LAS VEGAS – Despite a game- and career-high 32 points from Torian Graham, the Arizona State men's basketball team fell to fifth-ranked Oregon 80-57 in Thursday's first quarterfinal of the 2017 Pac-12 Men's Basketball Tournament.
The Ducks (27-4), the top seed in the tournament, outscored the Sun Devils 46-26 in the second half to break open what was a three-point game at the half.
"These guys played so well yesterday (in overtime win over Stanford) and competed hard," ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. "I think today we played a great basketball team, a great defensive basketball team. We weren't as good as we needed to be offensively in the game, bottom line.
"First half I thought we started out fairly well. Torian had it going early from the perimeter and our offense was doing pretty well, and then we just hit a wall in terms of fatigue or the wear from yesterday's game. We just didn't have quite the same pop in the second half. And our defense didn't help. But they're an elite team and have the type of defense that's going to keep them in games as they play championship-level basketball."
TORIAN GRAHAM 13 20+ GAMES (13)
32 vs. #5 Oregon (3/9/17)
30 at Stanford (12/30/16)
29 at Washington (2/18/17)
28 vs. #5 UCLA (2/23/17)
26 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
26 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
24 vs. Stanford (2/11/17)
24 at USC (1/22/17)
24 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
22 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
22 vs. Tulane (11/18/16)
21 at Oregon State (2/4/17)
After scoring 96 of ASU's 98 points in Wednesday's first round overtime win over Stanford, ASU's starting five – Graham, Obinna Oleka, Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice – once again shouldered most of the offensive load as they accounted for 53 points against Oregon.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS PAC-12 ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
2017: Torian Graham
2013: Jahii Carson
2009: Derek Glasser, James Harden, Jeff Pendergraph
1990: Alex Austin
"These guys have been unbelievable," Hurley said. "The five starters that have played the minutes they played. I mean, yesterday they scored 96 of 98 points and guys played over 40 minutes in that game and defended. Kodi's a 6-4 combo guard guarding Jordan Bell and (Chris) Boucher, and battling all these bigger players. He came into this game with a hip pointer from yesterday. So he pushed through a lot of physical stuff, as did everybody. Torian he handled himself, conducted himself in such a great way to finish his senior year, and he's been so good all year for us. Scoring 32 tonight was a great way for it to end. But it's hard when it ends. It doesn't feel good.
"I'm excited that we took a step in the program. The seniors are a big part of that. Tra Holder, Shannon Evans, Kodi also, to get us a win in the Pac-12 Tournament, to get that win yesterday is nice, and we're going to keep building off of that in the future."
The Sun Devils (15-17) were not able to duplicate the outstanding offensive performance they had on Wednesday in which they shot a season-high 56 percent. After making 39 percent of their shots – including 42 percent from beyond the arc (5-12) – in the first half, the Sun Devils went cold in the second half, hitting only 24 percent of their attempts.
In contrast to ASU's inability to consistently score, the Ducks found their offensive groove in the second half as they knocked down 57 percent of their shots.
Also proving to be a big factor in the outcome was Oregon's dominance on the boards where it had a 48-29 advantage, including 29-14 in the second half. Oleka, who scored a career-high 27 points to go with a team-high 13 rebounds in the win over Stanford, once again led ASU's rebounding effort versus Oregon as he grabbed 11 to go with six points.
Thursday's game was a rematch of a 71-70 contest won by the Ducks on Feb. 2 in Eugene in the only meeting of the season between the two teams. Early on it appeared the two teams would once again engage in a battle that would come down to the final minutes as neither team led by more than five points in the first half.
Down 31-27 the Sun Devils answered with four straight points coming courtesy of a layup by Justice and two free throws by Evans II to knot the score at 31-31 with 1:46 left in the first half.
Dillon Brooks, the Pac-12 Player of the Year who led Oregon with 22 points, hit his third triple of the half with 48 seconds remaining to give the Ducks a 34-31 lead at the break.
Oregon would seize control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half as it scored 11 of the first 13 points to take its first double-digit lead – 45-33 – after Dylan Ennis' 3-pointer.
The Ducks would eventually extend their lead to 16 before the Sun Devils battled back to get within eight after Graham's four-point play with 7:16 remaining. However ASU would get no closer as Oregon responded with eight straight points over a span of 2:32 to go up 68-52 after Tyler Dorsey's layup with just over four minutes left. The Ducks would lead by as many as 25 in the game's final minute.
Holder and Evans II tied for the team high with four assists each. Justice added three assists to go with five points, one block and one steal.
ASU's best offensive threat on Thursday, Graham scored 16 of ASU's 31 points in the first half and also accounted for seven of ASU's nine 3-pointers in the game.
As has been the case all season the Sun Devils, who entered the Pac-12 Tournament 13th in the nation for fewest turnovers per game, took excellent care of the ball as they had only seven turnovers against an Oregon squad that averaged 14.0 takeaways per game.
GAME NOTES, CHARTS AND LISTS
The Ducks (27-4), the top seed in the tournament, outscored the Sun Devils 46-26 in the second half to break open what was a three-point game at the half.
"These guys played so well yesterday (in overtime win over Stanford) and competed hard," ASU head coach Bobby Hurley said. "I think today we played a great basketball team, a great defensive basketball team. We weren't as good as we needed to be offensively in the game, bottom line.
"First half I thought we started out fairly well. Torian had it going early from the perimeter and our offense was doing pretty well, and then we just hit a wall in terms of fatigue or the wear from yesterday's game. We just didn't have quite the same pop in the second half. And our defense didn't help. But they're an elite team and have the type of defense that's going to keep them in games as they play championship-level basketball."
TORIAN GRAHAM 13 20+ GAMES (13)
32 vs. #5 Oregon (3/9/17)
30 at Stanford (12/30/16)
29 at Washington (2/18/17)
28 vs. #5 UCLA (2/23/17)
26 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
26 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
24 vs. Stanford (2/11/17)
24 at USC (1/22/17)
24 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
22 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
22 vs. Tulane (11/18/16)
21 at Oregon State (2/4/17)
After scoring 96 of ASU's 98 points in Wednesday's first round overtime win over Stanford, ASU's starting five – Graham, Obinna Oleka, Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice – once again shouldered most of the offensive load as they accounted for 53 points against Oregon.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS PAC-12 ALL-TOURNAMENT HONORS
2017: Torian Graham
2013: Jahii Carson
2009: Derek Glasser, James Harden, Jeff Pendergraph
1990: Alex Austin
"These guys have been unbelievable," Hurley said. "The five starters that have played the minutes they played. I mean, yesterday they scored 96 of 98 points and guys played over 40 minutes in that game and defended. Kodi's a 6-4 combo guard guarding Jordan Bell and (Chris) Boucher, and battling all these bigger players. He came into this game with a hip pointer from yesterday. So he pushed through a lot of physical stuff, as did everybody. Torian he handled himself, conducted himself in such a great way to finish his senior year, and he's been so good all year for us. Scoring 32 tonight was a great way for it to end. But it's hard when it ends. It doesn't feel good.
"I'm excited that we took a step in the program. The seniors are a big part of that. Tra Holder, Shannon Evans, Kodi also, to get us a win in the Pac-12 Tournament, to get that win yesterday is nice, and we're going to keep building off of that in the future."
The Sun Devils (15-17) were not able to duplicate the outstanding offensive performance they had on Wednesday in which they shot a season-high 56 percent. After making 39 percent of their shots – including 42 percent from beyond the arc (5-12) – in the first half, the Sun Devils went cold in the second half, hitting only 24 percent of their attempts.
In contrast to ASU's inability to consistently score, the Ducks found their offensive groove in the second half as they knocked down 57 percent of their shots.
Also proving to be a big factor in the outcome was Oregon's dominance on the boards where it had a 48-29 advantage, including 29-14 in the second half. Oleka, who scored a career-high 27 points to go with a team-high 13 rebounds in the win over Stanford, once again led ASU's rebounding effort versus Oregon as he grabbed 11 to go with six points.
Thursday's game was a rematch of a 71-70 contest won by the Ducks on Feb. 2 in Eugene in the only meeting of the season between the two teams. Early on it appeared the two teams would once again engage in a battle that would come down to the final minutes as neither team led by more than five points in the first half.
Down 31-27 the Sun Devils answered with four straight points coming courtesy of a layup by Justice and two free throws by Evans II to knot the score at 31-31 with 1:46 left in the first half.
Dillon Brooks, the Pac-12 Player of the Year who led Oregon with 22 points, hit his third triple of the half with 48 seconds remaining to give the Ducks a 34-31 lead at the break.
Oregon would seize control of the game in the opening minutes of the second half as it scored 11 of the first 13 points to take its first double-digit lead – 45-33 – after Dylan Ennis' 3-pointer.
The Ducks would eventually extend their lead to 16 before the Sun Devils battled back to get within eight after Graham's four-point play with 7:16 remaining. However ASU would get no closer as Oregon responded with eight straight points over a span of 2:32 to go up 68-52 after Tyler Dorsey's layup with just over four minutes left. The Ducks would lead by as many as 25 in the game's final minute.
Holder and Evans II tied for the team high with four assists each. Justice added three assists to go with five points, one block and one steal.
ASU's best offensive threat on Thursday, Graham scored 16 of ASU's 31 points in the first half and also accounted for seven of ASU's nine 3-pointers in the game.
As has been the case all season the Sun Devils, who entered the Pac-12 Tournament 13th in the nation for fewest turnovers per game, took excellent care of the ball as they had only seven turnovers against an Oregon squad that averaged 14.0 takeaways per game.
GAME NOTES, CHARTS AND LISTS
SUN DEVIL SINGLE-SEASON FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
1. 1977-78, .756 (466-of-616)
2. 1954-55, .754
3. 2016-17, .749 (489-of-653)
PAC-12 MOST 3-POINT FIELD GOALS IN A SEASON
120, Salim Stoudamire, ARIZ, 2005
114, Steve Kerr, ARIZ, 1988
113, Stevin Smith, ASU, 1993
112, Damon Stoudamire, ARIZ, 1995
110, Tajuan Porter, ORE, 2007
108, Torian Graham, ASU, 2017
104, Bryce Alford, UCLA, 2017 (entering 2017 Pac-12 Tournament)