At the start of the second half, Arizona State led UTEP by eight points. Plagued by a sluggish start and a poor shooting performance to boot, the Sun Devils began to find their stride towards the end of the first period, finishing with a 10-2 run and looked to continue to stretch their advantage on the Miners after the halftime break.

On the road to victory, the Sun Devils blew a tire.

In less than two minutes – purely by the hot hand of redshirt junior guard Souley Boum, the Miners took a 42-41 lead and never looked back as UTEP took control of the Desert Financial Arena hardwood and dominated the Sun Devils for the final 18 minutes. Demoralized and defeated after having the contest in their hands at the half, Arizona State (4-3) fell to UTEP (3-2) by a score of 76-63 on Wednesday night.

“It was a Jekyll and Hyde-ish effort because we battled well in the first half and finished the half very well, had a nice eight-point lead and it was gone in about a minute,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley explained. “Before we knew it, everything that we had gained, we’d given away.”

The collapse began as Boum, Conference USA’s leading scorer and a certified three-point sniper hit back-to-back shots from range to open the half, before drawing a foul beyond the arc on the subsequent possession – sinking all three of his foul shots.

The Miners went on to score 20 points in just over six minutes, lighting up a sluggish and hushed Sun Devil defense from all portions of the floor. In the second half alone, UTEP scored 20 points in the paint, 15 from distance on 5-11 shooting, and tied the knot on 43 second-half points by going 8-9 from the charity stripe.

Outmatched on defense, surely the potent Sun Devil offense was bound to bail out the inconsistencies on the other end of the floor – but never did. ASU scored 41 in the first half – a mark that is on par with what’s expected of the talented group. Nevertheless, much like their defense, the Sun Devils flattened out, scoring a mere 22 points in the final 20 minutes of play.

The most glaring of ASU’s issues on Wednesday were several of the same banes that have plagued the Sun Devils throughout the short 2020 season: three-point shooting and rebounding.

Arizona State, who field a plethora of talented guards who can score from all around the floor, went a collective 1-18 from three-point land. Star guards senior Remy Martin and freshman Josh Christopher, who shot four attempts from range apiece, came up with nothing.

“When shots aren’t falling in, we have to make up for it somewhere,” Christopher said. “When we aren’t hitting shots, we can’t let (the other team) make shots so we can close the gap.”

However, the numbers get worse when you look at the team’s efforts on the glass. For the sixth consecutive time (out of seven games played this season), Arizona State was outrebounded, both offensively and defensively.

However, this time around, it was worse than ever before.

For context, UTEP is a middle-of-the-line rebounding team in C-USA. The Miners are tied for seventh in the conference in defensive rebounds per game and an even worse 11th for boards on the offensive glass.

On Wednesday night, Arizona State pulled down four offensive rebounds and 22 defensive boards for a total of 26. UTEP pulled down nine boards on offense and a whopping 37 on defense for a total of 46 rebounds on the night.

You can do the math – Hurley’s Sun Devils were outrebounded by 20, by a C-USA opponent whose glass grabbing efforts across the stretch could be described as modest at best.

Rebounding is a portion of the game of basketball that is most influenced by a player and a team’s effort, and on Wednesday night, Hurley didn’t like the effort of the Sun Devils, not just on the glass, but overall.

“I thought it was more of the spirit of how we competed that was so disappointing,” Hurley admitted. “The whole thing was predicated and based on the way we came out at half – just the lifelessness that we had just to compete.”

“Defensively, we need to be better way better rebounding and better not letting teams feel comfortable in the game,” Christopher mentioned. “I think that team was really comfortable, and they feel like they belonged on the court, which (they) shouldn't have been (feeling).”

One bright spot for the Sun Devils was the hotshot freshman Christopher. ASU’s first McDonald’s All-American since James Harden scored 24 points on the night, leading all Sun Devil scorers on a night where Remy Martin – who scored 31 six days ago against Grand Canyon - seemed to phase out of the contest, only scoring nine points on 2-7 shooting. The freshman was all over the Desert Financial Arena floor, contributing in any way possible to will the Sun Devils to a fleeting chance of victory.

“He did more than just make shots – he dove on the floor a couple of times, really mixed it up well on defense, he was really connected to the game,” Hurley said of his star freshman. “We need to get more guys playing to the level of intensity he demonstrated.”

However, there is salvation for Hurley’s squad – his name is Marcus Bagley. The freshman forward who averaged 13 points and nearly six rebounds through his first four games before suffering a calf injury against Cal on Dec. 3, is nearing a return to the floor and brings exactly what the Sun Devils have been missing: rebounding and shooting from range.

“Missing Marcus right now is no good for us,” Bagley’s freshman counterpart Christopher noted. “He brings a lot. He’s flying around the court all game, and a lot of us are missing shots, and that’s his strong suit right now is knocking shots down. So not having him has been pretty rough for all of us, but it’s no excuse.”

A loss to an inferior yet hustling and hard-working UTEP team at home is certainly a massive blemish to a Sun Devil team that appears disjointed and incohesive, but many tests and contests remain for the Sun Devils to sort out their issues before it’s too late. For Hurley, that starts with the superstar and rock of his team – Remy Martin.

“We have to decide if this is important enough to you to commit the amount of emotional attachment and to appear like you’re really interested in playing and competing harder through the whole game and not just 20 minutes – it’s mysterious how inept we were in terms of competing and giving energy,” Hurley described.

“I have to talk to (Remy) and see if I think he needs to have more of an impact to get guys more motivated somehow, and I have to try to motivate people, but he’s been on some really good teams here. He's been on three years of really good teams that have won a lot of games and been relevant nationally and in our conference the last two years, and I just wonder how much he enjoys this team.”