No. 8 Utah too much for ASU Sun Devils: By the Numbers

Arizona State was no match for its top-10 opponent Thursday night.

The eighth-ranked Utah Utes came into Wells Fargo Arena and took the first lead of the game and never relinquished it.

Sun Devils forward Shaquielle McKissic made an early layup to cut the score to 13-12, but the visiting Utes took off from there, leading by double digits most of the night. ASU barely avoided scoring a season low for the first half, and the team wasn’t able to make up ground in the final period.

The Utes finished with a 76-59 win over the Devils, their seventh win in a row.

ASU fell below .500 to 8-9 overall, and is now 0-4 in Pac-12 play. Herb Sendek’s group will try to right the ship Saturday afternoon at home against Colorado, which lost to Arizona earlier in the evening.

Here’s a look at Utah’s rout, by the numbers:

1

If it weren’t for Gerry Blakes’ jumper with just under two minutes left, the Sun Devils would have had no scorers in double-figures Thursday. Blakes had 10 while Savon Goodman and Eric Jacobsen finished with nine and eight, respectively. Utah, meanwhile, had three players reach double-figures, led by Delon Wright’s 21.

2-4

ASU fell to 2-4 in the Sendek era against top-10 teams at home. The last time the Sun Devils played a top-10 program in Tempe was last February, a double-overtime win over rival Arizona, which was the No. 2 team in the nation at the time.

9

Utes center Dallin Bachynski, brother of former Sun Devils standout Jordan Bachynski, has seen a dip in minutes in his senior season. The 7-foot Canadian played nine minutes against ASU, scoring four points and pulling down five rebounds.

10

Goodman ripped down a game-high 10 boards, including three on the offensive end. The sophomore forward has grabbed 10 rebounds or more in three of his eight appearances this season. He did, however, foul out in 24 minutes Thursday.

22

ASU’s offense finally got into a rhythm once the game was out of reach. The team poured in 22 points in the game’s last six and a half minutes, making the final score slightly more respectable. Reserve forward Jonathan Gilling also fouled out — in 16 minutes — for the Devils.

30

The Utes took a whopping 30 free throw attempts at Wells Fargo Arena, and they did a good job of converting: 23 makes, 76.7 percent. Wright was a perfect 12-for-12 from the line in the win, making up for his 4-for-11 night from the field. ASU attempted just 10 from the charity stripe in the loss, making six of them.

52.9%

Utah (14-2, 4-0 Pac-12) shot a sizzling 9-for-17 from downtown, good for a percentage of 52.9. ASU, meanwhile, made nine of its 24 long-range attempts (37.5 percent). The Utes also shot better than 50 percent overall from the field — 53.7 percent, to be exact — while the Devils made just 39.3 percent of their attempts.

76

Utah’s 76 points tied Alabama for the third-most an opponent has put up on ASU this season. The most Sendek’s squad has given up is 84, but that was in triple overtime against Lehigh on Dec. 20.

3,023

ASU had a great student turnout for the game. A record-breaking 3,023 individuals infiltrated Wells Fargo Arena’s student section but, unfortunately, weren’t able to propel their school to a victory.