ASU outmuscles Kansas State for first Big 12 win

When ASU and head coach Bobby Hurley assembled a 2025 roster built on size, with eight players standing 6-foot-8 or taller, it was not simply a recruiting flex. It was a response. A season ago, injuries mounted, interior physicality was lacking, and the Sun Devils were routinely pushed around in the paint.

This season, the vision was clear well before Saturday’s tip. With ASU’s most efficient perimeter shooter, junior guard Bryce Ford, at 38.8 percent from 3-point range, sidelined, the formula for earning the program’s first Big 12 win became even clearer. Lean into strength, control the paint, and impose physicality on a smaller Kansas State team.

The Wildcats were not bringing a roster loaded with future first-round picks like BYU, making Saturday the perfect proving ground before ASU heads to Tucson to face the nation’s No. 1 team. In that sense, the stakes were simple. Style points were irrelevant. The Sun Devils needed a win.

They played like it.

ASU dictated the tone from the opening possessions, asserting itself on both ends of the floor and pulling Kansas State into a bruising, interior-heavy game. The numbers backed it up. Thirty-two free-throw attempts. Fifty points in the paint. A plus-14 rebounding margin. ASU (10-7, 1-2 Big 12) did not need to live by the 3-point shot. Instead, it leaned into its identity and wore the Wildcats (9-6, 0-3 Big 12) down possession by possession. The urgency was clear. Ten combined blocks underscored ASU’s defensive pursuit, led by freshman center Massamba Diop, who swatted away five shots while scoring a team-high 21 points. It was gritty, workmanlike basketball, exactly what the moment demanded, as ASU snapped its skid with an 87-84 win in Tempe.

The context made the performance even more striking. ASU entered the day with only eight scholarship players available and seven listed on the injury report, a situation reminiscent of the closing stretch of the 2024 season. What did not feel familiar was the response. Hurley described it as blue-collar basketball. Welcoming contact. Chasing loose balls. Sprinting back on defense. Crashing the glass. And crashing Kansas State’s shooting party by sending attempts into the bleachers. That effort defined ASU’s afternoon.

“Aggression was definitely part of the game plan,” senior guard Moe Odum stated. “The Big 12 is super physical, and teams are being super physical with us. And we have physical players. Why can’t we be physical with them and just make it a dogfight? Just make it a dogfight.”

Diop’s growth around the rim continued to stand out. After recording back-to-back career highs against Colorado and BYU, he delivered his third straight 20-point performance Saturday. He finished with 21 points and five blocks, giving him 12 blocks over the last three games after it took nine games to reach that total to start the season. 

“It’s because I’ve been telling him you gotta hurt somebody,” Odum said of Diop’s increased aggression. “They’re trying to hurt you. They’re trying to hurt you every play. They’re pushing you, they’re undercutting you, they’re throwing the hell out of you. Why can’t you do it to them? So I’m telling him no more joking around before the game, or too much laughing. Not hurt somebody, but you gotta make somebody feel your pain.”

Five of those blocks came during a sluggish first half in which both teams struggled to find rhythm. Kansas State shot just 33.3 percent from the field but stayed within striking distance thanks to five 3-pointers. ASU, meanwhile, connected on just one triple, a trend that kept the Wildcats hanging around longer than they might have otherwise.

The interior pressure never relented, and the game opened up in the second half. ASU scored 51 points after the break, countered by 46 from Kansas State. Sophomore and junior forwards Allen Mukeba and Santiago Trouet played key roles in that surge. Mukeba continued a strong stretch that has earned him increased minutes, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds, and two blocks while using his frame to generate points inside.

Trouet, back in the rotation after being limited against BYU and sidelined against Colorado, recorded his third double-double of the season with 10 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, and a block. Hurley pointed to his stat line as a clear example of the toughness ASU showed throughout the game.

“Santi was a big part of our turnaround,” Hurley reflected. “In that second half, he had some really blue collar plays, getting the offensive rebound, driving the ball.”

Kansas State stayed dangerous by stretching the floor. The Wildcats shot 8 of 16 from 3-point range in the second half, briefly seizing momentum behind junior guard Abdi Bashir Jr., who scored 22 points, 18 of them from beyond the arc. Kansas State consistently ran sets to free the 6-foot-7 shooter, willing to trade volume for momentum as it searched for a breakthrough.

ASU eventually answered. Defensive intensity picked up on the perimeter, sparked in part by senior guard Anthony Johnson. Johnson played bigger than his position, recording two blocks, including a chase-down rejection in transition.

“We find our identity back on defense,” Johnson asserted. “We know we got to rotate and help each other, and we gotta get up and block shots. We haven’t been blocking shots these last four games, so we got to help each other and block shots.”

He went 8 of 10 from the free-throw line and attacked downhill for 18 points. A game removed from a season-high 24-point outing against BYU, Johnson has now scored 18 points in four of ASU’s last five games.

Johnson’s energy, combined with another steady 21-point performance from Odum, helped ASU seize control late. Though Odum battled seven turnovers, the Sun Devils put together an 18-3 run in the second half by winning the areas they could control. Rebounding. Tempo. Defense. Hustle. ASU strung together stops, pushed the pace, and created a cushion Kansas State could not shoot its way out of, sealing a much-needed Big 12 victory.

“We got to the basket, Massamba was very good offensively and challenging shots defensively,” Hurley explained. “And we had an advantage over them around the basket, and we were able to take advantage of it. It was 50 to 28 in the paint. So that’s when you have that type of attack where you’re getting those quality shots, then you’d be in pretty good shape.”