Arizona State was without big man Jayden Quaintance, Adam Miller, and Alston Mason against #25 ranked BYU last night. Adam Miller played in the first half and limited minutes in the second half before being shut down. In the post game presser, Bobby Hurley said "I hope I wake up tomorrow. I think I will, I hope I will, but I'm scared to see what tomorrow brings."
What else could possibly go wrong?
To say that Arizona St has been struck with the injury bug would be an understatement. Between the injury bug and conduct issues, Arizona State has been forced to play a 6-7 man rotation for a majority of the season. Last night vs BYU, all things considered the team battled. Coach Hurley said that approximately two hours before the game, Alston Mason reached out to him and told him that he was "too sick to go".
Positives:
Following up on the last home loss at DFA, Alston Mason said "all we need is 1". He was referring to getting a win under their belt. He said that for any athlete, being on a losing streak is demoralizing and regardless of how you hide it, if you say it doesn't affect you, you are lying.
This past Saturday, ASU finally got that much needed win under their belt as they beat Kansas State on the road by 12. ASU won that game from start to finish led by Jayden Quaintance and Alston Mason.
Coming into this game vs #25 BYU, Arizona State was the underdog at home as they had lost the last seven games at home. Some of the best highlights in the game came from the freshmen for Coach Hurley. Maintaining a high level of intensity against a much older and more talented BYU team showed how the win vs Kansas State translated. The team was fired up from first tip and while the score doesn't show it, this game was much closer than people may see by looking at the box score.
Trevor Best:
While Best was thrust into action on Wednesday night vs BYU, he made the most of his time on the court. He was pushed into playing time out of necessity with ASU being down to just 4 scholarship players and went 5-for-8 from the field, 2-for-3 from long distance and 6-for-6 from the line in 24 minutes. He also had two assists and two steals.
Woes:
Coming into the game, Arizona State ranked #68 in the nation in 3-point defense coming in with a very strong 31.8% defensive metric. If there is anything that you can look at as a negative for this game was the fact that BYU hit 17 trey's and went 44% from behind the arc. When you lose a game by 10, that is the difference maker.
The name Richie Saunders is going to haunt ASU fans for the next month at least. Fans in the stadium must have heard his name about 15 times in the first half alone. Over the last two years, the meteoric rise of Richie Saunders in the Big XII has been nothing short of headline worthy story week in and week out. His 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 assist was certainly the star of the game. Having no Alston Mason in this game was the difference maker for guarding a guy like Saunders.
Future of Bobby Hurley and the Sun Devils:
After last nights game vs BYU, ASU fans should feel good going into 2025 and beyond. Trevor Best, Amier Ali, Joson Sanon, and Jayden Quaintance all returning would make this one of the deepest young teams in the B12 next season. If Ali and Best continue to get "starters" minutes, I think seeing their confidence sky rocket is only going to help this Sun Devils team going forward.
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