Arizona vs Arizona State Final Score: Wildcats Lack Answers in Tempe

Behind sloppy defense and Houdini like disappearances from some of its key players the Wildcats take a loss for the second year in a row at Arizona State. With the loss the Wildcats now head to Washington for its one set of games with the Huskies and Cougars.

There's a quote that goes something to the effect of "offense comes and goes but defense always travels." Clearly the Arizona Wildcats aren't aware of that. In a game marred by sloppy rotations, lost assignments and alarmingly soft post defense the Wildcats dropped their third game of the season 81-78 in Tempe on Saturday afternoon.

After an opening few minutes of back and forth action the game appeared to be going to plan. After a Gerry Blakes three-pointer put the Sun Devils up 14-12, the Wildcats responded with a 13-4 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon 25-18 with 9:17 to play on a Brandon Ashley jumper. From there till intermission it was all Sun Devils however closing the half on a 23-9 run to take a seven point lead into halftime, capped off by a lazy throwaway on an inbounds play and putback layup with Stanley Johnson getting a front row view.

Tra Holder, the Sun Devils' bulldog freshman point guard created havoc throughout the first half repeatedly beating T.J. McConnell off the dribble and creating opportunities for his teammates when he wasn't finishing himself. In all Holder finished the first half with 10 points and five assists as the Wildcats had one of their worst defensive halves of the season giving up 41 points in all. McConnell and Gabe York did the heavy lifting for the Wildcats in the first half to keep them in the game but despite their best efforts it couldn't make up for defensive lapses.

The second half saw more from the combination of Stanley Johnson and Brandon Ashley but as a whole the two were largely non-factors in a game the two could have had a much bigger impact given the whistle happy referee crew overseeing the game. As a whole the two combined to shoot 11-29 from the floor for 29 points and eight rebounds, simply an ineffective game all around that put a ton of pressure on T.J McConnell and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson to carry the offense. Kaleb Tarczewski finished with nine rebounds and had a big block when it appeared the Wildcats were going to make a late game run but as a whole had what felt like dozens of blown opportunities on the offensive end.

With that said, despite the issues for Arizona and the discrepancies in free throws which was a huge calling card of Wildcats fans throughout the game, the Sun Devils got big performances from guys around Holder to help pull the upset. Savon Goodman finished with 15 points and nine boards and came out in the second half aggressive as he repeatedly beat Brandon Ashley down low for buckets. Bo Barnes finished with 18 points off the bench including a perfect 8-8 from the free throw line as the catalyst to the Sun Devils dominant bench edge over a Wildcats team who went eight deep but really received contributions from six.

With the loss the Wildcats resume' added a third ugly loss to it in a league that doesn't provide a ton of opportunities to make up for it. Is its shot at a #1 seed gone? Maybe not but it just got that much tougher. With that said, the more alarming reality is this is a team just 4-3 on the road with only one neutral floor win of any merit. If this team is a national title contender outside Tucson it hasn't done much to show it.

Sean Miller was asked during the week if Arizona State is one of the tougher road venues the Wildcats play in each year, responding with a simple "no." After three losses in four years in Tempe, it might be time for Coach Miller to rethink that opinion.

The Wildcats return to action Friday night at Washington. The game is on ESPN at 7 PM MT.

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