Was a 103-47 exhibition loss to Duke on Sunday a “big wake-up call” for the Arizona State men’s basketball team?
ASU basketball coach Bobby Hurley hopes it will light a fire in the Sun Devils, who have nine newcomers this season and are still getting acclimated to playing together.
ASU opens its regular season at home against Idaho State on Tuesday, Nov. 5.
“I think we’re getting to the point where we’re getting closer to being on the same page,” Hurley told the media Thursday. “A game like that can either kind of galvanize you and what you are doing or fracture you, so we’ll see what we are made of here over the next several days of practice getting ready for the home opener.”
More Sun Devils: 5 things we learned as ASU is overwhelmed by Duke in basketball exhibition
Bobby Hurley: Arizona State stopped competing in loss to Duke
The Blue Devils controlled the entire game over the Sun Devils as Arizona State struggled to get into any kind of offensive flow.
ASU had just 11 assists in the game. It turned the ball over 18 times. Arizona State scored just two points off Duke turnovers.
Hurley said what upset him most about the loss at Duke was the way his team stopped competing.
“When the game began to get out of hand there was no resistance to stop it,” he said. “There was just no, just like enough of a backbone or a mental toughness to try and stop the bleeding. I felt like we accepted it and that’s like a non-negotiable as a competitor to never allow that. We have too many good basketball players on this team for that to happen.”
Upcoming schedule ‘scary’ for Arizona State basketball team
The early-season schedule for Arizona State doesn’t allow the Sun Devils much time to dwell on the loss.
After facing Idaho State at Desert Financial Arena next week, Arizona State plays Santa Clara in Las Vegas on Nov. 8 before playing at Gonzaga on Nov. 10.
A game against Grand Canyon is scheduled for Nov. 14 at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
“It’s Halloween,” Hurley said, addressing the difficult non-conference schedule ahead of his team. “It’s scary when you see it that way and you know what’s in front of you and you’re in the abyss right now.
“You’re in a little bit of the unknown because I saw a lot of things that gave me reasons to be excited about the season, flashes of really good basketball throughout the preseason and that was a big wake-up call and hopefully, again, it’s going to come down to making the adjustments that we need to make.”
Bobby Hurley on ASU basketball rotation: ‘Virtually all jobs are open’
ASU started Jayden Quaintance, a 17-year-old freshman forward, against Duke, as well as senior guard/forward BJ Freeman, senior guard Alston Mason, senior guard Adam Miller and junior center Shawn Phillips Jr.
“Virtually all jobs are open this week,” Hurley said when asked about his potential starting lineup for the regular season. “I think Jayden Quaintance has kind of sealed a position. Outside of that I still think I’m pretty wide open right now going into this week. A lot of it will be determined over the next four practices.”
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Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: ASU basketball’s loss to Duke ‘big wake-up call’ for Sun Devils
