The Arizona State Sun Devils are discovering just how difficult life in the Big 12 can be.
It was another game in which ASU played well in some aspects and not in others as Central Florida held off the Sun Devils 95-89 Tuesday night at Desert Financial Arena. The match featured 11 draws and nine lead changes. This is the most points allowed by ASU in a game this season, but the 89 points scored is ASU’s second-highest total thus far.
ASU (10-6, 1-4) has lost four of its five conference games, with the loss coming three days after the Sun Devils lost to 25th-ranked Baylor in overtime.
The Sun Devils trailed by 12 at 65-53 four minutes into the second half, but rallied. They trailed by six at 69-63 when Amier Ali scored a 3-pointer to make it 69-66. Ali got a steal seconds later and threw the ball to Alston Mason who returned it to Adam Miller, who tied the game for three points. It was a battle for the rest.
UCF later led 87-86 and ASU then missed twice on its next possession. UCF countered at its end with Hall making a shot for a 3-point lead with 1:26 left. The Knights held on.
What went well
Offense: When you score 89 points, you are usually on the winning side. ASU shot 52.6 percent (30-for-57) and was outstanding from long range, making 12 of 24 tries. That shooting percentage was the second-best he’s had this season, with the only game ASU fared better in being 53.7 percent in the win over Grand Canyon. BJ Freeman scored 26 points on 8-of-12 from the field and 5-of-6 from the line, while true freshman Jayden Quaintance scored a career-high 20. Mason and Miller were also at two numbers with 15 and 10. , respectively.
Good ball movement: The Sun Devils collected 19 assists on 30 baskets scored. Mason and Basheer Jihad each had five assists while Miller had four. The 19 assists represented a team high for the season.
Quantity continues to improve: Quaintance was 8 for 11 from the field. He also had seven rebounds and five blocked shots. He’s been an elite defender from the jump and now has 49 this season, which ranks third nationally, but his offensive game is really evolving.
What went wrong
Keyshawn Hall: UCF’s leading scorer had a hell of a night, finishing with 40 points. He had 29 in the first half alone, making 11 of 13 from the field, including a 3 of 4 from deep. He went 13 of 18 from the field and 10 of 10 from the line in the contest. He played 32 minutes, missing time in the second half after picking up his fourth foul and it was during that stretch that ASU rallied from a 12-point deficit.
“This kid put on a performance. I’ve been doing this here for a while and I’m not sure I’ve seen a kid play this well against me in one half. Hats off to Hall. He was incredible. It was It’s hard to really plan a game against what he does. The only thing we could have done better is get back on defense. He loses in the open field, a guy who has a game like that, we don’t. can’t afford to collapse in transition defense.
Defense: ASU shot well, but so did the Knights (12-4, 3-2). UCF shot 51 percent (33-for-65) from the field, including 12-for-26 from long range. The Sun Devils gave up some wide-open looks from the perimeter, a few of those arriving late by JJ Taylor proving key.
Bounce: UCF won the boards 36-32. The Sun Devils closed the gap in that department throughout the stretch because the Knights led by a larger margin for most of the game. There were several times ASU gave up an easy rebound. One of those moments came early in the second half. ASU trailed 57-51 and UCF missed a 3-point shot. The ball came out and three ASU defenders were there, but no one got the ball. Instead, a UCF player got there and kicked the ball to Dallan Coleman, who made a 3-pointer to make it 60-51.
Missed free throws: ASU shot 65.4% (17 for 26), which isn’t great, but the timing of the misses was bad. Plus, they missed the start of some one-and-ones. Mason is an 84% shooter from the line and he has missed three straight tries, all in the second half. He missed the first two as ASU trailed 65-56. Then moments later, he scored on a layup to cut UCF’s lead to 65-60. He was fouled on the play but missed the free throw that would have cut the lead even further.
Personal notes
ASU was once again down to a seven-man rotation, with Joson Sanon missing his third game in the last four games with an ankle injury. He missed two games before playing 17 minutes Saturday against Baylor. He wasn’t dressed in this one. . . Junior guard Austin Nunez is out for the season, so the Sun Devils lack depth at the guard position.
UCF was without 7-foot-2 center Moustapha Thaim, who was suffering from the flu. He played 30 minutes Saturday in Arizona.
They said it
Bobby Hurley, ASU coach
“I knew they were talented. I knew they could score. They had 80 against Arizona and they’ve had more games like this. They can really score points when they start. was tough. It’s a tough loss.”
ASU’s Jayden Quaintance on his offensive game
“I’m just trying to trust myself more. Be a little more aggressive. Slowly but surely I’m trying to improve and show what I can do on offense. I’ve always felt comfortable on the “I just feel like I’m trying to play a bigger role and have a bigger impact on the game.”
To be continued
ASU will be on the road for its next two games, with a game at Cincinnati (10-5, 0-4) on Saturday and one at West Virginia (12-3, 3-1) on Tuesday.
Neither team played Tuesday night. Both will play road games Wednesday night.
This article was originally published on Arizona Republic: Arizona State basketball can’t keep up with Central Florida
