Arizona State loses late lead, falls to USC in Pac-12 Tournament: By the Numbers
Mar 12, 2015, 12:13 AM | Updated: 12:14 am
The Arizona State Sun Devils went to Las Vegas looking to finish their season strong and possibly earn a postseason bid.
They left with one of the most disheartening losses of the season.
The fifth-seeded Devils, who led most of the way, fell to 12th-seeded USC 67-64, dropping their record to 17-15 (9-9 in Pac-12).
It was a bitter end to a somewhat surprising season that included wins over Harvard, UCLA and Arizona.
Arizona State finished fifth in the conference after being picked to finish 9th in the preseason Pac-12 poll, but as is the case in sports, few are likely to remember that.
Instead, people will remember how the season ended, and here we’ll take a look at their Pac-12 Tournament defeat, by the numbers:
15
The Sun Devils went up by 15 points on a Bo Barnes three with 9:51 left in the game. From that point, USC went on a 24-6 run.
17
Arizona State missed 17 three-point attempts, making just five of their 22. Bo Barnes was 3-of-6, Jonathan Gilling 1-of-4 and Shaquielle McKissic 1-of-7.
4:53
Eric Jacobsen made a jump shot with 9:05 remaining. The Devils would then fail to score for nearly five minutes before Bo Barnes hit a pair of free throws with 4:12 left.
18
McKissic took 18 shots, making just five.
5
On the bright side, ASU outrebounded USC 39-34. Included in that total is 20 offensive rebounds the Devils pulled down.
8
Arizona State missed eight of their 21 free throw attempts, finishing the game at a 61.9 percent clip. During the season, ASU shot 67 percent on foul shots.
9
With the loss, ASU coach Herb Sendek’s Pac-12 Tournament record dropped to 3-9. Only former Stanford and California coach Mike Montgomery has lost more games in the Pac-12 Tournament.
27
USC’s Elijah Stewart led all scorers with 27 points. He was the only player from either team to top the 20-point mark. Notable is that the other four players in USC’s starting lineup combined for 26 points.
