Arizona State’s frustration boils over in loss to New Mexico State
The late transition defense. The offense that had no flow. Perhaps a few calls that didn’t go exactly the way he believed they should.
Each frustration pounded inside of Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley, taking the flame at the end of the fuse and pushing it closer and closer to an explosion.
The Sun Devils’ (6-5) frustrating play became too much to bear Saturday night, as Hurley was ejected following a pair of technical fouls in as many minutes during an 81-70 loss to New Mexico State (10-2) in front of 5,426 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe.
After managing to keep the game close in the first half and enter the break trailing by just two, ASU allowed the Aggies to open things up in the second half and only increase their coach’s frustration. A pair of non-calls on the offensive end proved too much for the always-vocal Hurley, who was promptly ejected.
It was the second time in as many seasons Hurley has drawn an ejection as ASU’s coach, with the other coming at home last season against Arizona.
ASU, fresh off its best performance of the season in a road come-from-behind win over San Diego State, again showed lapses in effort and execution that had plagued them often this season. The Sun Devils were limited in their personnel, as the midweek transfer of guard Sam Cunliffe and a concussion to guard Maurice O’Field left the team with eight scholarship players. The number briefly took another hit as junior guard Kodi Justice took a shot to the face and went to the locker room in the first half before returning.
Even after taking a 1-0 lead before the opening tip on a New Mexico State technical foul (failing to report the lineups more than 10 minutes before tip), the Sun Devils couldn’t come out with the same intensity that its required to be competitive this season. Even with limited bodies, Hurley was expecting more.
“We’ve had a hard week,” Hurley said. “Certainly having eight scholarship players, having Maurice [O’Field] out for the game didn’t help in that regard, but still plenty of guys to have played a little better.”
Added junior guard Shannon Evans II: ““They outhustled us. They outplayed us. They wanted it more, and we were relaxed and lackadaisical.”
The offense often stagnated, with played holding the ball too long and hoisting up bad shots through the game’s first 10 minutes. The biggest problems, however, were on the defensive end, where the Aggies stretched their lead into double digits in the first half and shot well above 50 percent for most of the period. Even after ASU made shots, they would quickly jump on the Sun Devils’ slow transition defense and turn it into outside buckets.
“In the first half, we gave up too many transition baskets,” Hurley said. “They ran us a couple times, and we lost some shooters where they got some 3[-pointers]. In a tight game like that, you can’t afford to give away points.”
The Sun Devils put together their best stretch of the game to close out the half, using an 8-0 run to take the lead after Evans dove onto the floor for a steal and fed senior Torian Graham for a dunk with 8:09 left. The run would extend to 10 unanswered before New Mexico State answered to make it 40-38 Aggies at the half.
The Aggies would carry their energy into the second half, and the Sun Devils would not. It would take four minutes of game time until Tra Holder’s 3-pointer opened the ASU second-half scoring. Again, the New Mexico State lead extended into double digits, and again the frustration mounted.
“We dug a hole for ourselves, and just had a hard time getting out of that,” Hurley said.
After junior Kodi Justice missed a layup midway through the half, Hurley openly objected the lack of a foul call. He was issued a technical foul, his first of the season, with 11:36 remaining. By the time Evans missed a 3-pointer with 9:47 left, he’d had enough. He drew another technical, earning the ejection and promptly walking to the locker room while muttering under his breath before the referee even signaled.
“I can’t jump into the minds and bodies of the people that are working the game,” Hurley said of the ejection. “I have a right to contest calls, as the other coach did throughout the game. That’s their decision on that. I handled it the way I wanted to after everything happened.”
The ejection, along with a full-court press, jump-started the Sun Devils to cut the lead back to single digits, but it was too late. ASU wound up shooting 30.3 percent in the second half, with just three scorers reaching double-digits.
Arizona State thought it had reached a breakthrough when it rallied from seven points down at the half to beat San Diego State. But like all “breakthrough” wins for ASU this season, it was about seeing how long the momentum would last. Amidst transfers and injuries, it didn’t even carry over to its next game this time.
“I just thought we would build off the excitement and the win that we had on Saturday [against San Diego State] and just be a little more lively,” Hurley said. “More energetic. In the first half, we were just a little bit flat. We need to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play, and conveying the message of how hard the game was going to be and getting up to it.”
