Gabe York went for 22 points and six assists and Allonzo Trier added 20 points as No. 8 Arizona went into Tempe and knocked off Arizona State, 94-82.
Arizona State has not exactly been a powerhouse in recent years, but this is a nice win for the Wildcats nonetheless. The Sun Devils have beaten Texas A&M in their arena and went up to Las Vegas and knocked off UNLV last month. They’re a scrappy team that really competes, the embodiment of their head coach, Bobby Hurley.
And that sure was evident down the stretch, as Arizona State cut a 16-point Arizona lead to as close as six in the final two minutes before Hurley picked up a pair of technical fouls and got himself ejected.
He was unhappy, to say the least:
Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley picks up his 2nd technical and is ejected from the game with 59.6 to go #Pac12 https://t.co/qUycVNs92t
— FS1 (@FS1) January 3, 2016
With the way that Sean Miller has Arizona rolling and Hurley now stalking the sidelines in Tempe, it’s safe to say that this rivalry is going to kick into high gear. Let’s go beyond the fact that both have proven to be excellent coaches -- it’s always more exciting when both sides of a rivalry are good -- but I’m not sure there are two coaches in the country that are more competitive and animated on the sidelines.
As far as this game was concerned, Arizona seems to once again be the favorite to win the Pac-12. It’s not the kind of Arizona team that we’re used to seeing, meaning that this group doesn’t have a star or a ton of NBA talent, but they do have a core of veterans that understand what their role is and a number of guys that can step up in a given game.
Was there really any doubt that Miller was going to find a way to make this team competitive?