Winless in the month of February, the past few weeks haven’t been kind to Arizona State men’s basketball.
Riding a six-game losing streak, the Sun Devils made the trip to Manhattan, Kan., not only devoid of a win in the month but also without their leading scorer. On Sunday morning, the team announced that senior guard BJ Freeman (13.7 ppg) had been dismissed from the squad, which added to the onslaught of negative attention swarming the program.
Yet, amid its most turbulent stretch of the season, ASU (13-14, 4-12 Big 12) rallied on the road behind dominant performances from its freshmen to end its losing skid with a 66-54 win over Kansas State (13-14, 7-9 Big 12).
Coming into the season, the national media directed much of its attention toward only two of Arizona State’s incoming freshmen: forward Jayden Quaintance and guard Joson Sanon. And for good reason. The pairing’s composite rankings place them as the Sun Devils’ No. 1 and No. 3 recruits respectively according to 247 Sports.
However, this allowed freshman guard Amier Ali to fly under the radar for most of the year. A former four-star recruit, Ali has waited for a chance to showcase his talent in a more steady role. He’s shown spurts of promise when given a higher dosage of minutes, such as two weeks ago against Texas Tech when he tallied 18 points in 34 minutes.
After losing its leading scorer (Freeman), head coach Bobby Hurley needed someone to fill the void–enter Ali.
In 24 minutes, the freshman guard swished three triples and shot 50% from the field en route to an impactful 11-point outing.
Still, it was Quaintance who left perhaps the biggest imprint on the game with his team-leading 18 points on 8-11 shooting. He also contributed seven rebounds and two steals to round out an impressive stat line.
ISO JQ ℹ️@qjayhoops up to 1️⃣6⃣ points 📶
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) February 23, 2025
📺 @ESPNPlus
🔗 https://t.co/uyVCDJgbe2 pic.twitter.com/7KWsooQclN
After missing two critical free throws with just over a second left against Kansas State in the first meeting between the teams, the star forward came out with a vengeance in the first half. He led all scorers heading into the break with 10 points, including two 3-pointers–a season-high for him.
Quaintance continued his stellar showing in the second half before exiting the game with around five minutes to go after suffering a knee injury.
Additionally, when it mattered most Sanon pitched in. In the first half, the highly touted guard continued his struggles of late, as he failed to score a single point in the first half. Nonetheless, in the final 20 minutes against K-State, he returned to his early season form. He scored nine points with five coming in the final few minutes to help close out the Quad 1 victory.
Overall, the Maroon and Gold’s freshman finished with a combined 38 points.
Next to Quaintance, junior center Shawn Phillips Jr. posted his first double-double of the season (second career) with 10 points and 11 rebounds.
He helped anchor a Sun Devil defense that turned in an excellent performance against a Wildcat team that struggled without one of its top scorers in graduate senior forward Coleman Hawkins (knee injury).
Senior forward David N’Guessan finished as one of just two Kansas State players who finished in double figures. He led all scorers with 20 points.
As a team, the Wildcats shot a porous 33% from the field and turned it over 14 times to an inspired ASU defense that played with desperation all afternoon long.
With only four regular-season games remaining, the Sun Devils have a few games left to round into shape before the Big 12 tournament on Mar. 11.
Up next, ASU will look to capture its first home win since Jan. 4 when it returns to Desert Financial Arena on Wednesday to take on BYU at 7:30 p.m. MST.
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