- Arizona State defeated Utah 71-63, solidifying Utah's last-place Big 12 standing.
- Utah struggled offensively, with Terrence Brown scoring only 6 points on 2-of-16 shooting.
- Head coach Alex Jensen emphasized team growth, acknowledging the need for improved execution.
SALT LAKE CITY — With three combined conference wins between the two teams, the expectation was it would be a close game between two bottom dwellers of the Big 12.
Instead, it was Arizona State officially putting Utah in its place as the last-place team in the league with a 71-63 victory in the Huntsman Center.
If Saturday elicited an "embarrassed" feeling from head coach Alex Jensen, with Utah losing a home game to Oklahoma State, Wednesday night's showing didn't help matters for the Utes.
For much of the first half, Utah (9-13, 1-8 Big 12) was out of sync, out of offensive rhythm and lacked defensive discipline as Arizona State (12-11, 3-7 Big 12) quickly built up a double-digit lead on the Utes that ballooned to 18 at one point. In general, Utah simply lacked a team camaraderie in another loss — again in the team's home arena.
There even came a point in the first half where Jensen sent a message to his team by subbing in rarely used guard Jerry Huang into the lineup. It helped wake up Utah a bit, but by then the damage was already done as Arizona State continued to pile on the scoring amid a five minute scoring drought by the Utes.
Part of that was a credit to Arizona State's zone defense, which was a different look than they've operated in all season, Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley said.
"They wouldn't really ever think that we would play zone, because we haven't," Hurley said. "If I was getting us prepared for a team that did not play a possession of zone the whole year, I wouldn't work on zone offense either. The guards weren't able to get the paint touches that they usually get, especially (Terrence) Brown, and they were not in a great rhythm."
Jensen said his squad has been prepared for a zone this season should it arise, but the problem for his team is "executing the plays and not breaking them off looking to score." He said there needed to be more passing and less "over dribbling," especially like in the first half where "we dribbled for 10-15 seconds."
Even late in the game as Utah made a rally and erased Arizona State's lead to cut it to 6 points with just over a minute to play behind a much-improved second-half effort, Utah lacked urgency, over dribbled and hunted shots — challenging Arizona State's bigs at the rim rather than set up a better look for another player.
"You need your teammates to be successful," Jensen said.
Utah managed 15 assists on its 23 made shots, but there was still too much ISO ball and not enough setting up teammates. That led to contested, ill-advised shots at the rim or turnovers that set up Arizona State on the other end of the floor. In total, Arizona State was gifted 14 points of Utah's 14 turnovers.
Don McHenry led Utah in scoring with 23 points, including four made 3-pointers, and got an additional 16 points out of forward Seydou Traore, who also had four made 3-pointers.
But the team's leading scorer, Brown, was held to just 6 points on an inefficient 2-of-16 shooting Wednesday night. Brown was held scoreless before connecting on a pair of layups late in the game and then two made free throws. He finished with six assists and five rebounds, but was largely out of sync against Arizona State's defense.
Arizona State featured a seven-man lineup that jumped all over Utah to open the game before letting Utah creep in after struggling with the altitude. But the players said they stayed connected and never felt the game was at risk, even when Utah cut the lead to 6 late in the game.
Massamba Diop let the Sun Devils with 15 points and eight rebounds in the win, while Anthony Johnson (14 points) and Maurice Odum (13 points) combined for 27 additional points. Two other players finished with 9 points in a balanced scoring effort.
For Utah, though, it's a "learning" opportunity, and one that will likely take more than just Jensen's first season to realize.
"I think it's just kind of a growing and a maturity for all of our guys to be ready," Jensen said. "And instead of waiting to get down by 10 and crank it up, it's like, you know, come out and get up by 6 and then stay there. So it's a learning and maturity process, I think, for all of us as a group."
