After a rocky past few months, Arizona State’s (13-19, 4-16 Big 12) traveled to Kansas City with one final chance to muster up one last ditch effort to make the NCAA tournament. But, its Cinderella fantasies proved to be short-lived, as on Tuesday evening the No. 15 seed Sun Devils fell to No. 10 seed Kansas State (16-16, 9-11 Big 12) 71-66 in the first round of the Big 12 Championship.
Even though ASU struggled throughout conference play, its success against the Wildcats in the regular season–including a 66-54 road win on Feb. 4–gave Sparky a glimmer of hope heading into its opening round matchup.
Kansas State attempted to dash those dreams quickly with a connected effort on the defensive end and efficient offense to jump out to a 17-4 lead early.
KSU senior guard Coleman Hawkins proved especially tough to guard and carved up the ASU defense from all three levels in the first 20 minutes. He shot an efficient 8-11 from the field and swished three triples en route to a 19-point first half.
But the Sun Devils responded promptly, eventually taking a 24-21 lead by way of a 3-pointer from freshman guard Joson Sanon. In his past five games, Sanon has averaged 18.8 ppg, as he’s appeared to return to form after nursing injuries at the start of Big 12 play.
Nonetheless, a six-minute scoreless dry spell for ASU in the final few minutes of the first allowed K-State to build some distance with a 38-31 heading to the break.
In the second half, the Maroon and Gold continued to battle. Despite going down by as much as 14 points, Sparky cut the lead to just four with a minute to play in regulation. But similar to many of its defeats in the past few months, its lack of depth due to injuries spelled doom for Sparky down the stretch.
With freshman forward Jayden Quaintance ruled out for the tournament with a knee injury, Kansas State managed to exploit Arizona State’s limited size and depth on the front lines. The Wildcats outscored ASU 36 to 24 in the paint and rode a 26-point outing from Hawkins to eliminate the Devils from the Big 12 tournament after just one game.
Now eliminated from the NCAA tournament, the Sun Devils may still be in a position to be playing deep into March and April–just not in the Big Dance. ASU will likely head up to Las Vegas to play in the inaugural edition of the College Basketball Crown. The 16-team invitational will run from March 31 to April 6 and consist of teams from the Big 12, Big 10 and Big East.
However, beyond postseason invitationals, the Sun Devils now enter a critical offseason before a contract year for head coach Bobby Hurley. The school announced it will keep Hurley for at least one more season, but questions still remain about the administration’s overall commitment to the program.
With promises made regarding improvements to facilities and NIL resources, ASU seems prepared to invest into elevating the product on the floor. Still, the school faces a long road ahead, as it attempts to slowly climb out of a cavernous hole toward the light of relevance in the treacherous Big 12.
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