Tension becomes distracting as ASU falls short in loss to Gonzaga

His face red, beaming angst and frustration, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley stared at the silhouette of official Darron George as he leaned over the scorers’ table, confirming a technical foul against the 11-year maroon and gold head coach. 

With nine minutes to play, Hurley had spent a series of the second half barraging George and the other officials over calls he disapproved of, even saying to official Chris Pacsi, “You don’t know the rules.”  

To calm himself, Hurley walked from near midcourt down to the end of his bench and asked a security guard to get up so he could sit in a chair on the baseline for 30 seconds to collect himself. 

“Did you watch what happened?” Hurley asked me. “I needed a timeout at that time, and I was running out of them because I lost a challenge on that play. I don’t know if you guys watched that play or not, what did you think?”

But Hurley’s disappointment in the officiating crew was just a microcosm of his emotions as the Sun Devils (2-1) received their first loss of the season, 77-65 against No.19 Gonzaga, Friday night. 

Despite playing at Desert Financial Arena, ASU was inefficient on offense, shooting just 36% from the field and 56.5% from the free-throw line. Frustrations from Hurley went far beyond the officials. Hurley noted that his teams have also struggled at the charity stripe, knocking down 73% in 2024-25, placing 162nd in the country. 

“You play an opponent like this, you can’t miss free throws,” Hurley noted. “We haven’t been doing that at all this year. I know that’s haunted us over the past few years under my tenure, but we certainly had no business doing that today against a team of this caliber, especially when they’re shooting 35.”

ASU showed resolve from the opening tipoff, going ahead 11-6 at the first media timeout. The crowd, sporting maroon and gold in the arena, was rocking. As the game progressed, however, an experienced side with an average age of 21.2 years old, just two years younger than the Brooklyn Nets, Gonzaga began to slow the pace of play, going on a 19-5 run to take the lead, and the game was never the same. 

“We could kind of script the first few possessions,” Hurley said. “We got stuck on 20 too long, I told the guys that. We just had bad possessions. We had a couple of turnovers.

“This is not just about exterior or external things, it’s about us. We have to play better, we have to convert our free throws, we can’t have stretches in the first half that we don’t score for minutes.”

The Sun Devils battled throughout the second half, cutting the deficit to as little as five with 13 minutes to play; however, two technical fouls against them, including the second one on Hurley, caused them to take a self-imposed “timeout.”

“I don’t get feedback,” Hurley said on whether the NCAA will explain calls made in the game. “Sending clips in doesn’t do me any good; it gets me nowhere, so I don’t know what I’m going to do.

Junior guard Bryce Ford has started all three games for ASU in 2025-26. Against the Bulldogs, he scored nine points on 3-6 shooting. The Scottsdale native noted the physicality of the Zags made it difficult to generate good shots, forcing them to settle for outside shots too often. 

ASU made just 11 two-point field goals and 10 three-pointers, getting up 30 of their 58 shots from beyond the arc. 

“Going into the game, we knew it was going to be a real physical game,” Ford said. “I feel we did fall in love with the three-point shot a little bit.”

Defensively, the interior play of Gonzaga became overwhelming. The frontcourt duo of graduate Graham Ike and junior Braden Huff combined for 31 points, shooting a combined 8-of-12 from the floor. Ike also forced fouls, constantly getting to the line 15 times and converting a dozen. 

The Bulldogs cleaned the class with authority, snagging 45 rebounds, 14 more than Hurley’s side. Despite starting three players listed as 6-foot-11 or taller, the timing and vigor of former Grand Canyon guard Tyon Grant-Foster, who registered 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, set the tone for their side. 

“I feel we (the guards) could go help some of our bigs,” Ford said on reboud discrepancies. “Grant-Foster is really good at O rebounds, and he’s cracking down all the time, so I feel like we could go help stop them.”

There are positives that ASU can take away from its first defeat of the year. A matchup with a marquee opponent early in the season serves as a litmus test for what could occur later in the campaign with Big 12 play looming in January. 

Sophomore forward Santiago Trouet had another standout game, putting up 10 points and 11 rebounds for his second straight double-double. As a team, the Sun Devils had five players in double figures, with senior guard Moe Udom leading the way with 12 points, hitting four three-pointers. 

“For being such a new group of guys and having to gel together so fast, we have a lot of potential,” Ford said. “We are a tournament team.

“I feel like the bigger the team that walks in here, the more happy we get and excited. Addreanale gets going more, we want that we’re not scared of anybody, we’re a big moment team, I feel.” 

Excitement for Friday’s late-night clash went beyond the Xs and Os with graduate guard Adam Miller returning to his old stomping grounds in Tempe. Miller played for ASU during the previous two seasons, averaging 10.7 points in 53 games. 

Miller’s new coach, Mark Few, has 27 years under his belt as the head coach of Gonzaga. And he praised his new player for his response to an awkward homecoming. Miller shot just 1-4 in the first half and played just six minutes. He scored eight straight second-half points, hitting two critical three-pointers. 

“Maybe he can speak to (returning to ASU),” Few said after Friday’s game. “What I told him after the game in front of the guys is that’s so hard to do. He’d missed some shots early, and I know he was down on himself and wasn’t feeling good, and I think that just shows incredible mental toughness to be able to, when it’s not going good, to be able to flip the switch and come back and make plays. Those shots were huge and kind of gave us a cushion to get us through there at the end. So I was proud of him, and obviously, that was kind of a hostile environment and kind of a crazy game, but our guys, we made enough plays to win.”

Miller’s eight straight points pushed Gonzaga 15 points ahead with just over five minutes to play, and the game was never within 10 after. Wednesday, Hurley admitted seeing Miller on the opposing sideline would be a sobering moment, but the Illinois native certainly added insult to injury. 

“Adam’s great and he hit a couple threes to cut it from nine to 15,” Hurley said. “We had a chance then, and you’re shocked.” 

Despite the loss, Ford and the rest of the Sun Devils earned a newfound energy to their season after winning two contests in which they led from wire to wire, battling with the No.3 team in the KenPom rankings. With 14 new players on the roster, this fills the program with confidence for the road that lies ahead. 

“We’re just a whole lot of kids from the mid-major level, or lower than that,” Ford said. “We’ve been greedy for this big stage, and I feel that could take us a long way. We have gelled together so fast that, in the long run, that could take us a long way. Going out there tonight, being able to compete with that team, that says a lot.”