"First off, I'd like to give Washington State (9-14; 2-8 Pac-12) credit before I get to some other things," said Bobby Hurley. "They came out with the right intentions, and they played extremely hard. Teams have been shooting around 47 percent on the season, and they were very active, and our numbers were meager across the board in every offensive category."
The Cougars started hot in the first half with a stunning .529 shooting performance from beyond the arc. Franks led the charge for Washington State, notching 23 points at the half, shooting 4-of-5 from the three-point line. Franks' performance included four steals and four blocks, both season highs for the senior. The forward added 13 rebounds against ASU, good for his sixth double-double of the season.
"I'm not into making excuses, and there are none for this," said Hurley. "You can't beat the teams we were able to beat and then a team that hasn't won a road game at this point in the season comes in and beats you. You can't have that go on."
Luguentz Dort was the bright spot for the Sun Devils; he ended the game with 22 points and four steals, his fifth-highest scoring outage this season. He was only one of two Sun Devils in double digits.
20-POINT GAMES FOR LUGUENTZ DORT
33 vs. Utah State @Las Vegas, Nov. 21, 2018
28 vs. Cal State Fullerton, Nov. 6, 2018
25 vs. McNeese State, Nov. 9, 2018
24 vs. #6 Nevada, Dec. 7, 2018
22 vs. Washington State, Feb. 7, 2019
ZYLAN CHEATHAM 10+ REBOUND GAMES
22 vs. Arizona (1/31/19)
20 at UCLA (1/24/19)
16 vs. Washington State (2/7/19)
14 at USC (1/26/19)
14 at Vanderbilt (12/17/18)
13 vs. Oregon State (1/17/19)
13 vs. Texas Southern (12/1/18)
12 at Stanford (1/12/19)
12 vs. McNeese State (11/9/18)
12 vs. Nebraska-Omaa (11/28/18)
11 vs. Kansas (12/22/18)
10 vs. Nevada (12/7/18)
10 at Georgia (12/15/18)
"I don't think we overlooked them," said Cheatham. "I just think we didn't play well. All in all, numbers don't lie, we didn't make enough shots, we didn't defend well enough. It's pretty much on us."
ASU made 23-of-68 (.338) from the field, 5-of-33 (.152) from three-point line and 19-of-33 (.576) from the free throw line. Conversely, WSU was 26-of-60 (.433), 12-of-30 (.400) and 27-of-33 (.818).
The next game for Arizona State is this Saturday, Feb. 9, at home against the conference leading Washington Huskies (19-4; 10-0). Tip-off is at 8 p.m. from Wells Fargo Arena and can be viewed on ESPN and heard on AZ Sports 98.7 FM.
SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN 20-POINT GAMES
18, Jahii Carson, 2012-13
16, James Harden, 2007-08
12, Ike Diogu, 2002-03
7, Jamal Faulkner, 1990-91
5, Luguentz Dort, 2018-19
5, Steve Beck, 1983-84
QUOTING WSU HEAD COACH ERNIE KENT
"Tonight we played a 40-minute game and defended for 40 minutes. Nothing to do with our schemes or anything but mental toughness and physical toughness. That is a very physical basketball team and we were able to do that against them. They're very good really tough to guard and they forced us to come up to another level here on the road. They're a fun bunch to watch I thought they did a spectacular job all of them and obviously Rob was just having an incredible game. All Rob and C.J. have to do is really understand how to play the right way when they play the right way we are a very good team offensively and they still get great numbers. Rob played perfect tonight in terms of what I need him to do. When we get 20 plus assists we are a very good team."
QUOTING BOBBY HURLEY
"First off, I'd like to give Washington State credit before I get to some other things. They came out with the right intentions and they played extremely hard. Teams have been shooting around 47 percent on the season and they were very active, and our numbers were very low across the board in every offensive category. We were tied at halftime in the paint and we were 4-of-14 from the foul line, 0-of-8 from three, negative two on the backboard and we've always been hanging our hat on rebounding even if we aren't making shots. There wasn't really anything overly positive that you can say. It's a pretty damaging loss for us. Again, I give Washington State credit for how hard they competed tonight. [Robert] Franks, it's easy to see why people view him as a potential NBA candidate next year and he's leading the conference in scoring. He was draining shots everywhere. We didn't have any answers for him and then their freshman came in off the bench, [CJ] Elleby, and got going right away. He was on pace for a triple double at halftime, I'm not sure how he finished exactly. They had guys playing very well which you have to do on the road."
What did you see that was problematic in the first half?
"Again, you can't give that kind of space to a guy like Franks, especially if he has it going. We were missing free throws and not helping ourselves at all on the offensive end. I think there was one possession Rob Edwards had a wide open three on the right wing and shot an air ball and then they went back the other way and Franks buried a three. I think we had another possession where Lu [Dort] just put his head down and tried to recklessly drive in and lost the ball and I think they had a three point play the other way. Plays like that are difficult to overcome and when you're not playing well you have to limit your bad mistakes and we made a lot of them. You can' lose across the board in so many different categories be inept in a basketball game and expect to win."
Did it feel like Washington State was deliberately trying to foul in the first half?
"I just think they were playing aggressive. They played hard. They played harder than we did. We didn't have the right approach and we didn't finish. We could have finished some of those layups, but we were just content with getting fouled and rolling the dice at the free throw line and that wasn't good."
After having some of your best performance was there something that hinted at this?
"I'm not into making excuse and there are none for this. You can't beat the teams we were able to beat and then a team that hasn't won a road game at this point in the season comes in and beats you. You can't have that go on. The only thing I can think of is that Remy [Martin] rolled his ankle on Saturday morning in practice. He didn't practice on Sunday and didn't practice on Tuesday and practiced a little bit on Wednesday and he felt good. Zylan [Cheatham] had strep throat on Monday and he didn't practice on Tuesday. Taeshon [Cherry] is in concussion protocol. We've had multiple guys that weren't in practice, so we have smaller walk-ons that are running around in our practices and they weren't as good as what they've been leading into some other weeks."
What is your level of concern for Romello White?
"Yea, I haven't had a chance to talk to Romello and when I'm done with you guys, I'm going to get with the doctors and see what is going on with him. I was initially told that it was more knees banging than something more than that, but we'll have to get more information on that."
Why has it been tougher to get things going to start games?
"Hard to say on that one. I think tonight was that we didn't convert. We missed a lot of three and most of them were open. We didn't make free throws and we had like eight turnovers at halftime. We weren't making shots and turning the ball over and then we couldn't get a stop. We couldn't stop Franks. He did whatever he wanted."
Did something happen to Zylan Cheatham after he got hit in the face in the first half?
"He got a couple stitches under his chin at halftime."