Arizona State men's basketball unable to sustain second half resurgence vs. Arizona

At one point, it almost looked like Arizona State men’s basketball could take away the game from No. 5 Arizona.

ASU came out renewed in the second half and chipped away at Arizona’s 17-point lead in the half with an 18-4 start. ASU’s offense started early with Warren Washington’s four points and the Sun Devils made the key stops necessary to Arizona’s offense.

Trouble came when Sun Devils didn’t keep the lid on Arizona’s potent shooters and were unable to close the gap in the 69-60 loss on Saturday at Desert Financial Arena.

ASU had a rough start in the game with just 11 of its 38 shots falling through in the first half. Head coach Bobby Hurley said his team could have had carryover from its previous 97-60 to San Francisco in the first half and hadn’t found the confidence until later. Once the second half began, ASU changed the tone.

“They were expending tremendous energy in the first half guarding us and I felt like maybe we were a step quicker at times in the second half to take things away and create turnovers and get back in the game,” Hurley said. “I’m proud of the guys, we got it to where it was a manageable game. We had a chance to win if we hit some shots.”

Midway through the second half, Arizona went up on a 6-0 run and held a nine-point lead. The Wildcats finished with 7-of-26 shooting, but made 10 free throws to ASU’s three. Arizona forward Azuola Tubelis finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Oumar Ballo led the Wildcats in rebounding with 12.

Desmond Cambridge Jr., who missed the previous game at San Francisco with a non-COVID illness, returned to the lineup. He added five points and made one 3-pointer.

Key plays

The start to the second half was a turning point for ASU as soon as Warren Washington set out on a mission with the ball and dunked it in the first 11 seconds of play.

Washington kept the pace going when he added a layup via Frankie Collins, while the defense held its end and held Arizona scoreless through its first five possessions. ASU went on an 8-0 start.

Standout performers

Warren Washington was instrumental in rejuvenating ASU’s offense in the second half with six points, along with being integral to the defense. Washington had three blocks and six defensive rebounds.

Frankie Collins had a hand in ASU's offense with six assists in the game, including assisting on Washington's 4-0 run to start the second half. Collins led ASU with 12 points and six field goals.

They said it

“It always hurts to lose to Arizona and give credit to them, they were really good in the first half and we struggled to make shots. I think some of it goes to how they were defending us and taking things away. That contributed to some of our failure there ... I appreciated the way we fought back into the game and defended and got stops and started playing how we had been playing throughout the season, so hopefully this is something to build on moving forward.” -ASU head coach Bobby Hurley on the game.

"We just got the ball to the paint more in the second half and we were creating offense more in general instead of it being stagnant, quick shots. That was the biggest difference, we had a lot more motion and flow to the offense." -ASU center Warren Washington on the second half adjustments.

"They were really hard on closeouts and they made us take some tough 3s. I think we got a lot of good shots, we just didn't make them. They defended the 3-point line pretty well for the most part." -ASU guard Frankie Collins on the 3-point shooting.

Up next

ASU will continue its stay at home with Washington State on Thursday at 6 p.m. and Washington on Sunday at 3 p.m. Thursday’s game will be shown on Pac-12 Networks, while Sunday’s game will be on ESPN.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU men's basketball unable to complete come back vs. Arizona