In a game that seemed to present the team’s season in a nutshell, Arizona State (10-13, 7-10) finished the 2020-21 regular season with a 98-59 blowout loss to the Utah Utes (11-12, 8-11).
The Utes battered the Sun Devils in the interior, scoring 48 points in the paint and out-rebounding ASU by 11.
“It was a failure to not honor [Coach Rashon Burno] in the last regular season game the way we needed to,” Hurley told media after the game. He added that Burno–who announced his departure from ASU for a head coaching position at Northern Illinois University this morning–addressed the team last night. Burno spoke about his childhood experiences and his time in Tempe.
“He told us some things that really touched our hearts,” senior Holland Woods added.
It would not translate to ASU’s play on the floor, though.
Senior Remy Martin scored all of his eight points in the second half after seeming disinterested in offensive play for most of the first. After a stretch of remarkable performances, senior Kimani Lawrence shot 1-6 from the field and finished Saturday’s contest with three points and two rebounds.
The Sun Devils conceded 90-plus points for the first time this season, as five Utes reached double-digit scoring marks. Sophomore Mikael Jantunen and senior Alfonso Plummer both finished with 15 points to lead the table. Jantunen also collected seven boards.
Utah began the game on a 7-1 run, while no Sun Devil not named Alonzo Verge Jr. scored a field goal in the first seven minutes. The game seemed to take a turn nine minutes in when junior Chris Osten swished a 19-footer. The still-scoreless Martin followed with a steal and dished to Woods for a layup to put ASU on top, 14-11.
The lead lasted for a grand total of 37 seconds and was Arizona State’s only lead of the game.
Dominant seems like an understatement to describe the Utes’ win. The team in white and University Red jerseys finished the game on a 13-2 run, holding its opponent scoreless in the final 3:25 of the game. The chokehold in the final minutes handed Arizona State its worst in-conference loss since a 38-point defeat to #12 Arizona in February of 2016.
What’s more, the 39-point differential was the Sun Devils’ third-largest margin of defeat in the 2000s.
Holland Woods struggled to come up with words to describe the loss, saying, “There’s just something where we weren’t there, we weren’t connected with each other. We just couldn’t seem to fight back when the game got away from us.”
Woods went on to call the loss “unacceptable,” but added that the team is shifting its focus to the Pac-12 Tournament.
ASU’s 7-10 in-conference record is its worst (by winning percentage) since 2017. That team also finished eighth in the Pac-12 and did not go dancing.
The positives to the win were thin and few. Among them were sophomore Jaelen House’s tenacious defensive play. He finished with two steals and a team-high seven rebounds.
“I liked how he played and competed at the end of the Colorado game when they got the double-digit lead late in the second half,” Hurley said of House. “He brought that same mindset to [Saturday’s] game, even though there were very few guys who competed that way.”
With the loss, Arizona State claimed the eighth seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and will face #9 Washington State in Las Vegas, at 2p MST on Wednesday.
