The first round contest of the Big 12 Tournament was a microcosm of Arizona State’s season. An already undermanned squad suffers an in-game injury to one of its key players but never folds, giving itself a chance for a comeback. And much like many other games this season, the Sun Devils find themselves on the losing end, concluding the 2024-25 season with a 71-66 loss and ending the year on a five-game skid.
Coleman Hawkins’ Tour de Force
Kansas State was dominant for long stretches, leading in double digits for nearly half of the game. Ironically, that wasn't part of any balanced scoring but rather thanks to a one-man show in forward Coleman Hawkins. 19 of his points came in the first half, and ironically, for the last 18 minutes, he scored four points. But consider the fact that the Wildcats went down to the locker room with a 38-31 edge and were outscored 35-33 in the second half. Suffice it to say that if it wasn’t for Hawkins’ exploits in the first half, which included making his first three 3-point shots of the game, this game could have looked different.
Hawkins had eight rebounds and two blocks, and was just effective inside as he was draining jumpers. His injury earlier in the season dealt a massive blow to Kansas State’s NCAA Tournament hopes, and while coming back from injury, he was relatively quiet, scoring only in single digits line each of his last five games; on Tuesday evening, he seemed to unleash his frustration proving to be one the biggest challenges the ASU defense had to face from a single player all season long.
Shooting woes and porous defense hinder the Sun Devils in Adam Miller’s absence
Arizona State was slow out of the gates and already was down 17-4 six minutes into the game. Even though it was able to erase that deficit and even grab the lead for just under a minute and a half in the first stanza, they quickly sunk again offensively and saw the Wildcats shoot over 51% in the first half, converting 6-12 from beyond the arc. Even though Kansas State scored only 24 points from the field in the second half, they did so at a 48% clip, frustrating the undermanned and fatigued ASU team.
Senior guard Adam Miller, who was back in the lineup after a hip pointer and oblique injury forced him to play just one minute in the last two games, suffered a right foot injury that had him see just 22 minutes of action, mostly in the first half, scoring just 3 points. As his team’s best defender, his absence put that much more of a strain on his teammates at the other end of the court.
Senior guard Alston Mason, fellow senior and forward Basheer Jihad, and freshman guard Joson Sanon combined for 43 points on 14-42 shooting. Ameir Ali scored just 6 points. No one would blame a short rotation for running out of gas at certain points of the contest, but his teammates could not bridge the void created by Miller’s unavailability, and the rest is history.
Shawn Phillips Jr. finishes the season in impressive fashion
ASU has missed the services of freshman forward Jayden Quaintance for the last four games of the regular season. But when junior center Shawn Phillips Jr. stepped into the starting lineup, he certainly rose to the occasion, and tonight’s postseason contest was no different. Coming into the Kansas State matchup was averaging 10.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.3 blocks, and shooting 18-of-27 (.671) from the floor. In the loss to Kansas State, he recorded his second double-double of the year, 11 points (5-7 shooting) and 14 rebounds, as well as posting three blocks. Even during a five-game losing streak to end the 2024-25 campaign, it was hard not to notice Phillips’ improvement and be impressed with the strides he made from earlier this year.
Many thought he would regress with the addition of Quaintance, but he proved to be a formidable complementary player and again succeeded in being the focal point in the frontcourt. His potential, if not probable, return next season would be a welcome sight in Tempe.
This loss likely does not signal the end of the Bobby Hurley era in Tempe
A 9-2 start in non-conference play turned into a 13-19 record, and 4-16 in Big 12 play, marking the second-most losses by the ASU head coach during his Sun Devil tenure, which eclipsed only by the 2020-21 COVID season and an 11-14 mark. Hurley acknowledged after the game that he “didn't do the best job” this past season in building up his roster, one that repeatedly suffered from significant injuries during the conference slate and was never able to compensate for those personnel losses. "I'll have a lot of regret,” Hurley stated, “because I think if we had the whole puzzle together, it was an NCAA Tournament team.”
It was only two seasons ago that Hurley matched his highest win total, 23, and made his third NCAA Tournament appearance. But with back-to-back losing seasons, national pundits predicted that a loss to Kansas State would be Hurley’s last game on the sidelines for the Sun Devils.
As we reported last week, all signs back then already pointed to Hurley, who has one year left on his contract, staying put. A near $4 million buyout would put a financial strain on ASU, and for various reasons Hurley could still keep his nucleus of talented freshmen along with Phillips as solid foundation to build on. And landing local five-star forward Koa Peat is certainly within reach. The only question remains whether ASU is going to offer him an extension that will protect them financially without a buyout or a nominal one.
Time will tell if Hurley can avoid three consecutive losing seasons at ASU for the first time ever, which would also mark six of his last seven campaigns. It was a season where everything that could have gone wrong did, and maybe next year offers Hurley much better luck. Then again, it’s incumbent on him not to wait for those breaks but actually go out and create them.
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