ASU Basketball: Double-digit lead evaporates in loss to Utah

A 17-point lead collapsed for ASU basketball on Thursday as it dropped its Pac-12 opener to Utah. The Utes hit 16 3-pointers in the win.

Days removed from a largely surprising loss to Princeton, Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley sat in disbelief at the podium once again, this time having to field questions after his Sun Devils watched a 17-point lead evaporate into a 96-86 loss to Utah in both team’s conference opener.

Having struggled to defend the perimeter in recent defeats against Vanderbilt and Princeton, ASU once again could not contain its opponent behind the 3-point line as the Utes caught fire in a 16-of-30 shooting performance from beyond the arc.

“They shot a very high percentage, some of them were wide open. We were just getting lost out there in the second half,” Hurley said. “It’s frustrating because it was a game we had control of.”

Senior guard Sedrick Barefield poured in a game-high 24 points, including five makes from 3-point land that was complemented by another 10 triples between forward Donnie Tillman and guard Parker Van Dyke.

Following the Princeton loss, Hurley emphasized a necessity to improve ball movement ahead of the Pac-12 schedule. And for the first 12 minutes of Thursday’s game, that message appeared to resonate with his team.

Following a transition three by ASU junior guard Rob Edwards, the Sun Devils extended their lead to 28-11 with 9:40 remaining in the opening half.

According to Hurley, he noticed the change over the half’s final eight minutes. Off-ball motion was replaced by contested drives and attempts taken early in the shot clock, allowing Utah to control the tempo and get back into the game.

“I thought we reverted to driving the ball into some spots where there wasn’t a play and then shooting quickly and there was no transition defense,” Hurley said.

No more than five minutes later had the ASU lead been trimmed to single digits after a Barefield 3-point shot. At halftime, the Utes trailed by four despite ASU recording 10 assists on 17 made shots and forcing nine turnovers.

ASU sophomore guard Remy Martin had 14 points and four assists in the first 20 minutes, fueling the offense as a scorer and a passer. He finished with a career-high 22 points.

Despite the lead, the feeling throughout Wells Fargo Arena was that the Sun Devils were losing their grip.

The Utes made 10 of their 16 3-pointers after halftime, extending the lead to double-digits, countering ASU each time it began to mount a run. While some might attribute the outcome to a strong shooting night, redshirt senior Zylan Cheatham was direct in the team’s efforts, or lack thereof.

“I don’t think guys were running back as passionately as they usually do … we we’re making losing basketball plays,” Cheatham said.

With the loss, ASU falls to 0-1 in conference play and will have an opportunity to pick up its first Pac-12 win against Colorado on Saturday.

All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.