Arizona State, coach Bobby Hurley taking heat for actions in loss to rival Arizona

Few players on the Arizona or Arizona State men’s basketball teams are natives of the Valley. And the Sun Devils only have two players back from last year’s team.

If they weren’t fully aware of the intensity of the Territorial Cup rivalry, they are now.

The latest installment came on Saturday morning with the visiting Wildcats storming to an 81-72 victory at Desert Financial Arena. The win propelled the Wildcats (15-6, 9-1) to a tie atop the Big 12 standings with Houston, which was upset by Texas Tech in overtime later in the night.

It was a competitive game but it was the ending that incensed Arizona fans and sent social media circles buzzing.

The end of the game featured the ejection of Arizona’s Caleb Love and ASU’s B.J. Freeman, the leading scorers for their respective teams, after Freeman headbutted the Arizona player. Freeman was assessed a Flagrant 2 foul for the incident.

After the game ASU coach Bobby Hurley chalked up his player’s misguided action to what he called constant trash-talking on the part of the visitors. No doubt there was added frustration at the inability to close out a close game, yet again.

In the closing seconds, Hurley sent his bench players to the locker room with his starters following after the final second ticked off the clock. Hurley explained that as heated as the end of the game was, he didn’t want to see the situation escalate in the handshake line.

“I just saw that it was very heated and there were possibilities that something else could have happened and I was going to avoid that,” Hurley said. “I wanted to avoid any further confrontation.”

Senior guard Adam Miller was the ASU player brought into the postgame interview room and took the high road by choosing not to comment on the events that unfolded at the end of the contest.

It certainly wasn’t a good look for Hurley or the university, especially since the game aired nationally on CBS. Many ASU fans are frustrated with Hurley’s sideline antics, and this is just the latest incident.

Richard Jefferson, former NBA player and broadcaster was among those slamming Hurley on social media. Jefferson is a former Arizona player, so it isn’t surprising.

Hurley was assessed a technical foul with 5:13 left in the first half for objecting to a foul that had been called on Miller. The Sun Devils were ahead 21-19 at the time.

Hurley’s competitive nature, which made him a legend and a two-time national champion in his playing days at Duke, has carried over into his coaching career.

There will be a rematch between Arizona and ASU (12-9, 3-7) at McKale Center on March 4 in the next to last game of the regular season. Arizona is 10-1 on its home floor and the Sun Devils are going to be in desperation mode, their NCAA postseason hopes already seemingly on life support.