Bobby Hurley Reflects on Arizona State's 2024-25 Season
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TEMPE -- Arizona State men's basketball is looking to flip the script in 2025-26 following the finish to the previous season that did not go according to plan.
Head coach Bobby Hurley is officially entering his 11th season at the helm following Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday from Kansas City, Missouri - Hurley was joined by guards Noah Meeusen and Moe Odum for the event.
One of the most pressing topics surrounding the basketball program in recent months has been the disastrous end to the 2024-25 season and how the program will respond to various developments - Hurley did a great job of bridging what went wrong last season with moving forward into 2025-26.
"Well, I mean, I think we're second to last.. anyway, we were really in good shape at the mid year point last year, we were nine and two. We were trying to play. I think, you know, making sure we stay healthy would be the one priority.
"We lost a number of our key players to significant injury time last year, so had some rough luck there, but overall, we got to win some closer games too. We, you know, we lost to Baylor in overtime at our place. We had a couple of free throws to win at our place with two seconds left. First, Kansas State weren't able to get that one done. Got a win at home. And then with Texas Tech on the road, a really very good team, we played one of our better games of season, and kind of one rebound away from winning that game and regulation.
One of the undoings of Sun Devils last season was the inability to close out close games - one look at the results from a season ago and it would be reasonable to believe that the team should have finished with a better record. Ultimately, closing out games is a skill, and the program must do a better job when it comes to situational basketball over the next 30+ games.
Hurley went into more detail discussing one of the undoings - the Sun Devils were not a deep squad in 2024-25 - the squad also wasn't necessarily built to carry out complimentary basketball.
"So we had a hard time closing out close games. And if you don't win those, they could demoralize you. Things could snowball fast. So hopefully the main thing is, we address the roster this year to, you know, have ourselves be, you know, a deeper team and more options, in case someone, one player, goes down, or it doesn't tank the rest of the season."
Hurley's major adjustment this season was utilizing up every single available scholarship for the program - in theory building a deeper team that will be able to withstand injuries and other outside factors. The mix of experienced international players, seasoned college basketball players, and finding a traditional point guard in Odum has potential to serve Hurley well despite low expectations heading into the season opener.
Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on three major takeaways from the win over Texas Tech here.
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Kevin Hicks is an Arizona State alumni and now serves as the Arizona State Beat Writer On SI.