ASU basketball sees record student section vs. No. 5 UCLA

The Arizona State Sun Devils fans showed out in hordes for Thursday’s 74-62 loss against the No. 5 UCLA Bruins.

ASU had jumped out to a 15-3, 8-1 start on the year coming into the contest and commanded the respect of not only fans but the students.

Over 5,200 students showed up for the clash for first place in the Pac-12, a new record for Desert Financial Arena, according to SunDevilSource’s Chris Karpman.

Told ya!

ASU student attendance record tonight. By a mile.

5,213 vs. UCLA (right now)
3,949 vs. Arizona (Feb. 7, 2022)
3,391 vs. Oregon (Jan. 11, 2018)
3,313 vs. Arizona (Jan. 31, 2019)
3,243 vs. Arizona (Jan. 25, 2020)
3,229 vs. Oregon (Feb. 20, 2020)

— Chris Karpman (@ChrisKarpman) January 20, 2023

https://t.co/SPEbD1f1IM pic.twitter.com/SkGcDwMTPA

— Jesse Morrison (@morrscode_) January 20, 2023

With the loss, ASU falls to 6-2 in the conference, with both losses coming to top 5 teams as the Arizona Wildcats were No. 5 when they beat the Sun Devils in Tempe.

The students wore all black and also brought out the Curtain of Distraction in full force to throw the Bruins in the second half.

On UCLA’s first two free-throw-attempts in the second half, guard Jaime Jaquez stepped to the line shooting 74% from the stripe on the year. He missed both and neither was all that close thanks to the Curtain.

The curtain of distraction strikes again! pic.twitter.com/LHA23jj2Re

— Jake Anderson (@jwa1994) January 20, 2023

The basketball team was a hot ticket in Tempe on Thursday, with new head football coach Kenny Dillingham, former tight end and NFL great Todd Heap and ex-D-backs 1B Mark Grace in attendance.

The Sun Devils have one more home game against the USC Trojans on Saturday before hitting the road against the Washington schools.

TECHNICAL FOUL

Despite this being the biggest game for the Sun Devils’ season to this point, Fox Sports did a remote broadcast resulting in some brief delays in the commentary compared to the action.