What Bobby Hurley said after Arizona State's second-half collapse at Kansas
The Arizona State men's basketball team played arguably its best half of the season, building a 42-36 lead over No. 11 Kansas on Wednesday night.
Then it all unraveled in the final 20 minutes.
Playing their second consecutive game without leading scorer Joson Sanon, the Sun Devils (10-4, 1-2) struggled to score in the second half, falling 74-55 to Kansas (11-3, 2-1).
Arizona State was outscored 38-13 in the second half and struggled against the Jayhawks' relentless pressure. The Sun Devils turned the ball over 18 times and were outrebounded 39-29.
Alston Mason led ASU with 19 points and BJ Freeman added 10. Freshman Jayden Quaintance had 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Here's what ASU coach Bobby Hurley said after the game:
Hurley On ASU's Terrific First Half
I thought we played an excellent half against a team that just had one of the best games that I've watched this year against an opponent when they played UCF. So we knew we'd have our hands full. It was going to be a brutally tough game, but we executed well, in particular on offense. We closed out possessions good."
Hurley On ASU's Second-Half Collapse
"We didn't start the half good with rebounding. We made them a miss a couple of times but didn't get the rebound and that kind of set the tone defensively. And then we didn't handle their pressure at all. We did not do a good job of taking care of the ball against their press. ... We turned it over and we were just very ineffective. We started digging a hole for ourselves and couldn't get out."
"Their defense was better. I think they played with more energy certainly than we did in the second half, and I thought their press bothered us."
"They're a really talented team too. ... They really turned up their pressure on defense with their press and that cost us some some baskets and the game started getting away from us quickly. We weren't able to stop the bleeding at any point with trying to get an easy basket."
Hurley On Playing Without Joson Sanon
"We're short-handed without Joson right now so we couldn't afford to have guys in foul trouble. We've done a pretty good job this year of not getting in foul trouble and so that certainly hurt us [when BJ Freeman picked up his fourth foul], but also he picked up two [fouls] after he had 10 points early in the game. He was playing very well and had to sit for extensive minutes, so his game was a little bit choppy."
Hurley On Jayden Quaintance's Performance
"I thought JQ handled himself well. He really battled contested shots and rebounded ... he played played excellent defense for us. He played more minutes [37]. We've got to try and get more from our bench and be able to give me the opportunity to get him off the floor. ... We've got to get healthy. Got to get Joson back."
Hurley On The Encouraging First Half
"I think it's encouraging overall that we were able to play the way we did based on how Kansas looked the other day. And I know when they're on their home floor, to play 20 minutes like that, you know we can play with an opponent like that. ... I think we ran out of gas to some degree as the game wore on. I think, again, not having a full complement of guys ... we need to get Joson back."
More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis
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.