Brad CesmatThe narrative early in this college basketball season has been Arizona State has been playing terrific as a team, but Arizona has a better collection of star players. Hard to argue with that line of thinking after watching the Wildcats knock off previously unbeaten Arizona State 84-78 Saturday night in Tucson.
Wildcat center Deandre Ayton threw Arizona State around the court and owned the inside, finishing with 23 points, 19 rebounds(6 offensive), 3 blocks and 3 assists in 35 minutes.
Alonzo Trier was 0-6 at one point in the game, but finished with 23 for the Cats, who improved their record to 11-3.
Another key contributor for Arizona on the night was the other 7 footer on the floor Dusan Ristic, who used a variety of ways to score his 12 points on 5-9 shooting.
Arizona State didn’t have much of an answer inside. Starting center Romello White fouled out in just 18 minutes, and scored just 2 points. Arizona State shot just 3-15 from beyond the 3 point arc in the second half.
Tra Holder lead the offense for ASU with 31 points in 36 minutes. The Sun Devils suffer their first loss of the season and fall to 12-1.
The two teams will meet in Tempe on February 15th.
