In a game that was more like the old shoot-out WAC days than the new grind-it-out Big 12 era for No. 24 Arizona, the Wildcats had to outscore a short-manned Arizona State team on Tuesday night at McKale Center.
Henri Veesar scored a career-high 22 points and had eight rebounds to lead the Wildcats to a 113-100 victory, one in which Tommy Lloyd joked, “Defensive battle,” during the postgame interview on 1290-AM.
“It’s crazy. I mean, obviously we’ve got to shore up our defense,” Lloyd said. “But hey, the No. 1 objective today was find a way to get a W and a spot in the top four (of the Big 12 standings), and then, you know, now we can try to tighten some things up.”
The 113 points are the third most for Arizona all time in a game vs ASU. It’s the 2nd most points by a Big 12 team in a regulation length conference game in the last 15 seasons https://t.co/VgDIjWT4oV
— Greg Mroz (@GregDMroz) March 5, 2025
Arizona (20-10, 14-5) will have a double-bye to the quarterfinals of the Big 12 tournament next week as either the No. 3 or No. 2 seed.
Arizona State (13-17, 4-15 Big 12) was shorthanded with only six scholarship players at the start of the game.
The Sun Devils finished with four after Bashir Jihad fouled out with 5:12 remaining and Shawn Phillips Jr. with 3:59 left.
Jayden Quaintance (knee) was unavailable and Adam Miller (hip) played less than a minute before aggravating his injury.
Leading scorer BJ Freeman, who was ejected in the previous meeting with Arizona in Tempe is no longer on the team after he was dismissed Feb. 23 for conduct detrimental to the team.
After Phillips fouled out, he was called for a technical foul.
One of two free throws by Caleb Love (on the technical) and KJ Lewis (on the foul) capped a 10-1 run that gave Arizona a 99-87 lead.
Arizona State’s Alston Mason scored a career-high 33 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field, 5 of 7 from 3-point range, and had six assists.
The Sun Devils had four other double-figure scorers – Joson Sanon (19), Jihad (15), Phillips (14) and Amier Ali (13).
“Man, that was excruciating,” Lloyd said. “Hey, give Arizona state some credit. I mean, they’re obviously short-handed. They played out of their mind.”
Love and Lewis each had 21 points and Tobe Awaka had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Jaden Bradley had 12 points, making all four of his field-goal attempts, and had seven assists.
Arizona shot 59 percent from the field while Arizona State made 46.3 percent of its shots, including 52.2 percent (12 of 23) from 3-point range.
“We’ve got to hang in there and adjust,” Lloyd said. “Great win for our guys, great way to finish up on Senior Night. I’m really proud of the guys.”
Arizona couldn’t shake off Arizona State but at least it maintained a healthy enough lead most of the game.
After Arizona took a 47-35 lead with 3:56 left in the first half, the Sun Devils responded with a 9-2 run with Mason ending the run with four straight free throws made, two of which occurred after Bradley was assessed a technical foul.
Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley — on the hot seat and coaching against Arizona at McKale with Arizona State for the last time? — was given a technical foul earlier in the half.
The Wildcats led 55-47 at halftime behind Love’s 13 points and Arizona’s efficiency on offense with 13 assists and no turnovers.
Arizona finished with 21 assists and six turnovers.
A total of 46 fouls were called in the game.
Arizona was 31 of 39 from the free-throw line and Arizona State was 26 of 31.
The Wildcats shot better from 3-point range at 10 of 23 and they controlled the paint with a 52-30 edge.
“We were good offensively, obviously,” Lloyd said. “Defensively, left a little bit to be desired.”
Arizona closes its regular season at Phog Allen Fieldhouse against Kansas on Saturday.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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