Hurley is optimistic about ASU basketball ahead of the GCU game

On By Littum

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

He wasn’t inspired by the season-opening win against Idaho State.

The good news: It’s still early days.

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 a narrow loss to No. 4 Gonzaga. It’s a centering feeling for Hurley with his Sun Devils facing cross-town rival Grand Canyon this Thursday in Phoenix.

“I’m just, first of all, very proud of our weekend,” Hurley shared Arizona Sports’ Bickley & Marotta. “We tried to treat those two games … like the NCAA Tournament. People expect Santa Clara to potentially be an NCAA Tournament team. They jumped out on film like that, and I thought we did very well on a neutral court. We made 15 3-pointers in that game and our offense came alive. 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 remaining 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 struggles 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, both teams we played brought back a lot of guys … and we were able to overcome that and definitely be very competitive.”

ASU basketball’s new form of defensive disruption

While last year’s team had running back Jamiya Neal and point guard Frankie Collins break ASU’s all-time steals record, this year Arizona State 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 as many chances. It may just take some time for the team to tap into 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 he can move his feet and guard multiple positions at 6-9 with a 7-3 wingspan, the ability to close out on shooters — he’s blocked like four or five shots on closeouts on leaps and bounds.”

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

Looking forward to improvements

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

Transfer BJ Freeman leads the team in scoring with 13.7 points off the bench over three starts, while Alston Mason with 13.0 points.

Forward Basheer Jihad had his breakout 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.

Next

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

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

The matchup project will have consequences for the postseason resume.

“I’m happy with (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 have something to gain, because maybe a few years ago, you go into a matchup with GCU and you think I just have everything to lose in this situation, what should I get it? But with their metrics and how good a year they had last year, it’s like we’re playing an NCAA tournament team. We have an opportunity to continue to build a resume and we have one opportunity in our non-conference schedule, but I think our guys should be excited.”

ASU meets GCU at 7pm MST Thursday on ESPN2. Tune into the Arizona Sports app and 98.7 FM for coverage.