By Cal Aboud, SDA Media Relations, Student Assistant
TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona State men’s basketball team (14-12; 4-9) fell 78-65 to visiting UCLA Sunday night at Wells Fargo Arena.
“Obviously this a difficult loss," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "It really felt like we were on the verge of something after Friday night and like has happened most of this year, there’s progress and there’s regression...and we regressed again tonight."
Despite a tremendous first half in which the Sun Devils shot a quality 46.4 percent (13-28) from the field, while going 53.8 percent (7-13) from beyond the arc, Coach Hurley’s squad fell flat down the stretch. Struggling to emulate their first half offensive production, and hampered by their inability to score inside, Arizona State fell behind by as much as 17 late.
A bright spot on the night was junior guard Andre Spight, who paced the Sun Devils recording a career-high 21 points. Spight, along with fellow guard Kodi Justice, closed the evening a combined 8-for-12 from three. Justice netted 12, while dishing four assists.
MOST POINTS OFF THE BENCH BY A SUN DEVIL PAST 10 SEASONS
24, Savon Goodman vs. Lehigh (Dec. 20, 2014)
22, Rihards Kuksiks vs. Oregon (Mar. 3, 2011)
21, Andre Spight vs. UCLA (Feb. 14, 2016)
21, Jon Gilling vs. Maryland/CBE Classic (Nov. 24, 2014)
Bouncing back from a three-point outing, in the Sun Devils 74-67 rout of #23 USC (Feb. 12) was Obinna Oleka, who recorded his fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 14 points and game-high 13 rebounds. The once transfer, who hadn’t played collegiately in the two years prior to his enrollment at Arizona State, has now scored in double-figures 14 times this season.
OBINNA OLEKA DOUBLE-DOUBLES (4)
14/13 vs. UCLA (2/14/16)
13/11 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
11/10 vs. Washington State (1/14/16)
10/14 vs. Marquette (11/24/15)
The Sun Devils struggled to combat UCLA’s length, as the Bruins won the battle on the boards 38-34, while outscoring Arizona State by a margin of 32-18 in the paint. UCLA also proved the benefactor of 15 Sun Devil turnovers, scoring 16 points off takeaways, in comparison to just eight for the Maroon and Gold.
Arizona State got off to a promising start out of the gate, as the Sun Devils traded punches with the visiting Bruins the duration of the half.
Oleka would set the stage on what would be an excellent perimeter scoring half for the Sun Devils, connecting on a corner three at the 18:18 mark. After falling behind seven, 12-5, the Sun Devils would rally going on an 8-2 run, highlighted by a pair of threes from Justice, to put the Maroon and Gold right back in it, 14-13.
The Sun Devils would then see the deficit expand to six, 21-15, before yet again mounting an 8-2 run. A barrage of threes, courtesy of Spight and Atwood, would give Arizona State their largest lead of the contest, 26-23 at the 8:35 mark.
The Bruins would retain the lead, 37-32, by virtue of 5-0 run, before Justice’s third triple of the half would put the Sun Devils within two, 37-35 at the half.
After a Holder three to open the second half would give the Sun Devils a 38-37 lead, the Maroon and Gold would cease to play ahead for the remainder of the game. In second half for the most part dominated by the Bruins, the Sun Devils managed just nine made shot attempts. UCLA would ultimately outscore Arizona State 41-30 in the second half, to cap a 78-65 victory.
UP NEXT…
The Sun Devils travel to Tucson to take on Arizona on Wednesday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. (MT). The game is slated to be nationally televised on ESPN 2. Arizona State dropped a highly-contested 94-82 loss to Arizona to open conference-play on Jan. 3.