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Published Mar 9, 2017
Sun Devils wear down in season-ending loss to Oregon
Fabian Ardaya
Staff Writer

LAS VEGAS -- They finally ran out of gas.

The No.8-seeded Arizona State Sun Devils (15-17) finally gave out in the second half Thursday, as they fell, 80-57 to No. 1 seed and national No. 5 Oregon (28-4) in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament.

With the program expected to decline an invite to the College Basketball Invitational if offered, the Sun Devils’ season is over. Through two seasons as ASU’s head coach, Bobby Hurley is 30-35.

ASU, who boasted a six-man rotation for much of the season and entered play Thursday with each of their starters averaging more than 30 minutes per game, finally wore down in Las Vegas.

“We just -- we hit a wall in terms of just fatigue or the wear from yesterday's game,” Hurley said. “But just didn't have quite the same pop in the second half.”

A 98-88 overtime win over Stanford Wednesday pushed the Sun Devils further than many thought they could, both in terms of advancement in the tournament and the toll on their bodies. Three players played over 40 minutes, with the starters contributing 96 of the 98 total points.

Each starter played at least 35 minutes Thursday, including junior guard Kodi Justice, who played 37 minutes after suffering a hip pointer against Stanford.

“They've sacrificed so much,” Hurley said. “These guys have been unbelievable. The five starters that have played the minutes they played. (Kodi) pushed through a lot of physical stuff, as did everybody.”

Even with less than a day’s rest, ASU hung with the Ducks in the first half. Senior guard Torian Graham tallied 16 points in the first half on 6-for-10 shooting as the Sun Devils trailed just 34-31 at the break.

Graham’s strong performance continued into the second half, as he finished with a career-best 32 points on 12-for-25 shooting while hitting seven of his 16 3-point attempts in his final college game.

“Torian he handled himself, conducted himself in such a great way to finish his senior year, and he's been so good all year for us,” Hurley said. “Scoring 32 tonight was a great way for it to end. But it's hard when it ends. It doesn't feel good.”

Graham’s final outing with the Sun Devils was one of his best and allowed him a chance to send off his time at a program he wasn’t quite sure he would ever play for. After transferring to several different schools and being near dismissal at one point at ASU, he emerged as one of the Sun Devils’ leaders. He finished second in the Pac-12 in points per game and was an all-conference honorable mention.

I just thank Coach for keeping faith in me,” Graham said. “We had a lot of adversity last year, and we were able to fight through it and build a strong relationship.

“But I don't really want to talk about points because we lost. I just want to talk about the team and the things that we can work on as a team or what they could do to move forward.”

The rest of the team, however, showed noticeable wear. ASU shot 24.2 percent from the floor in the second half and 31.1 percent for the game, their second-lowest percentage of the season.

At one point, the Sun Devils missed 11 shots in a row – including 4:25 without a point and 7:41 without a made shot – which was their second-most amount of missed shots in a row this season. The scoring droughts were persistent, with multiple ones lasting at least three minutes during the final period.

If you removed Graham’s performance, ASU would have 25 points on 7-for-36 shooting – 19.4 percent. Junior guards Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II combined for 10 points on 2-for-13 shooting.

The undersized Sun Devils were hounded on the boards again, losing that battle 48-29. Oregon’s size allowed the team to dominate the paint, outscoring ASU 42-18.

In a lot of ways, the issues – size, depth, exhaustion – were what ASU battled all year.

“There were times where, yeah, you could see we might be tired here or there, and there were breaks where we kind of got our wind,” Justice said. “For me, I didn't feel fatigued. I mean, we've played many games like this where we've played 40-plus minutes and bounced back two days later. So it wasn't a big issue for me.”

The Sun Devils looked broken and defeated. After leading late in the first half, their deficit would grow to as large as 25 in the closing seconds of the game.

“I think (ASU) got a little tired in the second half after a very competitive ballgame last night, which enabled us to pull away at the end,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said.

The Sun Devils suddenly find themselves in a position where they will add depth despite losing Graham and senior forward Obinna Oleka. Oleka, who was recruited as a small forward, effectively played center for ASU all season. He finished his final career game with six points and 11 boards.

ASU should have extra size, bodies, and depth for next season. Even with two critical departures, Hurley was optimistic about the tone set for the program.

“I'm excited that we took a step in the program,” Hurley said. “The seniors are a big part of that. Tra Holder, Shannon Evans, Kodi also, to get us a win in the Pac-12 Tournament, to get that win yesterday is nice, and we're going to keep building off of that in the future.”


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