Arizona State Sun Devils hold on for impressive road win over Creighton
Dec 14, 2021, 8:15 PM | Updated: 9:48 pm
DJ Horne #0 of the Arizona State Sun Devils takes a jump shot in the first half during a college basketball game against the Creighton Bluejays at the CHI Health Center on December 14, 2021 in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
(Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)
The Arizona State Sun Devils men’s basketball team held on for an impressive 58-57 road win over the Creighton Bluejays in Omaha on Tuesday night.
After trailing 32-26 at halftime, ASU came back in the second half to pull off the victory that came down to a defensive stop in the final seconds.
With less than seven seconds to go in the contest, the Sun Devils had an opportunity from the free throw line to make it a three-point game.
However, a missed shot on the front end of a one-and-one was rebounded by Creighton, giving the Bluejays one final shot following a timeout.
Fortunately for Arizona State, the Sun Devils got the final defensive stop needed to improve to 5-6 on the 2021-22 season while Creighton falls to 8-3.
Here is the last defensive possession that made sure ASU came out of Omaha with a win pic.twitter.com/gJatjLKgpZ
— SunDevilSource.com (@SunDevilSource) December 15, 2021
“I’m proud of our guys of how we stayed in the fight and went down eight in the second half and had a nice little push and got back in the game and then just made enough winning plays down the stretch,” head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters postgame.
“It was just a great game to be a part of. I think our schedule has prepared us for games like this. Just having won on the road at Oregon, I think the guys believed they could come in here and get a win.”
The biggest factor down the stretch was both teams’ shooting percentage from the field and charity stripe.
In the second half, ASU shot 14 of 29 (48%) from the field while Creighton only garnered a 39% clip on 9-for-23 shooting.
The Bluejays were also an abysmal 2-for-12 (17%) from three in the final 20 minutes.
“We didn’t take care of the paint as well,” Hurley said. “We were letting them score around the basket. … At the first media timeout, we were talking about doing a better job and forcing contested shots.”
Arizona State also made four of their five free throws in the contest while Creighton went 10-for-16 (63%) from the charity stripe.
The win is the Sun Devils’ third in a row and the 18th by five points or less, which is tied for the most in the NCAA since 2019.
“It just comes down to the fight and the toughness and trust in each other,” Hurley said. “We’ve played great competition so we’ve been really tested so we’ve been in these moments.
“Even our last two wins have been really been close within the last few minutes and to figure out a way to win has given these guys some confidence.”
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ASU returns to Tempe to host San Francisco on Sunday at 4 p.m.
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