Fans piled into Desert Financial Arena for a 9 p.m. tipoff against UCF, and although students in attendance fittingly received a pair of pajama pants, the game was anything but a slumber fest. Arizona State started the season scoring at least 80 points in five of the first six games but has eclipsed that mark just once in the last six games. Desperate for a scoring barrage in conference play, the late-night game provided exactly what ASU needed.
The Sun Devils (10-6, 1-4 Big 12) scored the most points since December 3rd against San Diego, but much to their demise, it came in a losing effort. Averaging 78.6 points per game coming into Tuesday night’s game, UCF (12-4, 3-2) erupted for 95 points in a 95-89 win behind a career-high 40 points from junior guard Keyshawn Hall.
“I feel like a dam that has holes in it,” head coach Bobby Hurley said. “One day, the offense isn’t showing up for a period of the game, but in this case, we couldn’t stop them from scoring. We had a good night on offense for the most part, maybe a couple of bad turnovers, but that’s why I feel pretty good about how we played. We just didn’t win.”
Arizona State trailed 47-49 at halftime after a back-and-forth first half as Hall went into the locker room with 29 points on 11-13 shooting from the field. Hurley threw every defender he could at the junior, but all he could do was stand and watch as Hall drove past or shot over every Sun Devil that matched up with him.
“I’ve been doing this for a while and I’m not sure I’ve seen a kid play that well,” Hurley voiced. “Hats off to Hall, it was unbelievable. It was hard to game plan against what he does because of how he plays. The only thing we could have done better is getting back on defense. It was a great performance, and I knew they were a talented team.”
Hall scored at will on all three levels, but foul trouble kept him out for a majority of the second half after picking up a flagrant 1 foul after elbowing senior guard Alston Mason. ASU took full advantage of nearly half of UCF’s offense on the bench, with four fouls and 14 minutes left in the second half.
The Sun Devils began full-court pressing the Knights and tied the game up after a quick 9-0 run, similar to how they battled their way back into the game just a few nights ago against Baylor. With the game staying close with under five minutes left, Hall checked back into the game and didn’t miss a beat.
Clutch shots and free throws down the stretch from Hall allowed the Knights to distance themselves from Arizona State, and poor shot choices on ASU’s end were the nail in the coffin. Hurley tried to draw up a play down by two possessions and under a minute left for redshirt senior guard Adam Miller, but instead, senior forward Basheer Jihad wound up taking an awkward three in an unnatural shooting motion.
“I wanted to see if we could get Adam a three and he didn’t get the ball,” Hurley recalled. “I trust him, and he’s made a lot of big shots for us. With Basheer, I’m not sure why he didn’t reload his shot. If he caught it naturally and went up in a shooting motion normally, it would have been a fine shot, but that wasn’t the shot I hoped he would take.”
With freshman guard Joson Sanon out for the third time in four games, senior guard BJ Freeman stepped up and posted a season-best 26 points, hitting five of six threes and keeping the Sun Devils in the game with his offense. With Jihad taking somewhat of a backseat after starting the season hot on offense, Freeman has stepped up and scored at least 20 points in back-to-back games.
“I liked what he’s been doing scoring-wise,” Hurley noted. “He’s coming into his own that way and he’s put more time in. I’ve noticed him working since before Colorado, just getting extra reps in and working on his shot. I liked his passing tonight, and I think that’s an underrated skill that he has. He’s got to keep working on his ability to find his teammates, and he did that nicely tonight.”
Not far behind Freeman was freshman forward Jayden Quaintance, who finished with a career-high 20 points while blocking five shots. He continues to be a top-tier eraser in the country. While his defense has always been adamant, his offensive skillset is growing rapidly, and he is becoming a headache for opposing teams on both sides of the court.
“I’m just trying to trust myself a little bit more,” Quaintance explained. “I’m trying to stay aggressive, and slowly but surely, I’m trying to get a little better and show off what I can do on the offensive side. I always feel comfortable on the court; I’m just trying to play a bigger role and make an impact on the game.”
Hurley has mentioned multiple times over the course of the season that the Big 12 is one of the most physical leagues in the country, but Quaintance feels the adjustment is more marginal than previously thought. The 17-year-old is consistently battling down low with some of the most dominant players in the country, and he shows no signs of slowing down.
“I feel like Coach Hurley did a good job packing our non-conference schedule,” Quaintance mentioned. “We didn’t get sheltered too much before conference play, so we got to play a couple of good teams. I feel like we were decently prepared for the physicality that’s in the Big 12.”
When it comes to situational games, this matchup was similar to Colorado in the sense of what loomed ahead. ASU needed to beat Colorado to pick up its first conference win before taking on Kansas and Baylor, two top-25 teams. The Sun Devils desperately needed a second Big 12 win. Now, they’ll head on the road to Cincinnati and West Virginia before hosting No. 2 Iowa State in just 10 days.
The comeback against Baylor to force overtime was nearly perfect, but it all fell apart in overtime. Tonight, against UCF, the largest lead in the second half reached 12 before ASU came back to tie the game. However, errors over the last five minutes of the game proved to be the difference. Now, the Sun Devils will need to play nearly perfect, possibly without one of their top-scoring weapons.
“I don’t know if we could have done any better against Baylor,” Hurley expressed. “I don’t know if there’s a team in the country that could have done any better in late-game situations with how we were able to tie that game. In this game, we didn’t get stops and our execution could have been better on offense.”
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