ASU’s momentum comes to a halt with late cold stretch in loss at Baylor

Arizona State men’s basketball was held without a field goal for six of the final seven minutes in a 73-68 loss at Baylor on Saturday.

While ASU (14-13, 5-9 Big 12) made just one of its final nine shots with a stretch of seven straight misses (including five missed 3s), Baylor (14-13, 4-10) hit a strand of five straight shots to end the game and nine of its final 11 shots (three made 3s).

Facing a three-point deficit with 52 seconds left, Baylor just barely avoided a 10-second violation against ASU’s pressure defense, but the paint was left open for an easy bucket. The Sun Devils weren’t able to find a clean look coming down the other way, and they fouled with 6.9 seconds left down five.

ASU had two timeouts remaining when its possession started with 25 seconds on the clock but did not use one.

It was essentially a must-win as ASU hoped to enter the NCAA Tournament conversation after its upset win over No. 13 Texas Tech. A victory would’ve given ASU its first instance of four conference wins in a span of five games since it started the 2023-24 Pac-12 schedule with four straight wins.

After most of the first half was very tight with neither team leading by more than two possessions and a tied game at 27 with 5:16 left in the half, ASU wrestled control with a 13-3 run for the game’s first double-digit lead.

Pig Johnson’s 10 first-half points off the bench paced the Sun Devils, as his quick first step helped him on buckets like when he intercepted a Baylor pass and took it the distance or other drives in the halfcourt. ASU led 40-32 at the break.

That control took just seven second-half minutes to be washed away, as Baylor rattled off a 14-4 start to the half. Cameron Carr started the run with a 3, and he had a monstrous dunk over Santiago Trouet that gave the Bears real momentum.

After Trouet had scored the first ASU bucket of the half, Johnson and Allen Mukeba combined for the next 12 ASU points over 10 minutes and change for a three-point lead with 9:30 left.

Johnson left the floor after getting tangled up under the basket with about nine minutes left and returned about three minutes later, after a three-point lead when he exited became two.

ASU dominated the bench points 30-6 despite just two Sun Devils getting minutes off the bench, led by Johnson’s 20. Four Bears scored at least 13 points, while Johnson was the only Sun Devil to do so.

The Sun Devils will remain in Texas ahead of a Tuesday showdown at TCU. The 7 p.m. tip will be their only matchup with the Horned Frogs this season.

Related

ASU AD Graham Rossini: End of season playing into Bobby Hurley's future with men's basketballASU rides press to signature win over No. 13 Texas Tech as JT Toppin exits lateTexas Tech star JT Toppin to miss rest of season with torn ACL suffered vs. ASUASU men’s basketball to face Oklahoma in Tulsa neutral-court matchupHow did former Arizona Wildcats, ASU Sun Devils and GCU ‘Lopes perform in NBA Summer League?Thunder trade former ASU G Lu Dort to Hawks in deal that includes former No. 1 pick