The Arizona State Sun Devils basketball season came to an end on Wednesday night in a 90-57 loss to Utah in the Pac-12 Tournament.
The Sun Devils struggled out of the gates in the first half and trailed 47-22 at the break. Utah did not miss a 2-point field goal in the first half.
Utah finished the game shooting 59.6% from the field as a team and 46.2% from the 3-point line.
Frankie Collins led ASU with 20 points.
ASU enjoyed two four-game win streaks and jumped out to a 4-0 start in conference play this year. They were 10-5 at one point of the season in January.
However, at the end of that month they hit a stretch of losing seven of eight games to push them down in the Pac-12 standings.
The Sun Devils made a push with two wins in a row around Valentine’s Day to climb back to .500 in conference play but ended the year losing five of six and finished 11th in the standings.
Losing one of their best players in Jose Perez late in the regular season was an unusual obstacle the Sun Devils had to navigate through at the end. But Perez left to pursue a professional basketball opportunity in the Dominican Republic, demonstrating the continued development of the program under head coach Bobby Hurley.
One of the highlights of the season was guard Collins who set a school record for most steals in a single season.
Collins broke the record on Feb. 22 in a game against Washington. He would finish the regular season with 83 steals, breaking the previous record of 76 steals set by Fat Lever in 1981-82.
Collins, a junior, was honored for his play by earning Pac-12 All-Defensive and Honorable Mention honors.
ASU finished the season with a 14-18 record, the second-worst in Hurley’s tenure and the school’s worst since finishing 11-14 in 2020-21. The school has made the NCAA Tournament three times in Hurley’s nine seasons as head coach but has not gotten past the first round in any of its appearances.
