Thursday’s showdown may have proven that No. 25 Arizona State belongs in this rivalry. On the other hand, it could be representative of a step that the Sun Devils still need to take.

In a 77-70 loss to No. 17 Arizona on Thursday, they fought until the end, just as they did when they fell in Tucson on Dec. 30. But once again, they came up short in an emotional game because of a mediocre shooting performance and a lack of size.

“To be on the losing end of this, it was tough not just for us, but for this community, for the fan base,” said ASU senior guard Kodi Justice, who scored 19 points on 7-14 shooting in what could be his last game against the Wildcats.

These losses are difficult for players and coaches to reconcile. The most gut-wrenching part for ASU (19-7, 7-7 Pac-12) could be that it turned an 18-point deficit in the first half into a seven-point lead early in the second half before letting it slip away down the stretch.

So it has been for the Sun Devils this season. Many slow starts have been erased by ferocious runs. Think back to the Kansas game. Or even further to Xavier.

Sports and entertainment announcer Michael Buffer introduced the Sun Devils prior to tip-off, then finished with a classic, “Let’s get ready to rumble!” But it seemed only one team got the memo.

Arizona started 9-11 from the floor, including four 3-pointers. ASU, on the other hand, looked sluggish, unable to feed off of 14,233 screaming fans at Wells Fargo Arena.

“That first 10 minutes, 11 minutes is as good as I’ve seen them this year or as good as an opponent has played against us,” ASU coach Bobby Hurley said. “Their energy on defense, their shot-making, we were really in trouble there.”

Then, perfectly on cue, the Sun Devils went on a 31-6 run. The crowd was into it. The Wildcats looked flustered.

ASU led 46-39 with 17:14 remaining in the game. At the 10:43 mark, the game was tied at 50.

From there, Arizona led until Justice made a layup to tie the game with 3:48 to play. The next couple of minutes were indicative of the entire game, in a sense.

Wildcats stud 7-foot-1 freshman big man Deandre Ayton, who finished with a jaw-dropping double-double of 25 points and 16 rebounds, tipped in a missed shot. Then guard Allonzo Trier (19 points) made a 3-pointer. Ayton capped the mini-run with a dunk, basically calling “game.”

“They have high-level players,” Hurley said.

Sometimes, unfortunate as it may be, that’s what it comes down to.

ASU had 10 more points in the paint than the Wildcats, but the Sun Devils were outrebounded by 16. Ayton, just like in the first matchup, was again a problem. Hurley thought the size wore on his team.

He was eventually asked how he simulates a guy like Ayton in practice.

“None of my walk-ons could do that,” Hurley said, jokingly.

Ayton will almost certainly be selected in the top 3 of this year’s NBA Draft. After the Dec. 30 game, Hurley alluded to the officials not calling three-second violations on the big man.

On Thursday, he did everything. He finished inside and got to the free throw line. The Sun Devils had players half a foot shorter than him trying to trap him, so, as Justice said, “he could see over everyone.”

“After competing against him twice, he may be the best big that I’ve seen in college as a player and as a coach in terms of his future and his upside, and he’s just scratching the surface of what he’ll be,” Hurley said. “It’s hard to imagine what he’ll be.”

It’s not only his size, either. ASU, like most of Ayton’s opponents this season, didn’t have an answer for many aspects of his game.

“He doesn’t get that tired, either,” Hurley said. “We had him on the perimeter running him around on ball screens thinking it might be easier for our guards to go by, but he holds his own away from the basket on defense. You can’t push him away, he’s kind of going over and getting the tip-ins.”

In addition to Arizona’s size wearing down ASU, the Sun Devils were, as Hurley said, “murdered at the free throw line.” The Wildcats made 21 of 27, more in quantity and even a better percentage than ASU’s 7 of 12.

Foul trouble was once again an issue for ASU. Forwards Romello White, De’Quon Lake, and Mickey Mitchell all played with four in the second half. Mitchell eventually fouled out.

Justice said that affected the team’s effort. It showed in the box score, too, as the Wildcats had 11 offensive boards in the second half.

“Any shot they missed, we were having a hard time making any contact because we felt like we did, we were going to pick up a foul, so people were just super tentative,” Justice said.

Oh, and beside the hot stretch where they eventually took the lead, the Sun Devils didn’t shoot well from 3-point range. They shot 28 percent from distance, much lower than the mark of “somewhere in the 40s” that Hurley believes his group needs to hit to defeat talented opponents like Arizona.

As the Sun Devils tried to extend the game by fouling in the final minute, the reality of this rivalry set in. ASU may be much more competitive than its recent seasons, but it still has room to grow to start swinging the momentum.

Arizona has won six straight. Hurley has never beaten the Wildcats, having gone 0-6 now. These two could meet in the Pac-12 tournament, but for now, ASU must accept this outcome as it has for the past three seasons.

“I feel like we emptied the tank though,” Hurley said. “We really did.”