"Well, I liked how we started the game," said Bobby Hurley. "If the game would've ended after 12 minutes I think it would've been great for us."
Paced by Romello White's seven of the first 11 Sun Devil points, ASU found offensive efficiency in the opening 20 minutes. The team shot 48.6 percent from the field and led as many as 17 with Remy Martin heading to the break with 14.
The early lead was credited to suffocating defense and a 12-2 ASU run that came to life over a three-minute span that forced Utah to call a timeout after a Taeshon Cherry slam. With about seven minutes remaining, Utah began to chip away and take the momentum from Sparky.
Two runs of 8-0 and 7-0 had Utah trailing just 43-39 at the break.
"It was frustrating because it was a game that we had control of and we allowed them to cut the lead to four at the half and it snowballed from there," said Hurley.
Three minutes into the final period, Utah took its first lead since 3-2 by Tillman's first of four second-half triples following a missed dunk by Zylan Cheatham.
Moments later, Tillman drilled another one followed by a Rob Edwards missed jumper that got Utah out in transition. The Devils guarded Barefield and Tillman tightly that allowed Parker Van Dyke to kick out to the corner and hit a wide-open three.
It was now a different game.
The visitors led by 10 and came out for the final 20 minutes making 5-of-7 three-point attempts and connected on 16 threes against ASU, tied second most by a Sun Devil opponent in program history.
Trailing 61-49, ASU refused to go away quietly. Edwards hit a three, De'Quon Lake swatted two balls, and the Devils were down 63-60 after a 6-0 Sparky run in 2:28.
With the crowd arguably the loudest its been all night, Barefield wanted to call game. He recorded nice spin move and finish on a mismatch with Lake and finished off a runner with a nice soft touch to help Utah go ahead by nine.
Taeshon Cherry hit a big three and grabbed a steal that had ASU down only four after a Luguentz Dort free-throw with 6:01 remaining.
It would be the closest Arizona State got the rest of the evening.
Barefield nailed a triple. Martin missed a three. Van Dyke hit a corner three. Utah now had the advantage they needed to escape Tempe with a victory.
"Barefield was the best player on the floor, it wasn't even close," said Hurley. "Just with all the shot making, the variety of shot-making, the drives, the threes."
Utah didn't need a field goal late and got their production from the charity stripe as the Sun Devils began using fouls for one-and-one situations with around two minutes to go and down 12.
Utah's 53.3 percent three-point shooting with 16 makes and 22 made free-throws was too much for the Sun Devils to handle while losing the rebounding battle. Barefield led the Runnin' Utes with 24, one of four in double figures for Utah.
The Sun Devils had four in double figures behind Martin's career-high (22), including Dort (14), Cheatham (17), and Edwards (14).
Arizona State is back on the hardwood on Saturday, Jan. 5 against Colorado at 4 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in. Tip-off can be viewed on Pac-12 Network and heard on 98.7 FM.
REMY MARTIN TOP SCORING TILTS
22 vs. Utah (1/3/19)
21 at Georgia (12/15/18)
21 at #2 Kansas (12/10/17)
20 vs. Colorado at Las Vegas (3/7/18)
19 vs. Princeton (12/29/18)
16 vs. #15 Mississippi State at Las Vegas (11/19/18)
QUOTES
UTAH COACH LARRY KRYSTKOWIAK
On coming back in the second half
"A lot of resilience. We didn't start the game well, obviously. (We) had a heck of a time with their pressure, getting ourselves into offense. We didn't get many shots up. They had eight points in transition in no time, which has been the key all week, and they had a number of offensive rebounds which turned into points. That team's too good in transition and on the glass. And then I thought we settled in a little bit - guys saw the ball go in and we just chipped away at it, got ourselves back in the ball game. It was really resilient, had a number of guys - 38 points off the bench. Outrebounded that team which was a focal point for us. Some guys had some big performances. It's a lot of points for us to score in a conference game. I thought we shared the ball really well. Our magic number for assists has been 14, I don't believe we've lost a game this year (when we had) 14 assists. Sedrick (Barefield) had some big time plays but we also shared the ball. Timmy (Allen) was 4-to-1 assists to turnover, Donnie (Tillman) was 5-to-1 assists to turnover, so that was a little bit contagious for us. It was an awful lot of fun to start league."
On starting Pac-12 play with a win
"It is one game. I think it's safe to say that our conference race is somewhat open, it's not like years past where you've had two or three teams kind of out in front and you'd have to put together a special performance, but to get a win against one of the better teams in our conference on their court is huge for us to start league. But it's a marathon for us here as we move forward and we need to stay humble and hungry and keep working."
HEAD COACH BOBBY HURLEY
"Well, I liked how we started the game. If the game would've ended after 12 minutes I think it would've been great for us. But then I just thought that we did some things on offense that we weren't doing in the first 12 minutes that got us the lead in the first half. I thought we reverted to driving the ball into some spots where there wasn't a play, and then shooting quickly. There was no transition defense. Overall, I haven't seen us play like this in that department of what we've been doing defensively all season, so that was an issue, a big issue. Sometimes it goes hand-in-hand with shot selection, when you don't take good shots and you put your opponent in a position to have a chance to run out and get those scores. They played well, especially after going down big, to make 16 threes, they shot a very high percentage from the line. Some of them were wide-open because we were just getting lost out there in the second half. It was frustrating because it was a game that we had control of and we allowed them to cut the lead to four at the half and it snowballed from there."
"It's a fragile game. It feels like last year, it feels like "Groundhog Day." Just quality wins, come back from Christmas and then you're just struggling to find yourself. We have to rally here. We have two-straight losses now after Christmas, after feeling so good with a win that was pretty special. We're not that same team, so we have to figure out why we're not."
"That last seven minutes, it was like two different teams. It was a tale of two different parts of a half. Ball movement, shot-making and energy on defense and getting stops and then it all went away really fast."