It's finally over, Sun Devil fans (well, almost). Arizona State basketball completed its regular season slate on Saturday night, falling 85-57 to No. 9 Texas Tech in Tempe.
The team put up a competitive effort despite the final deficit. Basheer Jihad led the team with 22 points while two others also made it into double digits in scoring on the night. Jihad, Alston Mason and Adam Miller were the three upperclassmen honored on senior night Saturday.
Alston Mason, Basheer Jihad and Adam Miller were among the five Sun Devils honored on senior night. pic.twitter.com/yQeypMZSgG
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) March 9, 2025
Head coach Bobby Hurley's squad has been severely hampered for multiple weeks now. It lost freshman phenom Jayden Quaintance to ankle injuries and saw the dismissal of BJ Freeman, the program's leading scorer this season, in February for conduct detrimental. Hurley only had six traditional scholarship players available on Saturday to close out the year.
Arizona State will be a 15-seed in Big 12 tournament after poor regular season
With the 2024-25 regular season finally wrapped up, ASU (13-18) will enter the Big 12 tournament as the 15-seed and will face the 10-seed on Tuesday in Kansas City.
This year's finish was the worst in program history since the 2011-12 season when the team went 10-21 under head coach Herb Sendek. Hurley has seen four winning seasons in his nine year tenure, reaching the NCAA Tournament three times (four if the 2020 edition wasn't cancelled for Covid-19).
Fans, rightly, have been concerned over whether Hurley can deliver the success that's felt overdue for the program. Devils in Detail was able to exclusively report on March 1 that athletic director Graham Rossini is weighing the "financial implications" of letting Hurley go after this season or riding out the final year of his contract.
His 168-149 record isn't ideal but Hurley has been able to recruit like no other over the past few years. ASU's rosters have been stacked but things just aren't translating into results on the court. The next chapter of Sun Devil basketball will be critical in determining whether the program can emerge as a contender in the Big 12 or it'll be relegated to a perennial basement dweller.