The Big 12 regular season ended like it began for Arizona State men’s basketball: with a double-digit loss. The Sun Devils (13-18, 4-16 Big 12) fell to No. 9 Texas Tech 85-57 on Senior Night.
The loss to the Red Raiders (24-7, 15-5 Big 12) marked ASU’s ninth home loss of the season and the ninth in a row. It’s the worst home record the Sun Devils had under head coach Bobby Hurley and capped off ASU’s second straight losing season and third out of its last four.
“It’s haunting to hear the other team celebrate down the hall,” Hurley said. “It’s been brutal. Everyone deserves better … we should be winning games at home, but we’ve had a few of them that we could’ve gotten and we didn’t get them.”
While many problems caused Arizona State’s freefall throughout the Big 12 regular season, its inability to generate a strong homecourt advantage at any point proved to be a major issue, the Sun Devils were thoroughly beaten by every ranked opponent that visited Desert Financial Arena in Big 12 play, losing all six games by double digits.
The Sun Devils were missing senior guard Adam Miller and freshman forward Jayden Quaintance. The team also missed BJ Freeman, who, before being dismissed from the team in February, helped lead the Sun Devils to a near-upset in Lubbock against the Red Raiders with 21 points. The program honored Miller before the game during the Senior Night festivities.
The first half saw Jihad attack mismatches relentlessly. The savvy but inconsistent forward took advantage of smaller Texas Tech forwards matched up with him, finishing the half with 14 points including six free throws. The Red Raiders slowed Jihad down in the second half, holding him to eight points and just two free throw attempts, bringing his total to 22.
After scoring 41 in the first matchup between the two, sophomore forward JT Toppin started slow out of the gate. He found his rhythm late in the half and didn’t slow down, ultimately finishing with 25 points, 11 rebounds, four assists and three blocked shots.
“Even when we made (Toppin) miss, his second jump is so good that he got off his feet again, got the rebound and a putback,” Hurley said. “They put a lot of pressure on you because of their shooting ability and then the interior presence of a guy like Toppin.”
Once again limited to a six-man rotation, ASU ran out of steam as the game went on. A four-point play by freshman guard Christian Anderson blew the game open in the middle of the second half and the Red Raiders didn’t look back.
Anderson you’re a bad, bad man 😤#TTW | @primitivemktg pic.twitter.com/bnviL6xJau
— Texas Tech Basketball (@TexasTechMBB) March 9, 2025
“We talked about not doing that, not going under screens,” Hurley said.
ASU freshman guard Trevor Best committed the foul. Best, essentially ASU’s only bench player, played 19 minutes and committed four fouls while scoring zero points. He represented the disasters ASU faced the last two months of the season with injuries. He joined the team halfway through the season and ended up playing significant minutes as a freshman.
Hurley attributed some of the scoring woes in the second half to Texas Tech’s defense against senior guard Alston Mason.
“They were more aggressive with him … it was harder for him to get the quality of shots that he got in (Tuesday’s loss to Arizona),” Hurley said.
Mason ultimately finished with 14 points in 39 minutes.
All 16 members of the Big 12 qualify for the annual conference tournament, unlike some of the other power conferences. ASU is due to travel to Kansas City to play in Tuesday’s opening round against another team finishing up an enormously disappointing season: Kansas State.
The pair split the regular season contests, with Kansas State defeating the Sun Devils in Tempe. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. MST.
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