Bobby Hurley feeling better about ASU basketball heading into GCU matchup

Bobby Hurley enjoyed his Duke homecoming this preseason but not the exhibition game at the center of it because of Arizona State’s poor performance.

He was then not inspired by the season-opening win against Idaho State.

The good news: It’s still early.

The ASU basketball team used the last two games to make its head coach feel like progress has been made with a win over Santa Clara and slim road loss to No. 4 Gonzaga. It’s a centering feeling for Hurley with his Sun Devils facing crosstown rival Grand Canyon this Thursday in Phoenix.

“I’m just, first-off, very proud of our weekend,” Hurley told Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “We tried to treat those two games … like the NCAA Tournament. People are projecting Santa Clara to potentially be an NCAA Tournament team. They jumped out on film that way and I thought we handled ourselves very well on a neutral court. We made 15 3-pointers in that game, our offense came to life. It was great to see us score in the 80s (the last two games).”

Against Gonzaga, the Sun Devils were within a single possession with three minutes to go before the Bulldogs pulled away.

Arizona State’s offense — with so many new pieces — shot better than 45% in each of those games.

Hurley called the output a “pleasant surprise” after ASU waded through offensive difficulties for most of 2023-24.

“Got a lot of new faces, trying to bring it all together,” the head coach said. “That’s the beauty of how we performed this weekend is that both of the teams we played brought a lot of guys back … and we were able to overcome that and certainly be very competitive.”

ASU basketball’s new kind of defensive disruption

Whereas last year’s team had Jamiya Neal jumping passing lanes and point guard Frankie Collins breaking ASU’s all-time steals record, Arizona State this year will succeed defensively by being disruptive in a disciplined way, Hurley said.

ASU has the length on the wings and the bigs to cover the backline without its players taking so many chances. It might just take some time for the team to tap its potential.

Freshman Jayden Quaintance is a big piece of unlocking that.

“Jayden Quaintance is, in my opinion, one of the best defensive players in the country,” Hurley said. “As a 17-year-old kid, the way that he can move his feet and guard multiple positions at 6-9 with a 7-3 wingspan, the ability to close out to shooters — he’s blocked like four or five shots on closeouts on jump shots.”

A positive indicator so far: Arizona State’s 3-point defense has held three opponents to a combined 25.9% shooting.

Looking at improvement ahead

There are promising reasons to believe improvement is on the table.

Transfer BJ Freeman leads the team in scoring at 13.7 points off the bench over the three-game start, while Alston Mason at 13.0 points.

Forward Basheer Jihad had his breakthrough game as a Sun Devil with 22 points and 10 rebounds in the 88-80 loss to Gonzaga, while highly ranked freshmen Quaintance and Joson Sanon have yet to find their offensive footing.

Up next

Arizona State will be tested next with a Footprint Center matchup against GCU (2-0) on Thursday night.

The Antelopes received six votes in the latest AP poll, while ASU earned two.

The matchup projects to have postseason resume implications.

“I’m happy for (GCU head coach Bryce Drew) and what he’s done for the program,” said Hurley, who also saw longtime top ASU assistant coach Jermaine Kimbrough leave Tempe for GCU’s staff this offseason.

“I think it’s great for basketball and basketball in the state of Arizona,” Hurley added. “It’s great that I feel like I got something to gain, because maybe a few years ago, you go into a matchup with GCU and you think I just got everything to lose in this situation, what am I going to gain from it? But with their metrics and how good of a year they had last year, this is like we’re playing an NCAA Tournament team. We have an opportunity to continue to build a resume and we have an opportunity on our nonconference schedule, but I think our guys should be excited.”

ASU faces GCU at 7 p.m. MST Thursday on ESPN2. Tune to the Arizona Sports app and 98.7 FM for coverage.

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