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ASU Basketball: No. 16 Sun Devils fall late to UCLA

By Adam Noel

LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 09: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil performs during the team's quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Oregon Ducks T-Mobile Arena on March 9, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oregon won 80-57. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - MARCH 09: Arizona State Sun Devils mascot Sparky the Sun Devil performs during the team's quarterfinal game of the Pac-12 Basketball Tournament against the Oregon Ducks T-Mobile Arena on March 9, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Oregon won 80-57. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /
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Bruins close game with two late threes, including a game-winner, to upset 16th-ranked ASU basketball at home Friday morning.

The Bruins only hit managed to hit four three-pointers all game, but the biggest came with nine seconds left on the clock.

UCLA upset No. 16 Arizona State off a game-winning three from guard Japreece Dean. The Bruins (10-9, 3-4 Pac-12) closed the game shooting 7-for-9 from the field and snuck a late victory away in Tempe.

Dean, who finished the game with 14 points, on 6-for-14 shooting from the field, had the ball in the final possession and drained the long ball over ASU’s Kianna Ibis.

For ASU (13-6, 4-4 Pac-12) it marked only the second home loss of the season for the Sun Devils.

Ibis, the lead scorer for the Sun Devils, only had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting from the field and struggled early from the floor managing only two points at the half. The Bruins had defenders glued to her every time she stepped on the court.

Although UCLA’s Michaela Onyenwere struggled from the field, the Bruins managed to pick up the slack with a great bench performance from sophomore forward Lauryn Miller.

Miller was the definition of efficiency with 17 points in 18 minutes, on 72.7 percent shooting from the field.

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The tide began to turn for the Bruins in the fourth as ASU failed to capitalize on back-to-back turnovers from UCLA. The Bruins responded by hitting their final four field goal attempts, including Dean’s late three.

Although the shot came with nine seconds left, at that point ASU was out of timeouts and turned to Reili Richardson to take the final shot. Richardson went coast-to-coast and missed a layup, despite a questionable no-call from the officals.

“I thought she did a good job, she got there and there was some contact they didn’t call, said coach Charli Turner Thorne. “It was a good effort.”

The Bruins dominated the glass with 14 offensive rebounds and outrebounded (40-37) a Sun Devil team, that is among the best in the nation. ASU was outrebounded by their opponent for just the third time this season.

“Credit to them for offensive rebounding, but also it’s on us,” said senior Courtney Ekmark. “That was one of the main things we were focusing on going in to the game and we still got outrebounded.”

UCLA had 34 points in the paint and capitalized on a soft interior defense played by ASU. The Bruins also managed to hold the Sun Devils to 24 paint points, despite 11 offensive boards for ASU.

The Sun Devils shot 39.7 percent from the field, including 7-for-20 from deep, but struggled to attack the basket against the Bruins defense.

“We played tired and let up a bit, and we didn’t rebound the way we wanted to,” said Turner Thorne. “We didn’t guard the ball the way we needed to. We got good looks, but it’s really hard to win in this conference off one shot.”

Next. ASU Basketball: Devils begin three-game homestand vs. L.A. schools. dark

The Sun Devils continue their two-game homestand taking on USC Sunday at 1 p.m. MST.

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