Arizona State basketball outmatched in exhibition vs. Duke

A lot went wrong in Arizona State basketball head coach Bobby Hurley’s return to Duke. And maybe “a lot” is an understatement.

The preseason No. 7 Blue Devils routed the Sun Devils 103-47, marking an unhappy homecoming for Hurley, where he played from 1989-93.

The Sun Devils scored just seven points in the final 7:30 of the game.

“Train wreck is a good word, maybe,” Hurley said after the game. “I wasn’t experimenting tonight and this just happened to us, we got our ass kicked.

“Hats off to where they are, and oh sh*t to where we are right now.”

Big man Jayden Quaintance — who is the highest-ranked recruit the Sun Devils have landed in the modern recruiting era — finished with 11 points, shooting 5-for-13 from the field with six rebounds and three assists. Basheer Jihad also finished with 11 points, shooting 2-for-6 from the field and converting 6 of 7 free throws.

These two shared the floor with Duke’s Cooper Flagg and five-star freshman Kon Knueppel, the former in which is the No. 1-ranked prospect nationally by 247Sports and ESPN.

Flagg finished with nine points, shooting 3-for-9 and missing both three-point attempts. Knueppel led the team with 19 points, shooting 4-for-8 from beyond the arc and recording five rebounds, four assists and two steals to round out his night.

As a whole, the Sun Devils shot just 28.1% from the field and 25% from beyond the arc. Arizona State allowed 66 second-half points by the Blue Devils and turned the ball over 18 times as a whole.

“My granddaughter is not going to remember this game. She’s three months old, thank God,” Hurley said after the game. “It was her first game so hopefully they’ll be better days ahead.

“I hope by the end of this week, we’ll learn something from this.”

Arizona State’s regular season opener comes against Idaho State on Nov. 5 at Desert Financial Arena. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.