By Cal Aboud, SDA Media Relations Student Assistant
LEXINGTON, KEN. -- With 13:34 left to play in Saturday's Sun Devil game at fifth-ranked Kentucky, the Sun Devils trailed 44-40 after Kodi Justice hit a layup.
A bank shot three-pointer by the home team followed by an in-and-out three-pointer for ASU led to a Wildcat run that proved to be the difference.
Arizona State fell to Kentucky, 72-58, Saturday afternoon, in front of a sellout crowd (23,665) at Rupp Arena. Sophomore guard Tra Holder finished in double-figures for the fifth time this season, recording a team-high 15 points.
Kodi Justice led all scorers off the bench with 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting, going 2-for-4 from beyond the arc. Senior big man Eric Jacobsen posted a game-high seven rebounds.
“I thought we did some pretty good things in the first half and then we didn't carry that into the second half. We dug ourselves a hole, " said Sun Devil head coach Bobby Hurley. "We did a fairly good job of keeping their guards out of the lane. IIt was not a great effort for us defensively in the second half. You have to give credit to Kentucky on how hard they competed defensively and the pressure is as good as I've seen in the games that we have played this year. Against an elite team on the road we had to make our free-throws and convert easy opportunities - we did not do that in the second half."
Turnovers proved to be problematic for the Sun Devils who finished with 17 and second-half free throw shooting was just 3-of-9, as ASU entered the game shooting them well. ASU was 120-of-163 (.736) from the free throw line in the previous seven games.
Arizona State struggled to get into a rhythm offensively managing just six assists on 23 made field goals, going 37.1 percent (23-62) from the field, 20 percent (4-20) from beyond the arc, and 53.3 percent (8-15) from the charity stripe.Guard play from the likes of Holder and Kodi Justice, allowed the Sun Devils to hold their own in the first half . Holder finished the half with nine points, while Justice added seven off the bench.
TRA HOLDER TOP SCORING GAMES
22 vs. NC State (11/23/15)
17 vs. Sacramento State (11/13/15)
16 vs. Oregon (1/30/15)
15 at #5 Kentucky (12/12/15)
15 vs. Marquette (11/24/15)
15 vs. Stanford (3/5/15)
15 vs. #6 Arizona (2/7/15)
15 vs. Pepperdine (12/13/14)
KODI JUSTICE DOUBLE-FIGURE SCORING GAMES (6)
16 at California (1/22/15)
13 vs. Belmont (11/16/15)
13 vs. UNLV (12/3/14)
12 at #5 Kentucky (12/12/15)
12 at Marquette (12/16/14)
10 vs. #18 Texas A&M (12/5/15)
Arizona State limited the Wildcats the to a season-low 31 percent (9-29) shooting from the field. Winning the battle on the boards the Sun Devils outrebounded a lengthy Kentucky team, 22-14 for the half.
After moving to a 6-5 lead at the 17:21 mark courtesy of score by Holder, Arizona State saw Kentucky jump out to a 7-0 run. The Wildcats would continue to move ahead leading 22-14, with 7:23 remaining in the period. Holder and Justice responded to move the game to a tie, 26-26.
After a layup by Kentucky's Willis gave the Wildcats a 32-28 edge with .45 ticks remaining, Justice in Arizona State's final offensive sequence of the half, connected on a contested three to beat the shot clock, cutting the deficit to 32-31.
Kentucky emerged a much improved offensive team in the second half.
The Wildcats fired on all cylinders offensively going 57.7 percent (15-26) from the field and 50 percent (5-10) from the three. Kentucky would ultimately outscore the Sun Devils 40-27 in the final period of play, to finish with a 72-58 victory.
Up next, the Sun Devils travel to Las Vegas to take on the 7-2 UNLV Runnin' Rebels on Wednedsay, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. PT. The game will be televised on the CBS Sports Network.
NEXT UP UNLV: ASU has topped UNLV in each of the past two seasons as the convenient road trip for both teams will continue, but the "new" story for the series this year is the ASU head coach being catalyst on the 1991 team that ended UNLV's drive for perfection. Bobby Hurley had 12 points and seven assists in the 79-77 Final Four win on March 30, 1991.
The victory by the Blue Devils ended a perfect season for the Runnin' Rebels, who had won their first 34 games and 45 straight overall. Coach Hurley hit a three-point shot, cutting UNLV's lead to 76-74 with 2:14 to play, and the Blue Devils allowed just one more point the rest of the way.
ASU leads the series 4-2 after last year's Dec. 3 win as Eric Jacobsen led the Sun Devils with 16 points and 12 rebounds, his second double-double of the season. Freshman Kodi Justice had 13 points in his first career-start at Wells Fargo Arena. UNLV, the 1990 NCAA champion, has played in six of the past nine NCAA Tournaments and 20 overall. UNLV posted a 18-15 record in 2014-15.