The cheers from the Princeton locker room echoed through the halls of Wells Fargo Arena shortly after the Tigers upset the 17th ranked Sun Devils in Tempe. Just a week after knocking off Goliath, ASU let Princeton play the role of David.

The Princeton Tigers used a 9-0 run in the early stages of the game to take a 13-5 lead. From that point on, ASU found itself where it has been seemingly all December long, playing from behind in the first half.

“It’s not the response you would hope for after what happened last week,” said a noticeably disappointed Bobby Hurley.

Not the response, indeed. A week ago, it was the Sun Devils' celebration that took over the arena and streets of Tempe. Dealing with possible hangover symptoms on Saturday afternoon ASU was 20-61 from the field, and just 2-15 from 3 point range.

“It definitely hurts. Basketball humbles you real quick. You go from an all-time high to an all-time low, said Zylan Cheatham.

Cheatham also denied any hangover from the week before.

“No,” said Cheatham.

“I didn’t think we played our best against Kansas, but we found a way to win.”

After a lethargic first half, ASU found itself down at halftime for the 4th game in a row.

“I didn’t think I did a very good job of getting the team ready for the level the game was going to be,” said Hurley. “They played harder. There were a couple of offensive rebound examples where we had 3 white jerseys in the paint in the paint and they had one, and somehow they came away with the offensive rebound.

“I’ve got to do a better job.”

ASU has often relied on stellar second-half play this season. They were in need of another comeback if they wanted to end the nonconference slate on a high note.

Devin Kannady had other ideas, as he nailed a three-pointer just 19 seconds into the second half, which put Princeton up by 10.

“He can play in any league,” Hurley stated after the game on Cannady, who finished with a team-high 21 points.

While Princeton’s key players made shots, production was missing from most of the ASU go-to scorers. Arizona State’s leading scorer, Luguentz Dort, finished 1-8 from the field for just 6 points. Kimani Lawrence went 0-5 and finished with 5 points. Rob Edwards, who hit big shots last week, was just 3-12 from the field and finished with 11 points.

“I think it just goes to our field goal percentage,” said Hurley. “Our defense held them to 37%. Usually, that is pretty decent. If you keep going to the well and missing it kind of chips away at your desire to keep competing.”

One exception to the low field goal percentage was Romello White. The sophomore scored 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, but found himself in foul trouble late in the game.

“With the exception Romello White, nobody had a great fie d goal percentage,“ said Cheatham.” We are not going to beat any decent or good team shooting like that.”

Despite the disappointing shooting effort, ASU used its ramped up energy in the second half.

ASU took its’ first lead since the early minutes of the game when Cheatham hit two free throws with 12:36 to go in the second half.

ASU and Princeton then went back and forth for most of the second half.

It appeared ASU would gather enough momentum to pull away after Edwards hit back to back three-pointers that excited the crowd at Wells Fargo Arena. But unlike last week, ASU could not keep the momentum as the teams continued to swap leads.

With 25 seconds left, Princeton’s Richmond Arririguzoh hit two free throws and the Tigers took a one-point lead before Rob Edwards missed two shots and Lugentz Dort, who grabbed an offensive rebound, missed as time expired.

“I thought we had multiple cracks at it. At that point I wanted Rob to shoot or 3 or have the ball in his hands for some type of shot. The only other option was Remy based on how the game was going. We scrambled and had a couple of opportunities where the ball didn’t go in.”

Ball game.

Dort laid across midcourt in disappointment and disbelief as ASU dropped it’s worse loss of the season.

“There are no positives to this,” said Hurley. “ Just the kind of nonconference that we had and the level of wins we have had, this is a step back. But if we play like this then a resume doesn’t really mean a whole lot. You’ve got to be ready to play at a higher level and take care of business if you want to compete. You can’t beat the #1 team in the country and then play this way.”

Cheatham agreed with his head coach and noted that the team needs to show “maturity” moving forward.

“It’s just reminder that no matter how good you feel or how great things are going that it can all go away real fast if you are not careful and not ready,” Cheatham said.

ASU may not be able to achieve a high as strong as the one they received after beating Kansas, but a formidable start to conference play would certainly suffice at this juncture.