TEMPE – Arizona State men’s basketball suffered their first defeat of the 2025-26 season at the hands of No. 19 Gonzaga.
The Sun Devils battled with the Top-25 Bulldogs for all 40 minutes, jumping out to an early first half lead, but were unable to overcome a solid bench and rebounding effort from Gonzaga. Several individual standouts showed they could compete with the talented visitors, highlighted by redshirt sophomore forward Santiago Trouet. He notched a second straight double-double, finishing with with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Senior point guard Moe Odum had a team-high 12 points making four three-pointers while adding seven assists. Junior guard Bryce Ford, senior guard Anthony "Pig" Johnson, and freshman center Massamba Diop also contributed double figures in the scoring column.
Arizona State also had several bright spots despite the loss, including another edge in fast break points over their opponents. Coach Hurley's team was also extremely active on the defensive end, forcing Gonzaga to committ a season-high 15 turnovers and recording six blocks. ASU also held Gonzaga to just 29% shooting (6-of-21) from beyond the arc.
Series history
Arizona State took on Gonzaga in just their second matchup in history. In both matchups, the Bulldogs have been ranked in the Top-20 and the Sun Devils led for nine or more minutes in the first half.
We will block you
Arizona State finished third in the Big 12 and Top-50 nationally averaging 4.5 blocks per game last year. The Sun Devils 139 total blocks were the 8th-most in program history. Two of the eight best shot-blocking seasons in program history have taken place in the Bobby Hurley era (170 in 2023). ASU is on pace to surpass that number in 2025-26, averaging 4.7 blocks per game. In two of their three games, they have finished with six or more blocks.
Defending from deep
The Sun Devils have held opponents to a 25% 3-point percentage over three games this season, with opponents making just 19 of 76 attempted 3-pointers. Gonzaga made only 6 3-pointers, which is tied for least in a game this season.
Notables
- Held Gonzaga scoreless for over 3 minutes in the first half. The Bulldogs only scored 3 points over a five-minute period (17:47 - 12:37).
- ASU was held scoreless for 5 minutes (10:37- 5:40) During that time, the Sun Devils gave up 13 unanswered points.
- Santiago Trouet had another double-double, his second as a Sun Devil and second in as many games. He ended the game with 10 points and 11 rebounds, which were third and first on the team, respectively.
- Trouet’s 11 rebounds was a new season personal and team high.
- By halftime, ASU had eight points off of six turnovers.
- The Sun Devils went on a 7-0 run, their longest of the night, cutting the Bulldog’s lead to five (49-44).
- ASU kept Gonzaga scoreless for 4:49 in the second half
- Moe Odum had a dominant night, leading the Sun Devils in points (12) and assists (7). His four 3-pointers is a new season high for ASU.
- Odum led the team in minutes played, with 36:45, the most he’s played this season.
- The Sun Devils only gave up 10 turnovers, the lowest this season
- ASU forced 14 turnovers for Gonzaga, the most the Bulldogs have allowed since 12/28/24.
- Arizona State held Gonzaga to just 34.8% shooting from the field in the second half, including a 3-of-12 (25%) mark from three.
- This was Arizona State’s second game this year finishing with six or more blocks.
Up next
Sun Devil Men's Basketball will stay in Tempe hosting Georgia State on November 17th at 7 p.m. MST. Coverage can be seen on ESPN+.
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Quotables
Arizona State Head Coach Bobby Hurley
Opening Statement:
“We could kind of script the first three possessions of the game, and then you start getting substitutions, different lineups. And then we got stuck on twenty too long. I told the guys, like we just said, bad possessions. So we had a couple of turnovers. And then playing an opponent like this, you can't miss free throws, and we haven't been doing that at all this year. I know that that's haunted us in the past here, under my tenure, missing free throws. But we certainly had no business doing that today against a team of this caliber. We knew we couldn't do that, especially when they (Gonzaga) are shooting 35 free throws.”
On Moe Odum’s play
“I played him too many minutes, so that's on me. He's shown an ability to to stay even though he's exerting a lot of energy, I think he got worn down as the game went on, and that's the dilemma we're in, because we need to get Noah (Meeusen) back, because Noah was getting all the reps at point guard, and so is Vijay Wallace, and those guys aren't here. So I had Pig Johnson trying to place a backup one, so he doesn't really know the off guard spots as well anymore now. So he was involved in a couple of bad possessions. And Pig will tell you that he just didn't know where to cut and what screen to take, because he had been getting so many reps at the backup point guard spot because I didn't have another point guard, so I have to find a way to get Moe down to about 32-33 minutes.”
Junior guard Bryce Ford
On playing at ASU as a hometown kid:
“It means a lot to me, especially to me and my family. As you guys have probably heard, my sister played here back in 2019, she played women's volleyball here. So just growing up a Sun Devil and always just being a fan and seeing the crowd and everybody. I’m a hometown kid, and everyone showing me the love. I really, really appreciate that. And I appreciate the fans that are showing out tonight. It was a great showing. Sad we couldn't bring home the W, but we'll get back on the right track.”
On positives during tonight’s loss:
“There's a lot of positives in this game, but at the same time, there's some negatives that we do still need to clean up. But for being such a new group of guys and having to gel together so fast, I'd say we have a lot of potential. And I will say, we are a tournament team.”