Sun Devils can’t get over hump in loss to UCLA

TEMPE — Lazeric Jones scored 13 of his game-high 20 points in
the second half and David Wear chipped in with 13 of his own as
the UCLA Bruins downed the Arizona State Sun Devils 66-57 at
Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night.

The Sun Devils were shorthanded, as starting wing Carrick Felix
missed the game with a virus. Head coach Herb Sendek played just
7 players, and only 6 in the 2nd half.

The game was close throughout most of the first 30 minutes — in
fact, ASU trailed by just 4 with under 9 minutes to play, but didn’t
have enough to get over the hump.

The Devils, who scored just 8 points in the first half of an
embarrassing loss at Washington State last Saturday, surged to a
14-9 lead in the game’s first 7 minutes. But things went cold from
the field soon after as ASU missed its next 11 shots, including
several right at the hoop over the next 7:56.

What went right for Arizona State?: The Sun Devils had a
lot go against them on Thursday, but mostly it was what Sendek
described as failing to make plays. For instance, the Devils claimed
11 offensive rebounds in the game, but were only able to turn them
into 8 second-chance points. Trent Lockett, Kyle Cain and Ruslan
Pateev all missed “bunnies” close to the basket that hurt the cause.

When it was over? After Lockett hit 2 free throws with
8:42 to go, the deficit was only four at 49-45, but Jones canned a
jumper :25 later which sparked a 17-4 run that stretched the UCLA
lead to as many as 17 points.

Who stepped up for ASU? Gilling and point guard Chris
Colvin both played well for Arizona State. Gilling led the Devils with
17 points on 6-of-15 shooting from the floor. After a shaky start,
Colvin settled down and finished with 10 points and a career-high
9 assists, while turning it over just 3 times in 39 minutes.

Who needed to step up? The big men. Jordan Bachynski
and Ruslan Pateev both struggled. Pateev fouled out in only 14
minutes of playing time while Bachynski committed a team-high 5
turnovers. The duo had 8 of the Sun Devils’ 18 turnovers on the
night.

Stat of the Game: Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. It’s
been a killer for the Sun Devils all season long, and Thursday was
no different. ASU had 18 of them, which UCLA turned into 19
points. A team as limited offensively as ASU simply has to take
better care of the basketball to give themselves a chance to win.

They said it:“I think we had any number of point blank
shots and opportunities to score that we didn’t capitalize on. And
then you go into another area of passing and catching and making
plays, we had opportunities to put points on the board in a close
game that we didn’t seize.” — ASU head coach Herb
Sendek

What it means: With the loss, the Sun Devils are now 8-
20 overall and 4-12 in the Pac-12. The Bruins, on the other hand,
are now 16-12 and 9-6 in conference play as they completed the
season sweep of ASU.

What’s Next: The woeful USC Trojans come to town on
Saturday. ASU beat USC 62-53 in Los Angeles back in the second
week of conference play. It was the Sun Devils’ only road
conference win of the season. Sendek made it sound like he’d be
without the services of Felix on Saturday. The junior hasn’t been
with the team all week due to his illness.

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