By Adam Beadle
Multimedia Specialist
Fans entered Desert Financial Arena on Tuesday night hoping Arizona State would pull off a miracle win over No. 5 Houston but left with the same disappointment they’ve endured all year.
Now 12-14 (3-12) on the season, ASU’s seventh straight home loss marks its second-worst streak at home since the arena opened in 1974.
The Cougars shot an impressive 47.8 percent from beyond the arc, which helped them win by 15 points, 80-65, over the Sun Devils.
ASU head coach Bobby Hurley kept his answer short and straightforward about the Sun Devils' loss.
“They outplayed us,” Hurley said. “They were better than us tonight, and there was not a lot that we could do in this game tonight to have a legitimate chance of beating this team, and that's just the reality of what I felt.”
Going into Tuesday’s game, Houston forced opponents to shoot just over 38 percent from the field—the sixth-lowest percentage in the country. While that wasn’t an issue for ASU, which shot over 43 percent, the Cougars only allowed ASU to take 44 shot attempts in the game, the fewest ASU has taken in a game this season.
“I mean, they're one of the best defensive teams in the league, in the country,” Hurley said.
“I think that's the, you know, the sneaky good thing about them is how they manage the game and have quality possessions at both ends, and they really just kind of put a stranglehold on you if they get a lead.”
Despite the return of ASU’s star freshman forward Jayden Quaintance, who missed the previous two games due to an ankle injury, Quaintance only played 13 minutes and didn’t collect any points.
Hurley said he liked how Quaintance was moving around at ASU’s practice on Monday, but it wasn’t the same explosiveness he’s used to seeing—hence electing to shut him down in the second half.
Though senior guard Alston Mason battled till the very end.
Finishing with a team-high 26 points on the night, Mason tried to rally the Sun Devils late after hitting two back-to-back 3-points, contributing to an 11-0 run ASU went on over four and a half minutes late in the second half.
However, it was too late for ASU to complete the comeback.
Hurley said Houston’s performance on the hardwood was impressive, but that wasn’t the most significant part of the Cougars’ play that stuck out to him.
“I watched them in pregame warm-ups, [and] they were all talking, and they were all super engaged when I came out about an hour before the game, so I knew we would have our hands full,” Hurley said. “A lot of coaches throw around words like culture and identity as like cliches and stuff. But [the Cougars] have it. You know, they really get them to play really hard, really together, and the right way.”
ASU improved against the Cougars when it came to keeping its cool, even though senior forward Shawn Phillips Jr. got a little heated with an official at one point in the second half. But Hurley and the team did a good job of holding him back.
While some players have struggled throughout the second half of the season, most of them have been able to find their rhythm again. But for freshman guard Joson Sanon, that hasn’t been the case.
After a strong start to his freshman campaign, Sanon’s slump at the beginning of 2025 continued in ASU’s loss.
Sanon played the fewest minutes for the Sun Devils in the first half and, like his freshman counterpart Quaintance, didn’t score any points on the night.
“You know, as a freshman, it gets hard, especially when you see us losing, and then your shot might not be falling,” Mason said. “I think for [Sanon], he just has to find a different way to bring something else to the game, and once that happens, then it's gonna take the pressure off of, oh, I gotta make this shot, you know?”
The Sun Devils have a few days off before their next game against Kansas State on Sunday, where ASU will likely need the efforts of both of its highly touted newcomers if it wants to climb back above a .500 winning percentage and give the team its confidence back.
“I always say it starts with one,” Mason said. “As long as we can get one game to where we could just relieve the pressure off for a little bit, that can just have guys get a little more comfortable and trust in each other a lot more.”
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