SAN DIEGO – Basketball is one of the most intimate sports out there, with the crowd on top of you in your ears. Momentum is a genuine factor in the sport, and scoring runs dictate that ever-important factor. A new-look Arizona State basketball team (2-2) learned this on Thursday night with over 12,000 screaming San Diego State fans in its ears as it battled with a scrappy Aztecs squad in a back-and-forth shootout: an instant classic for so early in the season.

In a game with ten lead changes, long scoring runs, and nonstop action, Arizona State was unable to come out with a victory in its first contest on the road in San Diego, dropping the game by a score of 65-63, despite numerous opportunities to escape California with a win.

“This was a war; it was not for the faint of heart,” Hurley said postgame. “If you don’t have men in a game like this, you’re not going to survive. I thought we were up for the challenge; we just didn’t make enough shots, and we were unable to close the game out.”

With 37 seconds remaining on the clock, Arizona State inbounded the ball. Toledo transfer guard Marreon Jackson navigated the left side wing before slinging a pass to Illinois State transfer guard DJ Horne, the best three-point shooter on the team, who had an open look from the corner. Horne’s shot clanged off the front iron. Jackson followed the miss, grabbed the ball and stepped behind the three-point line from the left side, and fired. He missed too. ASU was forced to foul SDSU, sending Bradley to the free-throw line with eight seconds left.

Bradley made one of two. Arizona State frantically hurried the ball down the court, and Jackson made a frenzied pass to freshman wing Jamiya Neal, who got a surprisingly open look from beyond the arc for the win. The release looked good, and Neal held his form, but the ball had too much sauce and doinked off the back of the rim. Game over.

The final 40 seconds of the loss encapsulate the entire contest for the Sun Devils: good looks from the field on scrappy plays, but no makes to show for it. ASU’s 37.3 shooting percentage is a dismal number, the worst shooting performance the team has put up through all four of its games in 2021. In 25 games last season, the Sun Devils shot worse than that just five times, including last year’s loss to the Aztecs as well.

Despite the misses, the ASU offense flowed well, especially in the first half after about eight minutes of only super senior forward Kimani Lawrence producing, as he scored the first eight points for the Sun Devils. Once into a groove, players moved when they didn’t have the ball and passed it around unselfishly. Numerous players such as Jackson and Horne received solid looks from range; they just couldn’t get the shots to fall.

“I thought we had a lot of really good looks, especially in the first half,” Hurley noted. “(Redshirt junior guard) Luther (Muhammad) had a desperation three with little shot clock, but other than that, I thought we had really good looks with a couple of in-and-outs. Hopefully, the guys will find their stroke; I know they are capable of doing it, the numbers say so throughout their careers. Hopefully, they start hitting them.”

Jackson, who scored 16 points, but on 5-for-18 shooting with seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals, explained his rationale after the contest.

“The guards, myself included, weren’t really going offensively in the early parts of the game,” Jackson said. “I just needed to get comfortable, and tonight I missed a lot of open shots, which I regret, but you live to fight another day, and I had to make up for it (in rebounds) and in a different way on defense.”

“It’s a work in progress with (the guards),” Hurley said. “I know Marreon made some nice plays at times, but he had some looks that he didn’t connect on, and his percentages weren’t great. I think he’s going to continue to get better.”

Paving the way for the Aztecs was a familiar foe for the Sun Devils, Cal transfer guard Matt Bradley, who was a presence on the floor for the first 20 minutes. Bradley led all SDSU scorers with eight points and six rebounds in the first half, drawing significant attention from the most potent ASU defenders – Muhammad and Lawrence.

Heading into the halftime break, Jackson hit a three with just a second left to play. ASU rode his make out of the locker room, jumping out to its highest lead of the game, nine points. Yet, for every run the Sun Devils went on, the Aztecs seemed to stick it right back to them. Sophomore guard Lamont Butler took over the contest, scoring 12 out of 14 points in the second half, getting involved on every run the Aztecs embarked upon.

When the clock hit zero, the numbers for both teams were extremely similar. Both teams shot under 40 percent from the field; they each had 11 turnovers, SDSU won the rebound battle by six, the margin for points in the paint was separated by four, the blocks and steals were nearly identical. The only black eye was the three-point shooting, a poor mark of 21 percent.

The players on this roster know how to shoot, specifically the guards. Right now, it’s a matter of if they can figure out how to play with each other, then focus on shooting the ball. If they are to stand a chance against the defending national champions in Baylor in Atlantis next week, they will have to make some progress. While this game may leave a bitter taste in the mouths of many, it leaves the taste of promise, a taste of hope, and a taste of normalcy in Hurley’s mouth.

“We weren’t making shots and. I think that’s the one thing that will come around for us,” Hurley said. “I’m hoping it comes around soon - we start connecting more from three-point range. We’ve done it all preseason; coming into this year, I thought we would be a really good perimeter shooting team; we just haven’t hit those. Our percentages couldn’t beat a team like this without making a few more threes.”

“It felt like COVID didn’t exist for two hours tonight; it was so refreshing… Both teams have a lot to figure out on offense, and we expended a ton of energy on defense, but to me, it felt like an NCAA Tournament game. I told my team keep battling like that, and we’ll have a chance to win some games.”

Join your fellow Sun Devil fans on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, to discuss this article and other ASU football, basketball, and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and get all the latest Sun Devil news!