Cold shooting, missed free throws sink ASU in 77–65 loss to No.19 Gonzaga

No. 19 Gonzaga rolled into Tempe looking like a runaway train. They opened the season by obliterating Texas Southern by 55, handled Oklahoma by 15, and followed that with a statement 27-point demolition of No. 23 Creighton that included a 19–0 knockout run. KenPom had their offense ranked ninth in the country heading into Saturday’s matchup, and with former Sun Devil Adam Miller returning to town with plenty of motivation, Gonzaga had every reason to keep the scoreboard spinning and continue their early-season surge.

That is not how it played out.

Fourteen turnovers fed directly into Arizona State’s momentum. Gonzaga hit only six threes on 28.6 percent shooting from long range, which prevented any real separation. Their second-half field goal percentage of 34.8 percent left the door wide open for the Sun Devils to make a run. Gonzaga’s offensive performance should have put them on upset alert.

Instead, the game never felt close. Gonzaga never lost control. They cruised comfortably despite scoring only 77 points.

The reason was simple. ASU’s offense was worse, far worse.

The Sun Devils had every chance to create a shock in Tempe, a storyline that mirrors far too many “almost” upsets from last season. Shots refused to fall when ASU needed them most, passers never found clean lanes, creators never found comfortable looks, and free throws were anything but free. ASU shot 36.2 percent from the field and 56.5 percent on 23 free-throw attempts. Gonzaga (4-0) struggled on offense, but ASU’s (2-1) own offensive issues ran deeper, and the comeback never materialized in a 77–65 loss.

“We have to play better,” Hurley stated. “We have to convert our free throws. We can’t have stretches on offense in the first half where we don’t score for minutes against a team like this. But it was remarkable, with all that went on, that we still were at nine and had a chance if we would have got a stop. And like these guys, it’s a tribute to their resilience and how they fought.”

If there was one clear strength from Arizona State’s first two games against Southern Utah and Utah Tech, it was their offense. The ball zipped around the floor, players sacrificed good shots for great ones, and a roster full of new faces delivered highlight dunks and balanced box scores.

Hurley’s rebuilt group looked fluid, fast, and fearless.

Early on against Gonzaga, that identity reemerged. Junior forward Andrija Grbovic opened the night with a smooth three. Junior guard Bryce Ford followed with a straightaway jumper from deep. Freshman center Massamba Diop detonated an alley-oop that shook the arena. Senior guard Moe Odum buried two transition threes that sent Desert Financial Arena into a roar. ASU led 20–17 and looked like a team ready to trade punches with the Bulldogs all night, a team on the verge of another offensive burst.

Then everything stopped. Suddenly and completely.

After Odum’s three at the 10:37 mark, ASU did not score another basket until the clock read 5:40. Gonzaga punched out a 13–0 run during that stretch, sprinting to a 30–20 lead and stretching it to 35–22 minutes later. ASU missed all seven field-goal attempts in that window, surrendered offensive rebounds that fueled the Bulldogs, and watched long possessions dissolve into rushed looks and costly turnovers.

It was the defining warning sign of the night, the only segment where Gonzaga truly clicked offensively, yet all they needed to control the game. The Bulldogs played just well enough to win. ASU never played well enough to close the gap.

“I would say when we are at that 9–12 point hump, we just got to dig in more, play better defense, and try to get easy ones,” Ford discussed. “Instead, I feel we did get a little in love with the three-point shot a little bit, but just get stops to get in transition. That’s when we’re at our best.”

That showed in the shot profile. The Sun Devils attempted more threes than twos, yet made only 11 of their 28 shots inside the arc and 10 of their 30 from deep.

Despite all that, ASU entered halftime down just 45–32, and Gonzaga handed them an ideal opening to start the second half. The Bulldogs missed nine of their first 11 shots and did not hit their third field goal until the 10:21 mark. Yet ASU remained stuck nine points behind, still searching for rhythm. If they could not capitalize when Gonzaga sputtered, there was little reason to believe they would once the Bulldogs settled back in, which they eventually did to put the game away.

Diop delivered the least impactful performance of his young career after scoring at least 14 points in each of his first two games. He scraped together nine second-half points to reach 11, but finished with only four rebounds and never looked comfortable. ASU searched for replacement scoring everywhere else but never found a reliable spark.

Odum, normally a pass-first engine, again led the team in field-goal attempts for the second straight game. For the second straight game, he shot under 36 percent. This time, it was 26.7 percent on 15 attempts, with zero two-point shots made. His seven assists mattered, but five turnovers countered them, and the game often felt like he was operating outside his strengths.

“I played (Odum) too many minutes,” Hurley admitted. “So that’s on me. He’s shown, I think, an ability to stay even though he’s exerting a lot of energy. I think he got worn down as the game wore on, and that’s the dilemma we’re in, because we need to get Noah (Meeusen) back. Because Noah was getting all the reps at point, and so is Vijay Wallace, and those guys aren’t here.”

Even when shots refused to fall, ASU still earned trips to the free-throw line. They took 23 attempts while Gonzaga took 35. The attempt gap created one problem, but the results created another. ASU needed easy points to chip away at the deficit, but could not deliver, finishing 13-for-23. The 56.5 percent showing was their worst at the line since Feb. 3, 2023. Senior guard Anthony Johnson went 1 for 5. Diop went 3 for 6. Momentum flickered, then died at the stripe.

“Playing an opponent like this, you can’t miss free throws, and we haven’t been doing that at all this year,” Hurley noted. “I know that that’s haunted us in the past here, right under my tenure, missed free throws, but we certainly had no business doing that today against a team at this caliber. You can’t do it, especially when they’re shooting 35 free throws.”

Still, ASU did not embarrass itself against a clearly superior opponent, one that will likely flirt with top 10 status throughout the season. The frustration comes from knowing Gonzaga played what might be one of its worst games all year, yet ASU could not take advantage. The offense never settled in, and a real opportunity slipped away. Even so, this early in the season, a nonconference loss like this still leaves room for a moral victory.

“There’s a lot of positives in this game, but at the same time, there are some negatives that we still need to clean up,” Ford admitted. “But for being such a new group of guys and having to gel together so fast, I’d say we have a lot of potential. And I will say we are a tournament team.”