Arizona State’s frustrating season continued Thursday when the Sun Devils were unable to field a complete team once again en route to a loss against visiting Oregon.
The Sun Devils (6-9, 3-6 Pac-12) have been beset by COVID-19 postponements, injuries and players missing multiple games because of personal issues.
They figure to remain short-handed when they host Oregon State (10-9, 6-7) on Sunday.
The Sun Devils potentially will have Marcus Bagley and Chris Osten out of the lineup again after they missed the game against Oregon due to ankle injuries. Taeshon Cherry has been away from the team for a month because of personal reasons.
Arizona State’s Josh Christopher got hurt on a hard fall while blocking a dunk attempt at the rim Thursday in the first half. He played briefly in the second half before coach Bobby Hurley shut him down.
“We needed kinda two guys to really have a pretty special game for us to have a real good chance, and we just weren’t able to get that,” Hurley said after the Sun Devils’ 75-64 loss. “Josh, when he had that great block and landed, he was not right after that. He already came into the game with a bruise in his lower leg.
“He was not moving very (well) to start the second half, so we thought it was the best thing to shut him down. Tough night in that regard.”
Sun Devils senior Remy Martin finished with 30 points, his fifth career game with 30 points or more.
Oregon State is coming off a 70-61 loss at Arizona on Thursday. The Beavers led only at 3-2 in the early going. They came close to tying the game a few times in the second half, only to allow the Wildcats to keep pulling away.
What hurt the Beavers was their lack of free throws, as they attempted 10 while Arizona shot 34. The Wildcats outscored Oregon State 23-6 at the foul line.
“When you’re not aggressive and you’re not going strong to the basket … that’s how you get to the free-throw line,” said Oregon State coach Wayne Tinkle, whose team attempted only three free throws in the second.
The Wildcats also posted a 47-34 rebounding advantage.
The Beavers beat Arizona State 80-79 on Jan. 16 at Corvallis, Ore., as Warith Alatishe dunked with 4.1 seconds left for the deciding hoop. Jarod Lucas had 18 points and Ethan Thompson 17 as the Oregon State guards combined to make 6 of 12 shots from 3-point range.
Bagley paced the Sun Devils with 19 points in the loss to the Beavers.
–Field Level Media
