Bobby Hurley 'frustrated' by Arizona State's approach in season-opening win
It was ugly, but Arizona State is 1-0.
The Sun Devils beat Idaho State 55-48 Tuesday night in their 2024-25 college basketball season opener. ASU was favored by 17.5 points, but had to rally down the stretch to pull out the victory.
"It wasn't pretty. It wasn't inspiring," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said after the game.. "Very frustrated by how we came out to start the second half. I described it like it was an AAU game how we approached it. A game that had no meaning to it."
The Sun Devils led 31-20 at halftime, but let the Bengals back into the game in the second half. With 5:07 to play it was a one-point game. ASU ended the game on a 10-4 run to pull out the victory.
Missouri State transfer Alston Mason led the Sun Devils with 14 points and Milwaukee transfer BJ Freeman added 12 points and 8 rebounds off the bench.
Arizona State's two five-star freshmen had mixed results. Jayden Quaintance and Joson Sanon both started the game, but Quaintance picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench with 18:13 to play in the first half. He played just 19 minutes and scored 2 points, finishing 0-of-6 from the field. He did show off his impressive length with six blocked shots.
Sanon played 30 minutes and was 4-of-9 from the field (2-of-5 from the 3-point line). He finished with 11 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds.
Ball State transfer Basheer Jihad had a rough first outing, going scoreless in 27 minutes. He was 0-of-7 from the field, but did grab 8 rebounds. Shawn Phillips had a productive game off the bench with 8 points and 7 rebounds.
As a team, Arizona State shot 20-of-55 (36%) from the field and 7-of-24 (29.2%) from the 3-point line. Fortunately, the Bengals were worse at just 17-of-67 (25%) from the field. Isaiah Griffin led Idaho State with 12 points. Jake O'Neil added 10 points and 11 rebounds.
The Sun Devils will have to ratchet up their intensity quickly. They host a very talented Santa Clara team on Friday — with former ASU coach Herb Sendek at the helm — followed by a road game Sunday against No. 8 Gonzaga.
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. One of his favorite memories was covering the 1999 Fiesta Bowl - the first BCS National Championship Game - at Sun Devil Stadium.