LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Sun Devils marched into Allen Fieldhouse looking to extend their win streak against No. 11 Kansas, already 2-0 in the Bobby Hurley era. After jumping out in front for most of the first half and leading 42-36 heading into the locker room. The Sun Devils left Jayhawk fans stunned and booing after the opening 20 minutes, looking strong on both sides of the ball.
It all came tumbling down in the second half as the Sun Devils (10-4, 1-2 Big 12) put up just 13 points in the second half on 22% shooting with the Jayhawks (11-3, 2-1 Big 12) strolling to a 74-55 win to avoid back-to-back losses at home, which hasn’t happened since the 1988-89 season. With freshman and leading scorer guard Joson Sanon out for the second consecutive game due to an ankle injury, Hurley’s 7-man rotation couldn’t keep up with the No. 11 team in the country as players began to fall into foul trouble.
“We’re shorthanded with Joson right now,” Hurley said. “We couldn’t afford to have guys in foul trouble. We’ve done a pretty good job this year not getting in foul trouble, and that certainly hurt us. This game was a little choppy with those types of things happening.”
Senior guard BJ Freeman was a major factor in building the first-half lead as he had 10 early points but picked up a second foul that kept him on the bench for long periods. With a main scoring option on the bench, another senior guard, Alston Mason, stepped up, finishing with 19 points. He was the only other Sun Devil to reach double digits.
With Kansas's pressure on him to create offense, Mason was trapped in the corner on the full-court presses, resulting in six turnovers. With Freeman on the bench and Sanon injured, Mason had very little help getting the ball down the court, and the offense as a whole never found the rhythm it had in the first half.
“I wanted to come out and set the tone,” Mason stated. “I wanted to get guys involved but also look for my shot since I haven’t been shooting the best. This game I was fortunate enough to keep looking for it, and in the second half we just came out sluggish. That’s been a problem for us, so we gotta work on that.
The Sun Devils took care of the ball relatively well in the first half with just six turnovers, but once the Jayhawks started their full-court press, a barrage of turnovers followed. ASU doubled its turnovers with 12 in the second half, and that was the beginning of the end. The rebounding tide turned soon after as the Sun Devils went from out-rebounding the Jayhawks 18-10 to losing the battle 39-29
“We didn’t start the half very well rebounding,” Hurley mentioned. “That kind of set the tone defensively, and we didn’t handle that pressure at all. We did not do a good job of taking care of the ball on the press, and we turned it over a lot. We started digging a hole for ourselves that we couldn’t get out of.”
Freshman Jayden Quaintance continued to hold his own on the floor against top talent, as he just missed his fifth double-double of the season, finishing with nine points, 11 rebounds, and a block. He also played a large majority of the game against graduate center Hunter Dickinson, one of the top players in the country, and defended him in the post extremely well. He played 37 of the 40 minutes with the shortened rotation, the most he’s played all season thus far, with the team as a whole showing fatigue in the second half.
“I thought he handled himself really well,” Hurley noted. “He battled contested shots and rebounded. He played excellent defense for us and was out there for a whole. We have to try and get more from our bench, and that would give me the opportunity to get him off the floor for a little while. We’ve got to get healthy, and that’s the biggest thing right now.”
Just 14 games into his collegiate career, Quaintance is already miles ahead of where he was in the exhibition game at Duke. He’s established himself as a premier defender in the country, and his offensive game is coming around every time he takes the court. As a 17-year-old playing with grown men, Quaintance has put the Big 12 and the country on notice.
“He’s a fast learner, and everything he’s doing has been great,” Mason voiced. “At 17 years old, he’s come in and matured a lot. He does it so well and quickly, so he’s going to keep learning how to affect the game in different ways than what he already does. He makes a big impact on our team, but it’s still a learning process, so you have to give him time.”
Kansas has the highest winning percentage at home since 2005, at 94.3%, and the crowd at Allen Fieldhouse fueled the Jayhawks' fire in the second half. The Sun Devils have already played on the road against Duke and Gonzaga, two schools notorious for their loud home crowds, but previous experiences can only prepare a team so much compared to what is in front of them.
“Those are all pristine environments themselves,” Mason explained. “Coming in here, we knew it was going to be loud, and our backs were going to be against the wall. It just comes down to composure and staying together as a team.”
The Sun Devils shot just 22% from the field in the second half, as they had lost all offensive rhythm once the crowd got back into the game. From the full-court press to inefficient shots, the game slowly slipped away with each Kansas basket. As the Jayhawks continued to score, the Sun Devils tried to match them but simply ran out of gas as the game wore on.
“They’re a really talented team,” Hurley recognized. “What they were doing really turned up their pressure on defense with the press, and that cost us some baskets, and the same started getting away from us quickly. We weren’t able to stop the bleeding at any point, and points were really hard to find for us in the second half.”
Before the second-half meltdown, the Sun Devils looked like they had the talent and chemistry to make a statement in their first year in the Big 12. While Kansas is one of the top teams in the conference, the talent level from top to bottom is very high. ASU will play a plethora of opponents on or near the same level as Kansas, and the opening 20 minutes of the game looked very encouraging and promising for conference play.
“It was encouraging that we were able to come out like that,” Hurley expressed. “Based on how Kansas looked the other day and knowing they were back home, it was good to play 20 minutes like that and know we can compete with opponents like Kansas. I think we just ran out of gas to some degree as the game wore on.”
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