DURHAM, N.C. – It was a nostalgic weekend for ASU head coach Bobby Hurley, visiting his alma mater, reconnecting with former coaches and teammates, and returning to fabled Cameron Indoor Stadium, where he enjoyed a storied college basketball career.
But all of those positive remembrances were largely negated as Arizona State struggled all night long against No. 7 Duke and, in a poor display, was routed 103-47 in the Brotherhood Run Charity, with all proceeds from the event benefiting the Duke Children’s Hospital.
While it will, luckily for the Sun Devils, this was not a game that won’t count in the season standings; it is still a contest that is now given much for Hurley, his staff, and players to mull over and try to remedy the considerable number of shortcomings ahead of their season opener against Idaho State on November 5th.
“It was a trainwreck,” Hurley said. “The only bright side of this for us is that we’re 0-0. I don’t think I’ll have any complaints this week; it should be pretty straightforward. I don’t think I’ll have any guys wondering why they’re not starting in the opener. I think by the end of this week, hopefully, we’ll learn something from this.”
In Hurley’s time at Duke, he had a record of 119-26. He had been a part of many blowout wins at Cameron Indoor, but Sunday night represented his first time being on the opposing bench of a Duke basketball blitz.
“I’ve been around long enough to know what just happened has happened before,” Hurley stated. “I knew it could happen to me, and it did. I quietly was a little concerned because I don’t think we were as impressive as I thought we would be in our closed scrimmage and that was against a lesser opponent. Now, in one week, you’re at Duke with their roster.”
The Sun Devils struggled from the tip, finishing the first half 7-28 from the field and having a five-minute period where they didn’t convert a single field goal. The ‘Cameron Crazies,’ Duke’s student section, had the Sun Devils rattled with each miss. The Blue Devils kept ASU along the perimeter, forcing the Sun Devils to take tough shots. Freshman forward Jayden Quaintance had a couple of baskets in the paint, but a majority of possessions ended with ASU taking a difficult shot from the three or midrange.
On the other side of the court, Duke started out the gates, driving straight into the teeth of the ASU defense. They finished the first half with 22 of its 37 points in the paint and posted 10 fast break points.
The Sun Devils were down by 16 at the half and couldn’t stop the bleeding in the second stanza. ASU was outscored 66-26 in the second half, with the Blue Devils hitting 15 of 23 three-pointers in the final 20 minutes. Conversely, the Sun Devils were only 4-11 in shot attempts beyond the arc.
ASU was also outscored 17-0 in transition points, as they were seldom on the fastbreak. The Blue Devils controlled the pace of the game from tip-off to the final buzzer, overwhelmed the visitors on offense, and suffocated them with their defense on the other end of the court. Arizona State was never allowed to develop any momentum that could have reduced the large point deficit that rolled in like an avalanche for the last 20 minutes of the contest.
“The second half, we were a disaster on defense,” Hurley remarked. “To give up that many points and 15 threes, there’s not a category we did well in. We had six or seven turnovers in our closed scrimmage, and that was pretty good. Well, we had 18 today, so that didn’t carry over much. That being said, we got nine days before our season opener, so we got a lot of work to do.”
One of the few highlights for the Sun Devils was seeing 17-year-old ASU freshman forward Jayden Quaintance hold his own against the freshman in the country, forward Cooper Flagg. In 30 minutes, Quaintance recorded 11 points with six rebounds and two blocks. While at times he looked winded during dead balls, he did display a non-stop motor that can signal a bright future heading into the season.
“I value the team as a whole and not single out individuals,” Hurley remarked. “But I was really forced to single out Jayden as a bright spot. He wasn’t perfect, he didn’t make all the shots, but he belonged in that game tonight. He was ready for that game to play on the floor, and he didn’t look out of place.
“He’s one of our hardest workers in practice every day,” Hurley noted. “He works his *ss off in practice. He’s got good habits, and he’s in the gym all the time working on his game. He loves the game, so he’s gonna have some success. He had some success tonight, but the game was just littered with failure.”
There were polar opposite memories Hurley had experienced in the last 48 hours. Duke legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski joined the team at lunch yesterday and spoke about his time with Hurley. That event, combined with Hurley revisiting some of his favorite places from his playing days, was in sharp contrast to Sunday night’s defeat. Nonetheless, the last memory of this road trip is the bitter loss, is the one that is front and center on Hurley’s mind as he returns to the valley to continue and get his team ready for a grueling non-conference schedule which precedes an extremely challenging Big 12 slate.
“I saw Coach K last night and spent a good amount of time with him, so that was a great moment,” Hurley commented. “I ran both days on the Duke golf course, which is where I used to run when I played here, so that was great. Everything else speaks for itself, though.
“This is the ultimate wake-up call. If we don’t advance this, then we don’t have a lot of hope this year. If we are not a completely different team on opening night, then we’ve learned nothing from this. I would imagine it’s going to be hard for us, too, but all the other stuff outside of the game was amazing.”
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