After Utah drubbed Arizona State 90-57 in the first round of the final Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas, a somber Bobby Hurley was honest.
“You just have a vision for something better,” he said. “That’s going to be the lasting memory of us playing in the Pac-12? Wow, I mean that’s a terrible, terrible memory.”
The coach sat dejected in the bowels of T-Mobile Arena after one of his team’s worst performances this season and a historically bad Pac-12 Tournament loss. It was tied for the worst loss in men’s conference tournament history.
He felt for his players, particularly the two players who provided effort and intensity as their season crumbled away in a matter of minutes. Graduate student forward Alonzo Gaffney and junior guard Frankie Collins both tried to galvanize their team, but there was simply nothing they could do.
“I feel bad for one Alonzo Gaffney, who came to me a couple years ago, and you always get a little sentimental about your seniors, but he helped get us to an NCAA Tournament,” Hurley said. “He was visibly upset about how we were defending in the first half and it was one of the few times I saw someone exhibit a lot of emotion.”
Gaffney fouled out of the game with over seven minutes to play and was consoled by his coaches, knowing it was the end of his time with the Devils.
After beating Utah twice in the regular season, the Utes completely flipped the script on ASU early on.
In the first half, the Utes shot 70.4% from the field and were led by a 14-point outburst from senior guard Cole Bajema. The guard finished with 22 points and made six 3-pointers.
“It definitely helps to see the ball go in on your first shot of the game, kind of just gets your confidence going,” he said.
The Devils trailed 47-22 when the halftime buzzer sounded.
The second half saw more of the same. Utah continued to score a blistering pace as ASU continued to struggle mightily offensively.
The sudden departure of graduate student guard Jose Perez forced the Sun Devils to make enormous changes to their offense in less than a week. It was an enormous task to replace the catalyst for the already weak offense with such little prep time.
“Our construction of this team and how we played a lot of the year and the half-court offense was playing through Jose,” Hurley said.
The loss marked the end of Hurley’s fifth losing season since arriving in Tempe in 2015. At the start of the year, he remarked that he wanted the program to make its mark on the fading conference before the move to the basketball-power Big 12. Obviously, things did not go the way he wanted.
But he is aware of the challenge that awaits his program.
“It’s for men, grown-ass men in that league,” he said.
The program will be “revamped” according to its leading man, starting with his own self-reflection.
“You could be critical of a lot of things that you may not like about my coaching style … but I don’t think you would say that he’s not going to fight or battle or not get his team ready to fight or battle,” he said. “This is not a reflection of my belief system in terms of effort and will and knowing what it feels like when your season is on the line.”
Despite rumors of uncertainty about Hurley’s contract situation, the coach seemed steadfast in his belief that the program can return to the form it was in just a year ago.
As the sun sets on the Pac-12 in Las Vegas, the Sun Devils have no choice but to forget about Wednesday and adapt for a new chapter.
As the old saying goes, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
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