Deandre Ayton, Arizona Wildcats stand tall to win 'crazy' game in Tempe

TEMPE – A guy strolled purposely past the Arizona bench with a gold-lettered “FBI” jacket, accompanied by folks carrying signs that said “U of Pay” and other assorted jabs at the Wildcats. When they were escorted out of Wells Fargo Arena, a student section full of bright gold T-shirts broke out in cheers.

That happened 30 minutes before the game even started.

Arizona went on to a 77-70 win over ASU at the arena now known trendily as “The Bank” before a crowd that was so loud and so intimidating that it was easy to ignore ASU “Curtain of Distraction,” a sideshow event created during the lean final years of former coach Herb Sendek.

Well, except for the guy who popped out of it dressed as Sean Miller, sweaty white dress shirt and all, that is.

“It was the loudest I’ve ever seen in Arizona,” said ASU guard Kodi Justice, who grew up in Mesa. “It was great.”

Maybe so, but this was also true: The Wildcats thought it was great, too.

Deandre Ayton exemplified this sort of attitude, working his way past the double teams from the undersized Sun Devils to pour on 25 points and 16 rebounds, while Dusan Ristic accented his double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds with a pair of 3-pointers.

Then there was Allonzo Trier, who fought off more than his share of defensive attention, and came through with 19 points, five rebounds, three steals and some critical point guard play in place of the foul-plagued Parker Jackson-Cartwright.

Those three led the way while Arizona held on after the Wildcats gave away first-half leads of up to 18 points, and trailed by seven early in the second half.

In the end, it was just fun.

“It was probably one of the best away crowds we’ve had all year,” Trier said. “Obviously, it’s a rivalry game and they were on top of their game. It was a bigger crowd. But we love it.”

Ayton included. Sweat still poured off his brows some 15 minutes after the game ended, with him having played 38 hard minutes, slicing through constant double-teams and even playing some perimeter defense.

“It was crazy,” Ayton said. “They really can get to you. Especially with any dunk, turnover or blocked shot, they’re going crazy over it. That changed the momentum of the game.”

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The Bank crowd was no louder than it was early in the second half, when the Sun Devils continued a late first-half surge to completely wipe out what was a 33-15 lead with 8:33 left in the first half.

UA led just 39-36 and then ASU scored the first eight points after halftime, the last on a 3-pointer from Justice that gave the Sun Devils a 46-39 lead. Arizona missed seven of its first eight shots after halftime, and the Wildcats trailed until Ayton hit a pair of free throws to tie the game at 50.

Ayton kept going and, fatigue be damned, actually made even more of a difference down the stretch.

The game was tied at 63 with 3:48 to go before Ayton tipped in a basket after two misses from Ristic, then dished out of the post to Trier for a 3-pointer that gave UA a 68-63 lead with 2:17 left.

Then, after ASU missed two shot attempts, Ayton dunked to give UA a 70-63 lead with 1:25 left and he reappeared again at the end, hitting a pair of free throws with 12 seconds left to give Arizona a game-clinching 77-69 lead.

In all, Ayton had nine points plus the assist to Trier over the final 6:40, helping the Wildcats score 12 points over that critical span and eliciting a pretty strong compliment from ASU coach Bobby Hurley.

Hurley had already seen Ayton throw down 23 points and 19 rebounds against the Sun Devils in UA’s 84-78 win over the Sun Devils on Dec. 30.

“After competing against him twice I think he may be the best big I’ve seen in college as a player or coach,” Hurley said. “He’s just scratching the surface of what he’ll be in the future. He doesn’t get that tired either.

“We had him on the perimeter running around on ball screens but he stayed in there. He’s got a great future, obviously.”

While 17th-ranked Arizona improved to 21-6 overall and 11-3 in the Pac-12, the Wildcats managed to take care of two big fears that Miller had before the game: They managed to keep ASU (19-7, 7-7) to 28.0-percent 3-point shooting and allowed them to get to the free-throw line just 12 times. ASU was 7 for 12 from the line and UA was 21 of 27, giving the Wildcats 14 more points at the line, more than enough for the win.

Arizona did cough up 20 turnovers that turned into 20 ASU points, but Miller said that was more about ASU’s pressure defense than anything the crowd did.

Besides, even if the crowd did prompt a few UA mistakes, that ultimately may become a good thing for the Wildcats, another learning experience they can draw from as the regular season comes to a close.

“It was a great win and the environment was special,” Miller said. “Road games in conference, especially when you’re playing for a lot like both teams are, I think you can really grow. Our team took a step forward tonight.”