Arizona State Sun Devils lose cool, then the lead in costly home loss to UCLA
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley is rarely at a loss for words. Wednesday night was one of those rare occasions, at least when it came to addressing the only topic anyone wanted to talk about.
The Sun Devils lost to UCLA 68-66 in a Pac-12 game at Desert Financial Arena. It wasn't that they lost. It was how they lost that had Hurley fuming after the game, although he wouldn't lash out quite like he wanted to.
The Sun Devils (10-7, 4-2), who started the night in second place, right behind Oregon in the conference standings, were called for five second-half technical fouls. ASU's Shawn Phillips, a 7-foot-center, was ejected after two technicals at the 10:10 mark of the second half in what proved to be the turning point of the contest.
"I'd like to say how I really feel but I won't. I'm not going to say how I really feel," Hurley fumed after the game, no doubt alluding to any criticism of the officiating would lead to a lofty fine at the least.
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"So I am just going to start out by saying that when you look at the stat sheet, proud of my team's shooting percentages, from 3, from 2 against a very good defensive team against a team that is starting to find itself. Had six turnovers compared to their 11. That's all I'm going to say. Really."
ASU's biggest lead was 13 points, that advantage coming at 36-23 when Frankie Collins drove for a bucket just as the first half bnuzzer sounded.
The Bruins (8-10, 3-4) whittled that lead to 49-43 in the second half when the fireworks started. ASU's Adam Miller was called for a hard foul on UCLA's Lazar Stefanovic who was driving toward the bucket. With Stefanovic sprawled out under the basket words were said by Phillips who was assessed a technical, then quickly given another resulting in his departure.
Arizona State unravels
UCLA's Adem Bona was called for a technical as well, which offset one of the ASU technicals.
When order was restored Stefanvic went to the line and made all four shots to cut the deficit to 49-47.
UCLA then got the ball on the next possession and Will McClendon nailed a 3-pointer to give the Bruins their first lead of the game at 50-49.
"I am happy with everything that happened on the basketball court besides the free-throw line,'' Hurley said. "No one wanted to explain anything to me. I had to ask them to explain what happened but I'm tired of the explanations. I'm just not going to talk about it any more.
"We just tried to hold it together. Some responsbility certainly lies with our guys. In a heated game I'm sure there's a lot of communication,'' he added. "And we're the bad guys. So say hello to the bad guys. You'll never see a bad guy like us again. But that's what we were tonight. We we were the bad guys. I'm sure no one else said anything except us. All night."
It was a tight contest the rest of the way with five ties and tweo lead changes.
With 3:50 left and ASU up 60-56, ASU's Jamiya Neal was called for a personal foul and then assessed a technical foul. The damage could have been worse there as UCLA made just two of four tries to keep ASU leading 60-58.
Bryant Selebangue got the last technical just a minute and a half later, after a battle for a rebound on the UCLA end. Stefanovic made both free throws for a 62-60 lead.
Sun Devils make one last push
But ASU was not done. ASU regained the lead with 2:04 to play on a 3-pointer by Frankie Collins, only to have UCLA answer on its end of the floor with a bucket by Sebastian Mack that gave the visitors a 64-63 lead with 1:12 to go. They hung on from there.
The barrage of technical fouls was a big reason for the disparity in free throws as UCLA made 17 of 23 tries while ASU made 9 of 14.
"The refs told us not to say a word and we're still talking. Just trying to tell him (Selebangue) this is a critical moment. You can't do that," Collins said.
Collins and Miller each scored 16, while Neal added 13 and Jose Perez 12 as the Sun Devils shot 42.6% (23-for-54) from the field. That's including an 11-for-27 from deep.
UCLA, which started two freshmen and two sophomores after significant roster overhaul, got 18 from Stefanovich and 13 from Brandon Williams, with the Bruins shooting 47.8% (22-for-46). It also won the rebounding battle 33-27. Bona had nine points, six rebounds and seven blocks before fouling out.
It marked the first loss at home for ASU, which had been 7-0 at home so far this season. More importantly, it's a result that means ASU will lose further ground in trying to advance its cause for a postseason bid. Not only does it still need some quality wins, it could not afford to lose to an opponent with a losing record, particularly at home.
The results also was opposite of how ASU has responded in close games this season. It had won five of six games this season that were decided by two possessions of less, with three of its four conference wins falling into that category.
ASU now has to regroup for Saturday's noon game against USC (8-10, 2-5) which lost to Arizona 82-67 in Tucson Wednesday night. The Trojans are playing without three injured starters.
ASU lost both regular season games with USC a year ago but defeated the Trojans in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinal 77-72.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona State loses cool, then the lead in costly home loss to UCLA
