TUCSON – Saturday’s trumped up and anxiously anticipated showdown between No. 3 Arizona State and No. 17 Arizona met every expectation. It was tense, emotional, hard-fought and decided in the last moments.

It was a possible glimpse of what’s in store for the imminent conference title race between the two rivals.

ASU (12-1, 0-1 Pac-12) lost plenty in its 84-78 defeat to Arizona. The Sun Devils undefeated record was dashed, their top 3 national ranking soon to follow, as they blew their best opportunity for their first win in Tucson since 2010.

Something that hasn’t disappeared: ASU’s bid for a first-ever Pac-12 title. It will just have to make up an early setback in the standings.

In its raucous McKale Center, Arizona (11-3, 1-0 Pac-12) landed the first blow in the championship race thanks to a monstrous 23-point, 19-rebound effort from Deandre Ayton and woeful shooting from the Sun Devils down the stretch.

“We didn’t hit enough shots we normally hit, today. But that’s how basketball is,” senior guard Tra Holder said after his team made just 32 percent of their second-half shots, including just 3-of-15 shooting from behind the arc.

Throughout the gripping contest, emotions ran hot. Arizona coach Sean Miller was dumbfounded by what he thought should have been a goaltending call at the end of the first half. Meanwhile, ASU coach Bobby Hurley went berserk after a technical foul was assessed to Shannon Evans, while Holder claimed after the game that “calls didn’t go our way.”

Winning (or losing) on Saturday carried added weight after the exhaustive toll of the rivalry’s most anticipated renewal in recent memory.

“You live for these games,” Hurley said. “It was such a hard fought game, both teams battling, both wanted it really bad.”

No doubt, this first defeat of the season will sting Hurley’s group.

But zoom out to the big picture, and this is just round one of what is shaping up to be a compelling duel for conference supremacy.

“It’s hard to believe this was our conference opener,” Miller said. “We have 17 more (conference games) left.”

At its outset, the Arizona schools stand alone as conference favorites.

ASU and UA were the lone pair of Pac-12 schools ranked entering league play. Both are in the Kenpom.com ranking’s top 20 while only one other conference foe is in its top 50 (USC is No. 46).

Former contenders UCLA and Oregon have been flawed during shaky non-conference campaigns, while the league’s bottom dwellers have thus far provided little reason to believe they will factor into the title race at all.

As of now, it’s the Sun Devils and Wildcats who will arm wrestle for the next nine weeks. Saturday’s result carried mental and passionate consequences but counts equal in the standings.

“We are just going to regroup,” Hurley said. “This is a marathon. It’s fun to be in these games.”

In his first two seasons at ASU, Hurley’s teams haven’t had to worry about title implications, instead staggering their way to 5-13 and 7-11 Pac-12 records. But this year’s group has proven the capabilities for more.

The conference’s defending-champion coach is expecting a strong challenge.

“I’ve given Arizona State plenty of praise with my comments when asked questions about them over the last couple of weeks, for no reason other than I believe they’re a really good team,” said Miller, whose Wildcats were Pac-12 co-champions last year. “What we got from them tonight is what we expected.”

Adding drama is the schedule.

ASU and UA are “travel partners,” causing them to play the same two opponents each week throughout conference play. For example, next week both programs play road games at Colorado and Utah. ASU will go to Boulder then Salt Lake City, Arizona vice versa.

It means each week, the pair of conference contenders will face identical challenges, cranking up the pressure in a rivalry that hardly needs any extra fuel.

And of course, there is still a rematch in Tempe scheduled for Feb. 15.

Said Miller: “This game’s over. We have to play Arizona State there, which will be a monster game.”

During Miller’s tenure in Tucson, ASU hasn’t posed much a threat to the state’s basketball traditionally UA-dominated hierarchy. Since 2010, the Sun Devils have registered a top 3 conference finish just once – the same amount of times Miller’s Wildcats have failed to end a season among the league’s leading trio.

But he has not downplayed the Sun Devils’ historic start to this year, going as far as calling them “heavy favorites” in the conference on Thursday before again praising them during his post-game press conference on Saturday night.

“On Arizona State’s side, it’s refreshing to see those seniors,” Miller said. “They have really improved and I remember when they were freshman and sophomores and juniors and they were good. But man, you can tell they have spent a ton of time in the gym and they’ve made themselves into some really terrific players.”

His players were less complimentary of their rival. When Wildcat guard Allonzo Trier was asked postgame about Miller’s midweek comments, he quipped, “I didn’t hear nothing about that.”

“We just knew it was the first game of conference, home court,” Trier added after scoring 23 points in Saturday’s win. “Whether we were playing Arizona State, Colorado or Utah, it doesn’t really matter to us. We are trying to win every single game we go out and play. We expect to win every single game we go out and play. I’ll leave it at that.”

The opening act of the conference race left Trier and his teammates victorious. But, the battle that preceded their celebration matched – if not exceeded – the pregame billing. It validated the hype-filled buildup, showcasing hardly any separation between the programs.

A perfect precursor for a potentially intriguing quarrel in the Pac-12.