ASU coach Hurley: How we competed vs. Purdue was unacceptable

Of course ASU basketball coach Bobby  Hurley was not happy that his team lost to Purdue 97-64 Tuesday, but while he most certainly would have rather come away with a victory in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, what really seemed to upset him was his team’s effort.

Or, rather, lack thereof.

After the game, which dropped the Sun Devils’ record to 5-4 on the season, the second-year coach ripped his team, saying, “Right now we’re a soft team and we don’t have any backbone,” before adding it was sad to see the team fold after struggling to make shots.

“It’s unfortunate that our team didn’t even come close to the energy that Jimmy (Valvano) had in his life and his passion,” he said. “We had no passion for playing. We did a disservice to this game and this event and what he represented.”

A guest of Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Thursday morning, Hurley expanded on his post-game thoughts.

“I didn’t speak to the guys that much after the game,” he said. “I was not happy with how we lost.”

Hurley referenced a loss earlier in the season to Davidson, in which he felt his team defended hard and competed for 40 minutes. The shots just did not fall that night, but overall, he respected what his team did that night.

“The results weren’t what we wanted but you could live with that type of performance,” he said, before turning his attention back to the Purdue game. “It was unacceptable, just, how we competed.”

The 18th-ranked Boilermakers made 59.4 percent of their shots against the Sun Devils, and outrebounded ASU by a 44-28 margin. Arizona State, on the other hand, made just 35.8 percent of hits field goal attempts, including just 4-of-26 3-pointers.

After giving up 47 points in the first half, the Devils surrendered 50 in the second.

“So we have to figure out a way to compete for 40 minutes regardless of what the scoreboard says and to just try and stop identifying how we’re playing with whether we’re hitting perimeter jump shots or not,” Hurley said. “We went through a stretch through the first half where it was a really close game and then we went several possessions of missed shots, and that impacted how we defended.

“We turned a very close game for nine minutes into a 20-plus halftime deficit.”

The Sun Devils’ next game will come in Tempe against San Diego State Saturday evening, and it represents a chance for Hurley and his team to get back on track. The Aztecs, 4-3, have lost their last two games, including a 76-72 defeat to Grand Canyon University Wednesday.

Going forward, Hurley said the team needs to clean things up and get mentally tougher, which are things they plan on working on in practice over the next couple of days. As for how his young team will respond to his harsh comments, that should not be much of an issue.

“I don’t single out any players; I talked about two guys that I thought played hard, and Maurice O’Field took two charges, in limited minutes, got an offensive rebound. Kodi Justice was flying around out there — defensively I thought he gave great energy in the game, so I made sure I noted that.

“As far as my comments, I just felt like that’s what I saw in the game and I’ll be the first to promote my players at the highest level.”

Hurley said he’s spoken very highly of many of players who are new to the program this season, but will do his best to tell the truth as he sees it.

“I’ve got to look in the mirror too; I’ve got to do a better job in practice and preparing my team and getting them to play the way that I’m expecting us to play,” he said. “I’m accountable to this as well because I’m responsible for the program.

“I haven’t heard anything from my players; I think that they probably feel bad for the type of effort that we gave.”

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