in the second half of a 67-56 loss.

After being tied at 32 at the break in a game in which Arizona State (6-12, 2-6 Pac-12) never trailed in the opening 20 minutes, the Sun Devils came out of the halftime break flat offensively. Sophomore guard Jay Heath opened the half with a 3-pointer from the left wing, but the Sun Devils were unable to convert on any of their subsequent eight attempts from the field.

Adding to the ASU issues was Arizona’s (17-2, 7-1) overwhelming size, which helped the Wildcats in their relentless pursuit of offensive rebounds. Arizona State’s interior players struggled to avoid foul trouble in the first half as the quartet of Kimani Lawrence, Jalen Graham, Alonzo Gaffney, and Enoch Boakye each ended up with two or more fouls in the first half. Because of the ASU foul trouble, an Arizona squad which struggled mightily from 3-point range in the first half was able to hang around in the contest, converting 18 of 21 attempts from the free-throw line during the first 20 minutes.

Arizona State was led by sophomore guard DJ Horne, who made five first-half 3-pointers en route to a game-high 17 points. Horne struggled in the second half, making just one mid-range jumper while missing each of his four attempts from beyond the arc. Junior forward Jalen Graham snapped his four-game stretch of contests scoring in double figures with a nine-point performance. He also added eight rebounds but was 4 of 11 shooting.

The offensive struggles of the Sun Devils came as no surprise. When all was said and done, Arizona State had no player who shot above 50 percent from the floor. The second-half drought for the Sun Devils saw multiple stretches of minutes without any made field goals, and in total, ASU shot 8 of 34 (23.5 percent) in the game’s second half. Along with the shot-making struggles, the Sun Devils had trouble with turnovers. Graduate student guard Marreon Jackson led ASU in turnovers with four as the Sun Devils had 17 in the loss.

Arizona struggled on the offensive end as well. One of the stingiest defenses of the Bobby Hurley era at ASU made Arizona uncomfortable for much of the first half and large parts of the second. Arizona sophomore guard Bennedict Mathurin -- one of the Pac-12 favorites for conference player of the year -- struggled to get to 14 points. The Montreal native was 0 for 8 from 3-point range, and the Wildcats missed their first 15 shots from 3-point range before Azuolas Tubelis converted an attempt in the second half.

Following an 0 for 12 struggle that included nine misses from deep against UCLA on Tuesday night, sophomore guard Kerr Kriisa began the contest with four straight misses before he cashed an open triple in the second half. Ending a 16-shot drought, Kriisa leaned down and kissed the floor. Mathurin’s 14 points would match Gonzaga transfer big man Oumar Ballo, who was efficient in 19 minutes off the bench.

Next week, Arizona State will return to Tempe and continue its string of contests against ranked opponents. On Thursday, ASU will take on No. 16 USC at 9 p.m., and Saturday, the Sun Devils will host No. 7 UCLA at 8 p.m. They’ll close out a rare three games in five days stretch with a visit from Arizona, closing out a five-game stretch against ranked opponents.