ASU men’s basketball cruises to win over Oklahoma after early line change sparks massive run
Things were off to a shaky start on multiple fronts before ASU men's basketball cruised to an 86-70 win on Saturday vs. Oklahoma.
Watch: State of the Sun Devils: Previewing Arizona State's offense ahead of the college football season | 22 mins
PHOENIX — Things were off to a shaky start on multiple fronts before Arizona State men’s basketball cruised to an 86-70 win in Saturday’s Jerry Colangelo Classic vs. Oklahoma.
The 16-point win was ASU’s largest since a 17-point victory in the season opener against Southern Utah on Nov. 4.
Before the game even started, ASU (7-2) was assessed a technical foul for turning in its starting lineup late. It wasn’t costly, however, as Oklahoma (6-3) missed the free throw that followed.
When the game did start, the Sun Devils were quickly outrebounded 3-0 in the first 90 seconds with two empty possessions on offense.
Bobby Hurley responded as he has at times in the past: with a full line change, taking all five starters out.
It’s doubtful he could’ve expected quite the response from his team that he got, as ASU roared out to a 27-2 run while shooting 9 of 13 from the field to take a commanding 21-point lead with 10:21 left in the half.
Hurley said postgame he didn’t know what would happen as a result of the line change, but it needed to happen because offensive rebounding was such an area of emphasis throughout the week and it would’ve carried no weight if he didn’t do something about the poor start.
He added the players responding well to it and not pouting validated the trust he had in the team from the beginning of the season to allow him to coach the way he needed.
Arizona State shot 13 of 24 from 3, as five different Sun Devils connected on multiple attempts from long range.
“I thought we outworked them.”
Bobby Hurley attributed ASU’s hot shooting vs. Oklahoma to its defensive tenacity throughout the game. pic.twitter.com/DzDgfKqo7f
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) December 7, 2025
Hurley was likely most pleased with the rebounding difference of 21-15 the rest of the half after the poor start.
ASU reached a new largest lead at any point this season with a 25-point advantage early in the second half.
An 8-0 Oklahoma run that included two 3s by Kuol Atak, Oklahoma’s leading scorer on the night (12 points), midway through the second half kept it from remaining a blowout, but the Sooners never cut it to single digits. Turning the full-court press defense back on proved to be the difference.
The 28 points scored by the Sooners in the first half was the lowest total the Sun Devils have allowed in a half since Nov. 17 when Georgia State scored 23 in the second half.
Moe Odum had 17 points to lead all scorers despite the early yank, doing so on 4 of 7 shooting. Three other Sun Devils also reached double-digit scoring: Pig Johnson (16), Andrija Grbovic (11) and Marcus Adams Jr. (11).
Noah Meeusen was huge from a table-setting standpoint with seven assists and no turnovers in the first half, including setting up a transition dunk for Bryce Ford.
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Comments
6 Comments
Big 12 is coming... Wait till they go 6-14 in league.
That's the problem. There is no basketball version of Dilly who would come to ASU. Fact is, the ASU job is not that attractive because of the lack of NIL money and an aging fan-base, that is really that loyal beyond the Student Section. If ASU is stupid enough to get rid of Hurley, that will only insure that their basketball program among the bottom dwellers of the Big 12 for the next 5 years. The ASU problem is best evidenced by Koa Peat, who ASU/ Hurley put on a full court press to get, but that the end of the day he went to the UofPay and their incredible fan base, once Jayden Quaintance left.
Hurley's recruiting this year is pretty phenomenal and evidences just how good he is at shopping for groceries, given the ASU budget, which is miniscule compared to the NIL money Dilly gets. Typically when a coach has to completely rebuild the roster, it takes until well into the regular season, around when the Conference Tournament starts.
The comparison between this year's team and last years is almost night and day. Last year, Hurley's teams won purely on their talent all going one-on-one. They didn't play together very well. This year's team is winning on team-work, hustle, effort, defense and sharing the basketball, a formula that typically is more successful in the long run. ASU's vulnerability this year is keeping Moe Odem healthy and available, not burning him out. Because of his size, it's a given that going forward opponents, especially Big 12 Opponents, are going to get very physical with him because of his lack of physical size.
Who would be the basketball version of Kenny D that is out there?