After a red hot 4-0 start in conference play, Arizona State (10-6, 4-1 Pac-12) was handed its first loss of the season on the road in Seattle last week but now looks on to continue and defend its perfect home court this season. Who is next up for ASU? Only the face of West Coast basketball who has cemented itself as a blue blood, otherwise known as UCLA. Although this season has not treated the Bruins kindly (7-10, 2-4, an offensive spark by that team versus the same Washington team that routed the Sun Devils last Thursday has the undivided attention of head coach Bobby Hurley and his players ahead of Wednesday’s night matchup.
Taking a look back at the Washington matchup against ASU, it was clear early that the Husky offense, averaging 81 points, would possibly be the difference. Washington shot a staggering 52 percent from beyond the arc and 50.8 percent from the field overall in an 82-67 win. Additionally, Washington had two players pouring in over 20 points as ASU could not stop the bleeding in the second half. In Hurley’s eyes, the game was lost in a short period during the second half, but it was not losing basketball.
“I mean, we played a winning game, you know, and we just didn’t play, you know, winning basketball for three minutes,” Hurley said. “So, it was hard to be like overly disappointed because I thought we gave a max effort and it just, we, you know, we came up short in the game.”
Although Arizona State had to go on the road to face the Huskies, UCLA got their shot at home in Los Angeles last week and handled the Huskies, beating them 73-61. The shocking thing here was that UCLA, before that victory, was on a four-game losing streak at home, which hadn’t happened at Pauley Pavilion since 2003. UCLA also bounced back from an awful performance in a 90-44 loss at Utah, as they scored 43 points in the second half alone against Washington.
As it stands, something clicked for UCLA last week that could possibly be the turning point for head coach Mick Cronin’s squad, which has, at some points, looked squandered. Nonetheless, Hurley is very aware of what the Bruins are capable of coming down the I-10 freeway after a morale boost.
“Right now, we’re in a pretty good position coming into this game,” Hurley said. “But we’re, you know, we’re playing a team that I think has got a lot of pride that their coach is, you know, is an excellent coach that really, you know, demands, you know, top performance, they’re one of the hardest playing teams that I’ve seen on film.
“They found something on offense versus Washington; they performed better at that end of the floor, which really, you know, took their team to a different level, but it’ll be one of the best defensive teams that will face in UCLA, and that’s a reflection of Mick Cronin and the job he does there, and those guys really play hard for him.”
The standards and expectations at UCLA are characteristics people take note of. That theme seems to be an additional motivator as both Hurley and junior forward/guard Jamiaya Neal are more than aware of how big of a game this is in Tempe, especially in the sense that this will be the final conference meeting on the Arizona State campus.
“I said it before: UCLA is one of the most storied programs in college basketball,” Hurley stated. “So this being the last time you just we want to go out there and, you know, empty the tank and, you know, against an opponent of that caliber, and there are standards in that program regardless if they’ve had a tough you know, stretch and beginning of the season, you could see kind of a different team and their last game and so that’s a dangerous team that’s coming here and you know, we have to be fully prepared.”
“When you think about the PAC 12, you think about UCLA,” Neal said. “So playing them is always going to be exciting. It’s going to be fun. Last year, the home game against UCLA meant a lot, and this year, I think it means the exact same; it means a lot just like it did last year.”
As much respect as the Devils have for the Bruins, there is no question ASU wants to turn the tides in this matchup, as ASU has fallen in six of the last seven meetings between the two teams. To do that, Hurley implied that bigger lineups might showcase themselves out of the gate for a better defensive strategy, but it seems a consistent game will have to be played. A pinnacle of consistency lately that will play a huge role is Neal.
“He’s just being a more reliable guy, a guy that, you know, I’m having a hard time taking off the floor,” Hurley said. “So that’s usually the best compliment you could get out of me is that I don’t want to take you out. I’m not looking for a reason to take you out of the game. If anything, I need to find a way to maybe just cut his minutes enough that he really has got, you know, full energy late in the game to help close games out.”
Hurley had his words of admiration for Neal, but Neal himself has noticed a change in how to attack games. Neal is becoming another leader on this Devils roster, which has adopted renewed thinking to enhance the opportunities to win.
“I think earlier in the season, I forced a few shots that I shouldn’t have,” Neal said. “I had a couple of bad misses. And when I look back at those, I’m not proud of that. So I don’t think that helps us winning. So me just letting the game come to me and going with the flow of the game. No, I don’t have to score to affect the game. I don’t feel like I don’t think anybody on our team has to (score) we can get deflections, rebounds, assists, steals, blocks, all that stuff helps us win too.
As the countdown to tipoff quickly approaches in Tempe, the mission will surely continue to defend home court and get back in the win column against a storied program. ASU will be sure not to look ahead to the bright lights of USC quite yet, as every conference game down the stretch will prove to be crucial moving forward, as the Sun Devils are not in a bad spot thus far.
“It’s a big week, particularly where we are in the standings and what it means to try and win home games,” Hurley said. “UCLA is such a storied program; it’s the last time that they’ll be here in a Pac 12 game, so we’re just hoping that people are paying attention, our fanbase is, to how we’ve been playing the last few weeks and where we stand right now.”
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