Four takeaways following ASU’s heartbreaking loss to UCLA
Before Tyger Campbell brought up the ball. Before he passed it back to Jaime Jaquez Jr. and set a screen on Rob Edwards. Before Mickey Mitchell closed out. Before his outstretched left arm extended just under Jaquez’s shot.
Before Jaquez’s contested triple from the top of the key cut through the Pauley Pavilion net, giving the UCLA Bruins (18-11, 11-5 Pac-12) -- yes, the same UCLA Bruins that ASU beat by 20 less than a month ago -- a share of the Pac-12 lead.
Before all that, ASU had the ball with 40 seconds to play. It had no timeouts and no play drawn up. Instead, point guard Remy Martin -- who willed the Sun Devils back from a nine-point deficit, pouring in a game-high 30 -- took a contested 25-footer with double digits showing on the shot clock. It nicked off the right side of the rim and bounced out of bounds.
All of a sudden, the game -- and the conference standings -- were out of the Sun Devils’ control. The same scenario happened last Saturday against Oregon State. The Beavers’ game-winning heave just happened to carom off the rim. ASU (19-9, 10-5 Pac-12) wasn’t as fortunate Thursday and, so, its seven-game win streak is no more.
“I thought it was a helluva game to be a part of,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters. “We’ve been on the right side of a lot of these games.
“We played a winning game. I’ve never seen UCLA like this since I’ve been here. Maybe the Lonzo Ball year in terms of the crowd and the energy in the building. Between the two teams, we’ve won 12 in a row and they had to hit a contested shot at the buzzer to beat us.”
Here are four takeaways from the Bruins' 75-72 victory:
Jake Kyman, the Sun Devil killer:
The Sun Devils headed into the locker room down a half dozen. They had played well -- they scored 35 points after all -- but the Bruins had the best player on the court for the first 20 minutes.
UCLA guard Jake Kyman could have climbed up to the top row of Pauley Pavilion, put on a blindfold and thrown the ball backward. People would have thought it was going in. He was that hot in the first half. The 6-foot-6 freshman had 19 first-half points on 7 of 9 shooting and 5 of 7 from deep.
“Kyman looked like Larry Bird out there for a while,” Hurley said. “We’ve had responses -- we’ve been down big in first halves and second halves and we’ve had answers.”
Martin and ASU guard Rob Edwards said they kept messing up their switches and allowing the lengthy Kyman space to knock down a shot. But talk to anyone wearing gold on Thursday, Kyman wasn’t the reason the Devils lost.
Sun Devils struggle on the glass:
For really the first time in its seven-game win streak, ASU got into some real foul trouble. ASU forward Romello White -- who only finished with four points and six rebounds -- and Alonzo Verge -- who scored a dozen on 11 shots -- both foul out Thursday.
At least, in some respects, it limited the Sun Devils rebounding efforts. ASU shot better than the Bruins. It hit more 3s. It had fewer turnovers. But it got murdered on the boards. UCLA finished the night with a 41-27 advantage on the glass.
“We didn’t do a good enough job on the backboard and that was really the difference in the game,” Hurley said.
Added Edwards, when asked what he thought the difference in the game was: “Rebounds. They got a lot of offensive rebounds (16, compared to six from ASU) … We weren’t as physical as them down in the post so I feel like they beat us that way.”
Led by Martin, ASU again mounts an impressive comeback:
Regardless of how it happened, how he did or what the final score was, Martin will blame himself if ASU loses. Thursday was the same. He kept going back to the tough shot he took with under 30 seconds to play.
“I just have to make the shot at the end,” he said. “If I make that shot, make that 3, it’s overtime if (Jaquez drills that shot).”
What he fails to mention is UCLA may have won by double-digits if not for him.
Martin not only contributed with a game-high 30 points on 11 of 24 from the field, but when the Sun Devils were down four with just over five minutes to play, the junior who grew up in Los Angeles had a stretch where he pickpocketed Kyman for a breakaway dunk then nailed a pull-up 3 on the next possession.
“I said it last year, I thought the last month of Pac-12 (play), he was the best player in the conference. And then he’s just built on that,” Hurley said. “All year, as we were trying to find our identity and get more guys playing well, he just put us on his back.”
The crowd hushed. It was a tie game and Martin was in control.
A few minutes later, Edwards would rise up and knock down a triple to put the Sun Devils up a pair. That shot sunk with 3:50 to play. It would be the final field goal ASU hit on Thursday.
UCLA now takes the reigns of the conference:
If nothing else, ASU’s seven-game win streak earned it some comfort in the NCAA Tournament talk. The Sun Devils escaped the bubble to the point where a loss to one of the nation’s hottest teams won’t affect how much they sweat on Selection Sunday.
But it does affect their hopes to claim their first Pac-12 regular-season crown ever.
At the moment, UCLA and Oregon (22-7, 11-5 Pac-12) sit atop the conference. ASU is a half game back. And after both losing on Thursday, Colorado and Arizona are currently 1.5 and 2 games out of first place, respectively.
The Sun Devils have three games remaining -- USC on Saturday, then home contests against Washington and Washington State next week. Oregon and UCLA both have just a pair of games left on their schedule.
Therefore, ASU in some ways controls its own destiny. If it wins out, the worst-case scenario is at least a share of the Pac-12. Nonetheless, Thursday still feels like a missed opportunity for the Sun Devils.
“Yeah, it sucks,” Edwards said. “That’s what we were talking about in the locker room before coach came in. We’re going to get back to the drawing board, practice tomorrow and then try to pull one out against USC.”
