This season has been much more of a roller coaster ride to this point than the past two for the Arizona State Sun Devils. It took until late January to get their first win over a ranked opponent and they have not been over .500 in Pac-12 play—until now, that is.

An 84-66 thrashing of the UCLA Bruins (12-11, 5-5 Pac-12) Thursday night has brought ASU (14-8, 5-4) to a high-point since conference play began, now winners in four of its last five games.

This also marks the first time in program history that the Sun Devils have had a four-game winning streak over the Bruins, according to the archive on the Sun Devil athletics website, which dates back to the start of 1979.

“I just liked the way we were at Washington,” Hurley said, referencing ASU’s 87-83 victory Saturday in its previous game. “This was very similar, in terms of just the balance and multiple guys contributing…just top to bottom, I think both ends of the floor, it was probably one of our more complete games this year.”

To Hurley’s point, ASU set a new single-game high since the start of conference play with 16 assists. It is their third-highest single-game output of the season, only behind a pair of 19-assist performances against both Texas Southern and Central Connecticut in non-conference play; two games in which ASU put up 90-plus points against lower-end mid-majors.

Not surprisingly, this effort was led by junior point guard Remy Martin’s seven assists, which paced both teams in the blowout victory. Once again, an example of Martin playing whatever role he sees fit in a given game to help the team win.

“Remy did a very good job of just allowing other guys to have games,” Hurley said. “He orchestrated more tonight and really set the table for other guys.”

For Martin, they didn’t necessarily draw it up to play the way he did, but he felt that was what the game flow dictated. His seven assists tied for the second-most in a game this season, but is the greatest he’s had in a win, which as he’s repeated innumerable times is what matters most to him.

“At the end of the day, I just attacked the paint like I always do,” Martin commented. “I was trying to make the game easier for (my teammates), so I just kicked out and that’s what got us going early, is that people were hitting shots.”

For the first time in what feels like forever, Martin was not ASU’s leading scorer, as his 15 points (3-for-9 field goals, including 2-for-4 threes, 7-for-9 free throws) fell second to junior guard Alonzo Verge Jr’s 26 (10-for-16 from the field, made all three triples, 3-for-4 free throws).

It marked Verge’s fifth straight game coming off the bench, a stretch in which he’s scored a combined 77 points thanks to four straight performances in double figures. This followed five straight games in which he fell short of 10 points, four of which he was a starter.

“I feel like I’m doing better coming off the bench,” Verge said. “I get to see what’s going on on the court before I get out there. I get to see what some of the team’s weaknesses are, and strengths, so it’s a positive—I look at it in a positive way, and I’m helping my team win, and we’re winning, so I don’t mind it.”

Verge admits this season has been a bit of a learning process in transitioning to power-five, division-one basketball from a junior college level. However, this could very well be just the beginning of seeing that learning start to pay off.

“From the beginning of the year, I just learned situations,” Verge explained. “When to attack, and when not to, and when to shoot the ball, and when not to, so I got much better at that over time.”

Hurley has praised Verge since the preseason based on what he was seeing from him in practice, and now that he’s starting to see that potential translate to games, it appears he will continue playing him for significant minutes despite coming off the bench.

“He’s coming off the bench, but he’s going to play starter minutes,” Hurley said. “Some guys maybe do utilize that time to really see what the court looks like, see what things might be available to them. I’m glad that he’s thinking that way so that he’s maybe thinking about ways that he can attack the defense once he gets into the game.”

Coupled with a 13-point effort from senior guard Rob Edwards (4-for-9 field goals, 3-for-7 triples, 2-for-4 free throws), he joins Verge in contributing double figures for a fourth straight contest, which has been in addition to Martin’s consistent performance.

It’s been a stretch of games that feels as close as ASU’s gotten to reviving “Guard U” since the final games of Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice in March 2018.

“I’ve always felt like we were a better shooting team than we’ve demonstrated in a lot of other games,” Hurley said. “Are we this good? I mean that’s very strong, but multiple guys are in a good rhythm right now and playing well on the offensive end, so it’s good to see.”

Strong might be putting it lightly, as the Sun Devils 50 percent effort from the field (29-for-58, compared to UCLA’s 22-for-58, good for 38 percent) was carried by a 14-for-24 three-point shooting night. The 58 percent clip from deep was astronomically better than every previous performance this season in which ASU shot at least 19 triples.

Although the guards played a significant part in this effort, it’s hard not to give credit to junior forwards Kimani Lawrence and Khalid Thomas, who each scored nine points in the first half from making a trio of threes, combining to go 6-for-6 from beyond the arc.

As both Hurley and Martin would allude to, this was paramount in setting the tone for ASU early and getting the team in the shooting flow that they did, making tonight’s victory one that seldom felt in doubt.

That’s because when players deeper in the lineup contribute, in addition to the trio of guards plus junior forward Romello White (eight points on 4-for-9 shooting, 16 rebounds, two blocks, assist) doing their job, the Sun Devils seem damn-near unstoppable.

“When we get in transition and we play defense and get out, and everyone’s contributing, it makes the game so much easier,” Martin said.

Lawrence, the fourth and final Sun Devil in double figures with 11 points (4-for-5 field goals, two rebounds, assist, block), added, “we’ve been doing this all summer. It was good to see that everyone was clicking on the same day. Once (sophomore forward Taeshon Cherry) gets going, that’s a whole ‘nother level, and it’s just all about getting hot at the right time at this point.”

Now winners in four of their last five, the Sun Devils are certainly in as good of a spot as they have been all season. From their fourth, single-digit turnover showing of the season (nine was the fewest since they had that much in January 11th loss at Oregon), to Thomas’s now 19 points in the last two games combined, every little thing seems to be going right for ASU.

All of it seems to start with the trio of guards hitting their collective stride as this final month of the regular season approaches, but as always has been the case for the Sun Devils—and any team, for that matter—the greatest challenge of any hot stretch is keeping it going into the next game.

ASU returns to action Saturday night when it hosts the USC Trojans (17-6, 6-4), who will look to bounce back from Thursday night’s five-point loss at No. 23 Arizona. The game will tip-off at 8 p.m. and air on the Pac-12 Networks.