Sun Devils collapse in final minutes, blow double-digit lead Stanford loss
LAS VEGAS - As super senior forward, Kimani Lawrence mean-mugged underneath the basket, and guard Marreon Jackson egged on the Sun Devil faithful in attendance at the T-Mobile Center, Arizona State’s ticket to a quarterfinal matchup with Arizona was all but punched with 3:01 remaining. With the Sun Devils leading by 14 in a game they’d controlled for the first 37 minutes, ASU’s bench exploded off the sideline with player after player head-tapping to indicate the monstrous slam Lawrence had completed seconds earlier on Stanford junior forward Spencer Jones.
“Our huddle was really excited,” said head coach Bobby Hurley of the Sun Devils’ mindset leading 69-55 with 181 ticks left on the clock. “We couldn’t really get re-connected to the game appropriately those last three minutes.”
Lawrence failed to convert the free throw following the timeout, a small sign of what was to come but not something to freak out about for the ASU bench in the moment. ESPN’s win probability metric said the Sun Devils had a 99.4 percent chance to win as Stanford junior forward James Keefe secured the rebound off Lawrence’s miss. But as Keefe’s last-second shot banked off the glass and rattled through the rim to put the finishing touches on a 17-point comeback for Stanford 3:01 later, Arizona State’s season came to a crashing close.
“It’s tough. It feels like it’s come full circle,” said Hurley following the 71-70 loss, which ended ASU’s season dead in its tracks at 14-17. “From Riverside when they are throwing up a 70-footer on us. That’s the beginning, and here we are at the end.”
For 37 minutes, Hurley’s group was superb. Looking just like they had during a stretch of seven wins in eight games to close the regular season, ASU continued that play with a historic shooting performance.
Inside-out offense for the Sun Devils worked early as Jackson drove and kicked to redshirt junior guard Luther Muhammad for an early 3-pointer that gave ASU a 16-13 lead. Hurley, encouraged by what he saw, turned to the Sun Devil bench to tell the group that those looks could be found all day.
And they were.
ASU shot the lights out. After going 9-for-42 from 3-point range during the first two matchups with Stanford this year -- including 2 of 17 from distance in Saturday’s 65-56 win over the Cardinal -- the Sun Devils were scorching hot throughout the day. At the half, ASU was 7-for-15 en route to a Pac-12 Tournament record-tying 15-for-28 performance from deep. No one was better than sophomore guard DJ Horne, who produced 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting, including a 5-for-12 performance from 3-point range.
But everything that could go wrong did for Arizona State during the final three minutes, and an unparalleled unraveling commenced.
“I just felt like we were going to win,” Hurley said as he rattled off the myriad of reasons for the collapse. “I just never lost hope in that. We had worked to get the lead that we had, and yes, things were unraveling, and it was hard to point to one area that they were unraveling because there was turnovers, there was missed free throws, we weren’t getting stops anymore, we weren’t guarding the line, we were putting them on the line and we were giving up offensive rebounds.
“It was a complete breakdown, and that’s not how we’ve been guarding or defending.”
The Sun Devils led by 17 with 13:35 to go and 14 when Lawrence converted his monstrous slam. Going through the list of issues Hurley provided would be enough to make any Sun Devil fan sick. In the final 3:01, ASU turned the ball over twice, went 1-for-5 from the free-throw line, allowed Stanford to score on seven of their final eight possessions, and gave up three free throws and four offensive rebounds.
Still, with ASU leading by a point with 37 seconds left, the Cardinal opted to play out the possession. As Jackson drove and dished to junior forward Jalen Graham, the All-Pac-12 Second Team selection was able to get a good look. Graham’s jump hook over his left shoulder clanged off the rim and into the hands of Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Harrison Ingram, who drove and lost control of the ball on a spin move in the paint. Luckily for the Cardinal, the ball wound up in the hands of Keefe, who put the closing touches on a 16-point performance with a game-winner.
“In these games in March, it comes down to these little details that if you let the other guy out-work you, you’re going to pay for it,” Hurley said following a closing stretch that saw the Sun Devils miss the front end of two one-and-ones and lose the points in the paint battle 32-16.
Arizona State’s loss put the finishing touches on an eventful yet disappointing season for Hurley.
“I hope that COVID is behind us because I’m not the coach for COVID,” said a reflective Hurley. “We’ve had numerous stoppages throughout both seasons, and I think it stunted our growth this season, but once we did get into a rhythm in the middle of January, we did start to play some good basketball.”
With tears in his eyes, Lawrence summed up his Sun Devil career by expressing his regret for how things ended.
“I’m gonna miss it,” said the super senior forward, who had six points and five rebounds in his final game as a Sun Devil. “Some of the greatest things in my life have been in the ups and downs I’ve been through, and I just wish I could’ve done more today and be able to be around the team a little bit more.”
After another loss that revives the “Always Something University” moniker sends ASU out of Las Vegas without a third shot at Arizona, Hurley said he remained proud of the group for their fight late in the season.
“It was very impressive that the team showed that type of character to continue to fight, and it took this type of game for us to lose,” said Hurley. “It makes you wonder what might have been if we could’ve got this done today.”
