It wasn’t just a homecoming for Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley. It was one for his big man Jayden Quaintance, sort of.
The Sun Devils took to famed Cameron Indoor Stadium Sunday night for an exhibition showdown against No. 7 Duke, the school for which Hurley played three decades or so ago and helped to two national titles.
Quaintance has a tie to the area, too. Although he hails from Ohio, he played his senior year of high school basketball at Word of God Christian Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina.
It wasn’t a happy homecoming for the visitors as Duke cruised from start to finish, 103-47.
Hurley’s return was one storyline, but Quaintance was part of the other. He is the highest-ranked recruit ASU has landed in the modern recruiting era and shared the floor with Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the No. 1-ranked prospect nationally by 247Sports and ESPN.
Both were upstaged by five-star freshman Kon Knueppel, ranked the No. 16 prospect by 247Sports, who led Duke with 19 points in 21 minutes. Caleb Foster added 17 points.
Our takeaways from the game:
Team is a work in progress
A team with nine newcomers isn’t going to gel overnight and it can be further exposed when taking on an elite program so early. The offense lacked flow and there was too much one-on-one play. ASU tallied only 11 assists and had trouble getting the ball in the paint, although Duke boasted good size and made it difficult to do so. It had 18 turnovers, with Duke finishing with a 26-2 advantage in points off turnovers.
Shooting woes were an issue
ASU shot just 28.1% (16-for-57). Take away the showing by Quaintance and the rest of the team was 11-for-44. From long distance, ASU hit only six of 24 attempts. Offense and scoring was the team’s biggest problem a year ago and the fact that so many new players have been added and it continues to be an issue has to be a concern.
Quaintance looked the part
Hurley praised his 17-year-old freshman, saying he “looked like he belonged” despite being one of the youngest players in college basketball and taking the court against an elite program. His 11 points, six rebounds, three assists two blocks and a steal marked a nice debut. Hurley acknowledged that his five-star prospect “wasn’t perfect” but it was a good start and he wasn’t overwhelmed by the competition.
Defense was not good
The one thing ASU could hang its hat on last year when the offense struggled was its defense. Well, Duke shot 53.5% (38-for-71) and got 17 fast break points. The Blue Devils also scored 38 points in the paint so ASU offered little resistance. ASU got just two points off turnovers, another category where it has traditionally fared well.
Free throw shooting might be better
This is another area that was an issue for ASU last year and it went 9-for-11. Granted a lot of those were one player as Basheer Jihad went 6-for-7 but if ASU is going to win games in the more competitive Big 12, it can’t afford to struggle at the line.
They said it
Some of the one-liners by Bobby Hurley after the loss
“I was here long enough to know what just happened has happened before and it could happen to me and it did. I was quietly concerned because I don’t think we were as impressive as I thought we should be in our closed scrimmage and that was against a lesser opponent.”
“I wasn’t experimenting tonight and this just happened to us. No we got our ass kicked. Hats off to where they are and oh **** to where we are.”
“The best thing about this is my granddaughter won’t remember this game. She’s only three months old, thank God. It was her first game so hopefully, there will be better days ahead.”
“Sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone. That’s kind of why I was so worried about coming back here.”
“Let me get out of here before they score another bucket.” (as he left the media room)
ASU opens the regular season at 7 p.m. on Nov. 5 against Idaho State at Desert Financial Arena.
