What Bobby Hurley Had to Say After ASU's Loss vs Gonzaga

The Arizona State head coach wasn't too pleased with some of the inner workings of the loss.

ASU head coach Bobby Hurley speaks to the press at Weatherup Center in Tempe, Ariz. on June 4, 2025. | Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

TEMPE -- The Arizona State Sun Devils officially dropped their first game of the 2025-26 campaign on Friday night in a 77-65 loss to the 19th-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe.

The Sun Devils had several opportunities to put themselves in position to win the game in the second half following a fast start to begin the game, but factors such as missed free throws, losing the rebounding battle, and potentially questionable calls made the effort too much to overcome.

Head coach Bobby Hurley spoke to media following the game - ASU on SI gathered the full media availability below.

To watch the full press conference, view below.

Below is a partial transcript from the exchange following the game.

On Team's Overall Performance

"Yeah, we can kind of like script the first, like you script the first three possessions of the game, and then you start getting substitutions, different lineups. And then, you know, we got stuck on 22 long I told the guys that, like, you just had bad possessions, so we had a couple of turnovers.

And then, you know, played an opponent like this, you can't miss free throws, and we haven't been doing that at all this year. I know that that's haunted us in the past year, right under my tenure, miss free throws, but we certainly have no business doing that today against a team of this caliber. You can't do it, especially when they're shooting 35 free throws."

"I played him too many minutes. So that's on me. He's shown, I think, an ability to stay even though he's exerting a lot of energy, and then he got worn down. And that's the dilemma we're in, because we need to get Noah back. Because Noah (Meeusen) was getting all the reps at point, and so was Vijay Wallace, and those guys aren't here. So I had Pig Johnson trying to place a backup one, so he doesn't really know the off guard spots as well anymore now."

Arizona State Sun Devils Moe Odum (5) looks at the net before taking a shot during a game against the Southern Utah Thunderbirds at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe on Nov. 4, 2025. | Diannie Chavez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

On Effort From Bench

"I thought. Allen (Mukeba), you know, solid, you know, he battled those guys. I mean, that's a formidable frontcourt, if any of that, don't, you know, yeah, bench. Bench is okay. Pig is, you know, in his free throws and but he has a cheat young effort ever. And so he was fine. Still trying to get Marcus (Adams) back and get him back to where he was prior to his injury. That's he was behind Allen. So, you know, we're not as deep as I hope we would be at this point. So we're, you know, we got to get Marcus, you know, more practice time, and get him playing better.

Read more on why the Arizona State men's basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and three major takeaways following a gutsy win over Iowa State here

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