Arizona State looks to ride the momentum of a memorable comeback victory when it battles former Pac-12 conference mate UCLA on Wednesday night at Los Angeles.
The Sun Devils rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to notch an 82-79 victory over Santa Clara on Saturday night in Las Vegas. It matched the largest halftime comeback in school history, established during a 71-69 victory over Stanford on Feb. 12, 1994.
The big rally came after Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley was ejected in the final seconds of the first half. Assistant coach Nick Irvin ran the team in the second half.
“The first half spoke for itself. We were outplayed and outhustled and it was very frustrating,” Hurley said afterward. “At the end of the half, we felt a couple calls went against us. That was the end of the day for me, but time for everyone else to step up.”
“The guys really rallied together. There were some hard conversations at halftime with all of our coaching staff. Really proud of how hard we fought to get back into the game.”
Anthony “Pig” Johnson scored 14 of his 15 points in the second half to lead the charge. Massamba Diop added 15 points and nine rebounds for Arizona State.
The Sun Devils (9-2) owns a three-game winning streak heading into the contest against the Bruins, a troublesome opponent during the end of the two programs’ Pac-12 tenures.
UCLA won the past five meetings and eight of the last nine.
The Bruins (7-3) are coming off an 82-72 loss to then-No. 8 Gonzaga on Saturday in Seattle.
UCLA led 54-53 after Donovan Dent’s basket with 14:34 remaining before the Bulldogs outscored the Bruins by 11 the rest of the way.
“We just couldn’t get the job done defensively,” Bruins coach Mick Cronin said. “We tried zone, man, double, triple team in the post. You name it, we couldn’t get the job done.”
Tyler Bilodeau scored a season-high 24 points to raise his team-best average to 16.6 points per game.
“We knew it was going to be a game of runs,” Bilodeau said. “Every tough game is going to be like that. We just have to stay together and keep our confidence and keep fighting.”
UCLA point guard Donovan Dent recorded 12 points and 10 assists against Gonzaga for his first double-double of the season. He is averaging 12.0 points and team-best 6.8 assists per game.
Arizona State senior guard Maurice Odum leads his squad in scoring (16.7), assists (6.0), 3-point baskets (32) and steals (19).
