Taking Dive Into Arizona State Basketball's Home Court Advantage Deteriorating

The Sun Devils' once promising home-court advantage has waned over the last several seasons.

The ASU student section holds pool noodles and a picture of Betty White to distract USC players making free throws at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Arizona on Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. Asu At Arizona 2022 | Alex Gould/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

TEMPE -- The 2025-26 Arizona State Sun Devils are off to a tepid 10-9 start to Bobby Hurley's 11th campaign as head coach, including an uninspiring 5-4 mark at home - they are losers of three of their last four at Desert Financial Arena in this process as well.

Desert Financial Arena was once a bubbling environment under Hurley, as they routinely drew incredible crowds behind genuine belief that the program was on the rise just a few years ago.

Arizona State on SI explores what has transpired for the Sun Devils at home in recent seasons following the shortened 2020-21 season.

Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley watches his team play against Prairie View A&M during the first half at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe, Ariz. December 11, 2019. Prairie View Vs Asu | Michael Chow/The Republic, Arizona Republic via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Hurley Speaks on Recent Home Struggles

"We have not played well here in years, like, like, since before COVID. Like, we had this place cooking before COVID. Now, it's just, it's a sterile environment. We don't win here. We don't give our fans any reason to show up with enthusiasm to think that that we're going to win a basketball game. And we have been dreadful at home for years... The last time we did go to the NCAA tournament a couple years ago. I don't think we were great here, like, I think we were better freaking on the road somewhere, anywhere, you know. So this has been going on for a while, and it's, it's not a home court advantage."

It's an unfortunate development that Arizona State's home crowd has regressed to such a severe degree over the last couple of seasons, which culminated in an attendance of just over 7,000 in Wednesday's game.

2024-25: 5-9 Record

Arizona State began a promising season with a 5-0 record, including an 81-61 win over Colorado to begin Big 12 play.

The team then dropped the final nine games in Tempe during the season, including narrow losses to Baylor, Arizona, and Kansas State.

2023-24: 11-5

The Sun Devils actually had a reasonably successful campaign as home in what was an otherwise messy season - the advantage was fair this season, although many wins were against lower-major competition.

2022-23: 10-5

This was an uncharacteristically weak season at home - especially for a 22-win squad that made an NCAA tournament appearance.

The team only won four home games from January to March in what was Pac-12 play, with their final win coming on February 18 against Utah.

2021-22: 9-6

This is another season in which they had a reasonably successful output in what was a season that they earned 14 wins in.

The highlight of this season was an 87-84 win over top-five ranked UCLA, proving that there is still potential to have real home-court advantage moving forward.

Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on why the bright future of the football program isn’t dimmed by the loss to Arizona here.

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