ASU’s offense lags behind as No. 9 Florida guards shoot lights out

For the first time this season, the offense of ASU men’s basketball couldn’t play to the level of its opponent as it fell to No. 9 Florida, 83-66, at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

The Sun Devils looked more like the version of themselves that got blown out in an exhibition at Duke than the version that scored 80-plus in seven of their first nine games.

ASU (8-2) could not slow down the Gators’ (10-0) veteran shot-making trio of Walter Clayton Jr. (25 points), Will Richard (16) and Alijah Martin (15), which accounted for 56 (19 of 40 shooting) of Florida’s 83 points.

After missing their first two 3-point attempts, the Gators made four of their next five to build up an 18-8 lead, a margin which they maintained for just about the entire first half.

Bobby Hurley picked up his third technical foul of the season when expressing his feelings on a foul called on a missed dunk attempt where there was marginal contact from Jayden Quaintance under the rim.

BJ Freeman was denied a call on the other end right before when he was bumped on a drive. Hurley had already shown displeasure with the officiating group before it boiled over for the technical.

The ensuing free throws gave Florida a 36-23 lead with 5:31 left in the half.

It was the second straight game with a technical for the Sun Devils’ head coach.

When Hurley was T’d up in the first half against San Diego earlier in the month, ASU was down 17-5 with 12:45 left in the first half. The Sun Devils would end the game on a +49 run and win, 90-53.

The coach’s show of frustration didn’t have the same galvanizing effect on Saturday, however.

What went wrong for ASU in loss to No. 9 Florida?

Clayton, Richard and Martin combined for 32 of Florida’s 41 first-half points, matching the Sun Devils’ total as a team. They weren’t getting the cleanest looks, but their experience and pull-up shooting prowess proved to be too much.

ASU freshman Joson Sanon struggled to deal with the length of the trio defensively, making just two of his nine attempts (1 of 4 from deep).

What’s more concerning is how the Sun Devils defended when one perimeter defender would get beat, leading to a vicious dunk by Richard, or in transition after turnovers (14 on the game leading to 19 Florida points).

As Florida’s physical defense set in, ASU’s offense devolved into more of a stagnant style with fewer passes and less off-ball movement, where shots came from one-on-one ball.

Adam Miller was ASU’s biggest driver of efficient offense with 18 points on 5 of 9 shooting (3-for-5 from 3). The total was tied for the second-most he’s had in a Sun Devil uniform (20 points in ASU debut against TCU on Dec. 16, 2023).

Big men Quaintance (14) and Basheer Jihad (13) also reached double-digits on nine shot attempts each.

ASU scored the final eight points to make the final score look a little better.

The Sun Devils play their final nonconference game of the season next Saturday in Springfield, Mass., against UMass. It’s technically a neutral-site game that’s part of the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic, but the arena (MassMutual Center) is a half-hour away from UMass.