TEMPE — Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley is relatively pleased, yet not exactly thrilled with his team’s performance in what was an 87-74 loss to the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats on Saturday afternoon at Desert Financial Arena.

Hurley discussed a wide range of topics during his press conference that featured a surprising amount of praise for their rival.

Watch Hurley discuss the result of the game, reflect on the season series against Arizona, and more below.

Hurley Discusses What Went Wrong

Arizona State brought a free-flowing offense, intense on-ball defensive pressure, and well-timed shot making to the table in what resulted in a game that was tied at 38 going into the half.

The Wildcats asserted their physical dominance over the last 20 minutes of the game, which is something Hurley didn’t mince words on following the final buzzer.

“This game felt like very similar to like a mirror of our last game in Tucson, just really good first half, and then you know, whether it’s they’re just too big and physical that you know they wear you down, and eventually… the encouragement of having our defense in front of us in the first half and now down at the other end, and we just weren’t able to stand up to challenge on the interior, whether that meant, you know, stopping their drives or getting a big defensive rebound when we needed to, we still had our chances.”

There were several points in the final 10 minutes in which Arizona State had an opportunity to bring the deficit down to two possessions or less, although the Wildcats’ sheer physicality, depth, and timely shot making resulted in remaining undefeated.

The 11th-year head coach also discussed Arizona State’s shortcomings on the offensive side of the ball – including not shooting well enough to keep up with an Arizona offense that continued to fire on all cylinders.

“We didn’t shoot free throws well. think we were four for 15 on unguarded threes. So things against the team, as good as this Arizona team, is you can’t afford to do those things offensively.”

Arizona State shot 27-65 from the floor, 8-24 from behind the arc, and missed eight free throws – including ones in key moments that has potential to bridge the gap that had been built in the second half.