Christmas trip to San Francisco brings nothing but coal in ASU’s stocking
SAN FRANCISCO - Physically, the Arizona State men’s basketball team was in San Francisco on Wednesday night. Mentally, it was anywhere but. After 40 minutes of humiliating, grotesque, downright awful basketball, Bobby Hurley’s Sun Devils may as well have just taken their Christmas break early. San Francisco (10-4) outshot, out-rebounded, out-hustled, and thoroughly outcoached No. 25 ASU (11-2) on its way to a 97-60 rout of the ranked Sun Devils. ASU never led. Somehow the final score was closer than the game actually was.
This one won’t be one Hurley and ASU dwell on for very long.
"There’s nothing I can take from this,” Hurley said bluntly. “This is a game where you just never show it to your team again, and you just move on. I’ve had a couple of games like this, unfortunately.”
The Sun Devils never had a shred of offensive rhythm in this one and thus never had a chance in the ballgame. It didn’t matter who was playing defense against the Dons on Wednesday night; they saw a green light and a whole lot of nylon from wherever they hoisted shots. USF shot 57% from the field, but it felt like much more. It pulled away with the aid of the three ball; the Dons buried 15 of their 29 three-point attempts. ASU, on the other hand, was a ghastly 5-26 from beyond the arch. USF continuously gashed ASU in transition and was finding the bottom of the net on even the most well-contested shot attempts. The ASU effort was subpar, of course, but it’s hard to confidently say ASU would have won this game had it played its best game of the season.
If Desmond Cambrdige is worth a 37-point difference, then there’s no reason for ASU to sweat this one. He was absent with a non-contagious stomach bug on Wednesday. He picked a good one to sit out.
“There was more to it tonight than just one guy being out,” Hurley said with an obvious tone. “I don’t think you can say with a straight face he was the reason for this one. He’s a huge part of what we’ve done so far, and he’s had a tremendous year, but tonight was just one of those games.”
Some seriously staggering statistics are bound to sprout from a loss this epic. ASU’s 5-26 mark from deep leads the pack, but a 17-30 free throw shooting night and an overall field goal tally of 19-68 surely deserve recognition. ASU trailed 9-0, then 16-2, then 26-3. The final margin of 37 points was ten fewer than the biggest delta when USF held a 47-point advantage on two separate possessions in the final 10 minutes.
Arizona State didn’t bring it on either end of the court on Wednesday night, and the score reflected as much. Hurley said credit to the hosts is certainly due after a beatdown of this nature.
“All credit to San Francisco. They had a great win,” Hurley said. “They hit shots early in the game, and we didn’t show up on defense. It’s on me, and it’s on our staff to make sure that we get ready and put this one behind us.”
Sometimes it’s easy for coaches to tell when a team just doesn’t have it on a given day. Hurley said this was not one of those days, praising the team’s effort during practice and walk-throughs.
“I would say the signs were there maybe in the San Diego game that’s why I wasn’t too happy after that one,” Hurley explained. “But I thought practice was pretty good, and the shootaround was pretty focused. There’s really no crystal ball that will truly tell you what’s going to happen.”
Hurley chuckled and shook his head as he reflected on the performance as a whole.
“I’m a little rattled right now,” he admitted. So too looked his team.
As the frustration mounted, so too did the whistles, most of which went against ASU. Fouls on consecutive possessions frustrated Desmond Cambridge to a boiling point. He shoved a USF defender after the whistle, earning a technical foul. It was one of ASU’s three technicals; the other two were assessed to Hurley. The second sent him mercifully to the locker room with just under five minutes remaining in the ballgame.
Guard DJ Horne was ASU’s leading scorer with 12 points. He accounted for two of the Sun Devils’ five three-pointers and seemed to have the fewest long range missiles buried against him. He promised that the Sun Devils would quickly turn the page.
“I will say we’re going to bounce back,” Horne said without hesitating. “It’s very disappointing to put out a performance like this, especially going into the break. It’s going to hurt, but we’re definitely going to learn from it.”
Horne wasn’t as eager as his head coach when asked how quickly the team will flush this loss. He said he’s looking forward to watching and learning from it. If the team can return to its high level of play, a loss like this certainly needs to fuel the fire. The Sun Devils will have to let this one sit for ten days before welcoming rival Arizona in a Pac-12 clash at Desert Financial Arena on New Year’s Eve at noon. Horne is planning on ASU’s next showing being a product of the frustration that will stem from tonight’s loss.
“We will remember this.”
