Discussing James Harden's Impact on Arizona State Basketball Moving Forward

TEMPE -- In today's episode of the Arizona State Sun Devils Insider Podcast, we take a look at how meaningful the James Harden connection is to the basketball program following the legend attending the game against Arizona on Saturday.

To listen to today's podcast, view below.

Below is a partial transcript from head coach Bobby Hurley's press conference following the January 31 loss.

Hurley's Opening Statement

"I'm happy that we were as competitive as we were. The score, to me, is not how close the game was. You know, if you take you could go right to the six minute mark or so, single digit game. We had our chances. Just, you know, we were, we could not deal with their their strength, their size, their ability to do things that physically, you know, our roster could not, could not stay there.

Plus, I mean, then you got these other variables come in. I talked about unguarded threes going four for 15. I mean, Koa Peat is four for 15 on the season for three. So he just made two more. Now, granted, we weren't guarding him at all out there, and that was by design. But like, still to you know, things like that start happening. In addition, it makes it even harder to win against a team that's good."

efwe — Jan 31, 2026; Tempe, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Koa Peat (10) follows through on a three point shot against the Arizona State Sun Devils in the second half at Desert Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Discussing Flow of Game, What Went South for ASU in Game

"This game felt like very similar to like a mirror of our last game in Tucson, just really good first half, and then you know, whether it's they're just too big and physical that you know they wear you down, and eventually... the encouragement of having our defense in front of us in the first half and now down at the other end, and we just weren't able to stand up to challenge on the interior, whether that meant, you know, stopping their drives or getting a big defensive rebound when we needed to, we still had our chances."

effeef — Arizona State guard Moe Odum (5) looks over at the officials during a game against Cincinnati at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz., on Jan. 24, 2026. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Discussing "Putting Things Together"

"It's kind of too late to put things together, I would say. But like, more or less like, we've been scrappy... we've beaten, beaten Texas, Oklahoma, being Santa Clara, close games, fortunate to win a couple of them, we've kind of done as good as we can do... Now we should be able to shoot free throws better. There's no excuse for that. There had to be two or three more rebounds that we should have gotten that we didn't get. Maybe if you do that, it closes the gap a little bit."

Read more on the bold strategy that head coach Bobby Hurley employed with comments on 1/21 here, and on why Arizona State may have saved the season with the win over Cincinnati on Saturday here..

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