TEMPE, Ariz. – The Arizona State men's basketball team fell for the first time at home this season in an 81-70 setback to New Mexico State Saturday evening at Wells Fargo Arena.
Leading the Sun Devils was senior forward Obinna Oleka who scored 18, while adding a team-high 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
Three Sun Devils scored in double-figures. Senior guard Torian Graham contributed with 14 points while junior guard Tra Holder notched 13 points, hitting all eight of his free throws.
Junior guard Shannon Evans II tied his season high in assists, dishing out seven dimes to go along with nine points. After being held scoreless in his first five career games (13 minutes), freshman Andre Adams gave the Devils a spark off the bench in the first half, making all three of his shots scoring six points in just nine minutes.
The Maroon and Gold struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end for most of the night, closing the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-63) from the field, including just 10-33 (.303) in the second half. Three bench players combined for 24 points to give ASU a 24-12 advantage over the NMSU in bench points. ASU shot 14-17 (.823) from the free throw line.
New Mexico State finished shooting 50 percent (28-56) from the field, including a 54.2 percent (13-24) clip in the second half. The Aggies were led by junior guard Braxton Huggins who scored 24 points and senior guard Ian Baker who added 19 points.
Despite struggling early and falling behind by as much as ten, the Sun Devils fought back to re-take the 36-35 lead on an Andre Adams layup with 3:31 left in the first half. ASU would go into halftime trailing the Aggies 40-38. New Mexico State came out hot after the break, going on an 18-4 scoring run to extend their lead to 62-47 after the Sun Devils trimmed the Aggie lead to two. The Sun Devils would cut the lead to single digits once more after an Obinna Oleka dunk made it a 79-70 NMSU lead with 40 seconds remaining.
ASU will remain at Wells Fargo Arena to face No. 10 Creighton (11-0) on Tuesday (Dec. 20) at 7 p.m. MT on ESPN2. ASU completes non-conference play on Thursday (Dec. 22) when they take on Central Arkansas in a weekday matinee at 1 p.m.
QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY
"First off, a lot of credit to New Mexico State. They came in here 9-2 and playing with a lot of confidence, stemming from their seveb straight wins. I knew it was going to be a close game because of that and the fact that they play a lot of close games. They play both ends very well, very disciplined, they get good shot on offense, and defend with good energy so, I knew it was going to be a hard game. We tried to get that across all week. I wish I could have congratulated them for the game they played. They played a very good game, a winning game."
"We had a tough week. Certainty having eight scholarship players doesn't help and having Maurice out for the game didn't help. But, still we had plenty of guys to play a little better than we did."
"I thought we would build off the excitement off the win that we had on Saturday, just being a little bit more lively and a little bit more energetic in the first half. But, we were a little bit flat. We have to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play, conveying the message of how hard the game is going to be and being able to stand up to it."
"I'm happy for Andre (Adams) tonight. He's been through so much with the injury and he has worked so hard to get to the point where he is now. He came in and did a nice job, finishing around the basket, set some good screens and played good defense. So for a guy to fight through the injuries he has had to have some success is really good to see."
QUOTING COACH PAUL WEIR OF NEW MEXICO STATE
"Definitely a big win for our players and obviously our program as well. It was really good. We made the extra pass tonight, really throughout the game. It wasn't even just the first half. I thought over the course of the game we did a really good job of sharing the ball and when they picked up the pressure we were making extra passes to score on the back of the press."
"We talked a lot about the lost opportunity at Colorado State and even the lost opportunity at The Pit. We talked a lot about that leading into this game. A school at our level, we don't get a lot of chances like this where as schools like Arizona State get 20 of these a year in conference and non-conference. We don't get a lot of these opportunities so we really have to maximize them. I feel like we had a couple slip away earlier this year and this is one we just had to grab and thankfully we were able to do it."
"These guys work really hard. We talked about it last night, I think part of the reason we have been closing games better is because we are in better shape. We can make free throws late in the game, we can get stops late in the game, and we can make shots late in the game because our conditioning is so much better and these guys have worked so hard for it. I am really happy for them that they are getting some kind of reward for their work."
Leading the Sun Devils was senior forward Obinna Oleka who scored 18, while adding a team-high 11 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season.
Three Sun Devils scored in double-figures. Senior guard Torian Graham contributed with 14 points while junior guard Tra Holder notched 13 points, hitting all eight of his free throws.
Junior guard Shannon Evans II tied his season high in assists, dishing out seven dimes to go along with nine points. After being held scoreless in his first five career games (13 minutes), freshman Andre Adams gave the Devils a spark off the bench in the first half, making all three of his shots scoring six points in just nine minutes.
The Maroon and Gold struggled to find a rhythm on the offensive end for most of the night, closing the game shooting 41.3 percent (26-63) from the field, including just 10-33 (.303) in the second half. Three bench players combined for 24 points to give ASU a 24-12 advantage over the NMSU in bench points. ASU shot 14-17 (.823) from the free throw line.
New Mexico State finished shooting 50 percent (28-56) from the field, including a 54.2 percent (13-24) clip in the second half. The Aggies were led by junior guard Braxton Huggins who scored 24 points and senior guard Ian Baker who added 19 points.
Despite struggling early and falling behind by as much as ten, the Sun Devils fought back to re-take the 36-35 lead on an Andre Adams layup with 3:31 left in the first half. ASU would go into halftime trailing the Aggies 40-38. New Mexico State came out hot after the break, going on an 18-4 scoring run to extend their lead to 62-47 after the Sun Devils trimmed the Aggie lead to two. The Sun Devils would cut the lead to single digits once more after an Obinna Oleka dunk made it a 79-70 NMSU lead with 40 seconds remaining.
ASU will remain at Wells Fargo Arena to face No. 10 Creighton (11-0) on Tuesday (Dec. 20) at 7 p.m. MT on ESPN2. ASU completes non-conference play on Thursday (Dec. 22) when they take on Central Arkansas in a weekday matinee at 1 p.m.
QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY
"First off, a lot of credit to New Mexico State. They came in here 9-2 and playing with a lot of confidence, stemming from their seveb straight wins. I knew it was going to be a close game because of that and the fact that they play a lot of close games. They play both ends very well, very disciplined, they get good shot on offense, and defend with good energy so, I knew it was going to be a hard game. We tried to get that across all week. I wish I could have congratulated them for the game they played. They played a very good game, a winning game."
"We had a tough week. Certainty having eight scholarship players doesn't help and having Maurice out for the game didn't help. But, still we had plenty of guys to play a little better than we did."
"I thought we would build off the excitement off the win that we had on Saturday, just being a little bit more lively and a little bit more energetic in the first half. But, we were a little bit flat. We have to do a better job of getting our guys ready to play, conveying the message of how hard the game is going to be and being able to stand up to it."
"I'm happy for Andre (Adams) tonight. He's been through so much with the injury and he has worked so hard to get to the point where he is now. He came in and did a nice job, finishing around the basket, set some good screens and played good defense. So for a guy to fight through the injuries he has had to have some success is really good to see."
QUOTING COACH PAUL WEIR OF NEW MEXICO STATE
"Definitely a big win for our players and obviously our program as well. It was really good. We made the extra pass tonight, really throughout the game. It wasn't even just the first half. I thought over the course of the game we did a really good job of sharing the ball and when they picked up the pressure we were making extra passes to score on the back of the press."
"We talked a lot about the lost opportunity at Colorado State and even the lost opportunity at The Pit. We talked a lot about that leading into this game. A school at our level, we don't get a lot of chances like this where as schools like Arizona State get 20 of these a year in conference and non-conference. We don't get a lot of these opportunities so we really have to maximize them. I feel like we had a couple slip away earlier this year and this is one we just had to grab and thankfully we were able to do it."
"These guys work really hard. We talked about it last night, I think part of the reason we have been closing games better is because we are in better shape. We can make free throws late in the game, we can get stops late in the game, and we can make shots late in the game because our conditioning is so much better and these guys have worked so hard for it. I am really happy for them that they are getting some kind of reward for their work."