Jan. 24, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. -
By Matt Storey, ASU Media Relations
Behind forward Jon Brockman's 21 points and 16 rebounds, Washington defeated the ASU men's basketball team 72-61 on Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
The Sun Devils shot just 32.1 percent in the loss, which was their first loss at home this season after winning their first 11 home games.
"We just have to continue to keep working and trying to improve," coach Herb Sendek said. "We obviously play an outstanding opponent every night, and we're going to have to be at our very best to get wins in this conference."
Freshman guard James Harden started and played 31 minutes despite a groin injury that kept him out of practice all week. He led the Sun Devils with 17 points, and fellow freshman guard Jamelle McMillan had a season-high 11 points in the game.
Junior forward Jeff Pendergraph had nine points but shot just 3-10 from the field and had six turnovers going up against Brockman.
The Sun Devils had their worst shooting night of the season, making just 17 of 53 field goal attempts and five of 24 from outside the arc.
"I thought Washington did a really good job of disrupting us and taking us out of our offense for the most part," Sendek said. "We weren't able, in some instances, to counter seamlessly when they took away our first option."
The Huskies were not much better from the field, shooting just 38.6 percent, but they made 9-22 from 3-point range.
Brockman dominated inside, shooting 9-15 and getting several key offensive rebounds in the second half.
"Some things you just can't change about people, no matter how much scouting you do or how much preparation you put in," Pendergraph said of Brockman's game. "Sometimes guys are just going to do what they do because they have it in their head that nobody is going to stop them."
ASU led early, and a 7-0 run stretched the lead to nine at 24-15 with under eight minutes to play in the first half.
However, Washington's Joel Smith hit back-to-back 3-pointers at that point to key a 12-0 run as the Huskies took their first lead.
Washington led by two at the break, and ASU never led in the second half. Harden's jumper with just under nine minutes left cut the deficit to three points, but the Huskies answered on their next possession with a Tim Morris 3-pointer, and the lead never shrunk below six from there.
The Sun Devils return to action Saturday at 5 p.m. when they host Washington State.