TEMPE– With nearly seven minutes left in the first half, freshman forward Koa Peat walked off the court grimacing in pain, as he was bleeding from his face. When he strutted back onto the court, he turned into a beast, carrying his Wildcats to a dominant second-half performance.
Peat tallied 15 points in the closing half, including two huge threes and numerous monster slam dunks to raise the Arizona faithful to their feet. The former Perry High School star, including being the number one-ranked player in the state according to 247 Sports, chose Arizona over ASU when he committed to the Wildcats.
Mr. Arizona. pic.twitter.com/28KHtx9OlX
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaMBB) January 31, 2026
At Desert Financial Arena on Saturday afternoon, No. 1 Arizona (22-0, 9-0) traveled up north to take on Arizona State (11-11, 2-7) and came out with an 87-74 victory. The two teams were tied going into halftime when the Wildcats took over Tempe, and “U of A” chants rang throughout the court.
“The score, to me, is not how close the game was,” coach Bobby Hurley said after the game. “We could not deal with their strength, their size, and their ability to do things that physically our roster could not handle.”
Arizona State debuted its new adidas jerseys sponsored by James Harden. The current NBA star and former Sun Devil made an appearance at the game, kicking the arena into a new gear with energy.
Harden was joined by former ASU wide receiver Jordyn Tyson and New York Giants running back Cam Skattebo. All three hyped up the 13,838 basketball fans throughout the game, marking the arena as a tough environment for anyone visiting to succeed in.
However, Arizona fans packed the stadium with red and blue, giving their team an edge.
“Our fans that did show up were vocal,” Hurley said about the crowd. “Unfortunately, there were too many red shirts in the arena. So, it was not a home game … It’s hard to say, but it was loud in there.”
Throughout the first 20 minutes of the rivalry, both teams threw major blows back and forth, including three blocks for both teams and flashy jams at the rim. Senior guard Moe Odum came out hot from the field, tallying 12 points on a 50% clip.
While the Wildcats did not drain a single long-range shot in the first twenty minutes, they fed their dominant big men in the paint. Junior center Motiejus Krivas had one of his most efficient halves of the season, including 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
At the halftime break, both teams were tied at 38. When the second half started, Arizona’s physicality kicked in and drained the maroon and gold of every ounce of fight.
“When the second half comes, our intensity goes down,” Odum said about his team’s physicality. “That’s just been a problem for a while now. So, it’s not really about them. These losses aren’t about them. It’s really about us. In order for us to fix it, we have to do something.”
The Wildcats outscored their arch rival 49-36 in the second half, due to 24 total rebounds and 22 points in the paint in the timeframe. Peat drained a 3-pointer early in the second 20, just his fifth of the season, to spark a scoring burst for his side.
The Sun Devils added to the disappointing half by shooting 7-for-13 from the free-throw line, 4-for-17 on layups, and turning the ball over seven times. Sophomore guard Noah Meeusen was the only ASU player to record double-digit points in the second stanza with 12, including seven in the final minute.
Huge 3 to the end the half for Arizona State. They tie it up at 38 as they go to the locker room. Noah Meeusen drills it after a great find from Moe Odum.
— Brennan Bucher (@BrennanBucher) January 31, 2026
ASU – 38
UofA – 38@InfernoIntel pic.twitter.com/nL4FSkZXLE
“He’s in the gym all the time,” Odum said about his teammate Meeusen. “He’s really been shooting the ball freely, not worried about makes or misses. That’s what I need from him all the time. I need him to just play out there freely, play like he’s in Belgium.”
But all of the other Sun Devils shot 9-24 from the floor in the final 20 minutes. The team’s offense had just disappeared, and the hot start turned into a cold end.
Arizona finished the last 10 minutes of the contest outscoring ASU 24-19, after a 12-6 run had already taken place just minutes earlier. Peat had the last laugh when he rose up for a rattling slam dunk and exited the court to a standing ovation from the Tucson travelers.
Arizona remains standing as the only undefeated team in college basketball and looks to return home, welcoming Oklahoma State and then traveling to take on No. 14 Kansas.
The Sun Devils now have a .500 record, winning only two of their last 11. Hurley’s squad is running out of time in the season to make a run to the tournament.
The team will start a two-game road trip, taking on Utah on Wednesday, February 4, at 7:00 pm AZT.
“We’ve been scrappy. We can compete,” Hurley said about his team. “We’ve done as well as we can do. Today, we played as good basketball as this team was probably capable of.”
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