Greg Hansen: Another tense game in Tempe ends with Wildcats as last-second winners, ASU steamed

About the last place on the college basketball earth I expected to develop into a Theater of Thrillers is Arizona State’s blandly-named Desert Financial Arena.

The Sun Devils' campus has rarely been associated with big-time basketball, and has not matched the historic drama created at Pauley Pavilion, old Mac Court and, in another age, at Gill Coliseum and Maples Pavilion.

It ain’t no Pit.

But after Arizona beat ASU 84-82 on a last-second basket Thursday, there is no denying that on the night of the annual UA-ASU game, Tempe has become one of the can’t-miss settings in college basketball.

Since 1992, 15 of the 30 Arizona-ASU games played at Desert Financial Arena have been last-possession or overtime dramas. The final scores don’t need any embellishment:

53-52.

83-82.

74-73.

65-66.

70-68.

71-69.

Arizona has dominated the basketball rivalry for 35 years, but that doesn’t define this series any longer. Get this: of those 15 Tempe games decided by one possession or overtime, the Sun Devils have won six of the last seven.

That’s a rivalry.

Ordinarily, Arizona coach Sean Miller wears a game-face in victory. You don’t see him embracing anybody. You don’t see him point to the scoreboard, like Lute Olson famously did one night at ASU.

But by Friday morning, the UA released a series of locker-room images in which Miller looked to be high-fiving and hugging anything that moved. All that was missing was the champagne shower.

Arizona won Thursday because the Sun Devils didn’t manage the clock effectively. It blew the first rule of Clock Management 101: In a tie game, 32 seconds remaining, do not give the other team a chance to win the game. Kill the clock. Make it a one possession game. If it doesn’t work, go to overtime.

ASU’s hard-charging point guard Remy Martin knew that better than anyone in Desert Financial Arena. Or at least.better than everyone except his coach, Bobby Hurley, and Arizona’s Miller. Hurley wanted no one but Martin to touch the ball. Miller wanted anyone but Martin in control of a final possession.

Game tied, 82-82.

University of Arizona vs Arizona State — Arizona guard Terrell Brown Jr. (31), center and guard James Akinjo (13) pressure Arizona State guard Remy Martin (1) as he tries to control a pass in the second half of their Pac 12 game at Desert Financial Arena, Tempe, Ariz., January 21, 2021.
Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star

Both coaches knew the game would surely — almost surely — come down to Martin driving to the basket with four or five seconds remaining. Is there a better man in college basketball, 2021, to successfully engineer that play?

None that I can think of.

Martin, the Pac-12’s most feared offensive player, had logged 3,121 minutes in 146 college games when he began killing the clock, waiting to make his move. He knew what to do. He knew how to do it. If Martin could’ve asked for one gift for Christmas, or for anything, it would’ve been to have the ball in his hands against the hated Wildcats, game tied, clock ticking toward 0:00.

But Martin was so eager to stick a dagger in the Wildcats just like he had a year ago, scoring 24 points in a 66-65 win — and just like he had a year earlier, scoring 31 points in an overtime win in Tempe — that he couldn’t wait.

With 11 seconds to go, he began his move to the basket. It was too soon.

"I wanted him to wait a touch more," Hurley said after the game.

Watch: Azuolas Tubelis, James Akinjo break down Arizona's buzzer-beating basket in win over ASU

With 9 seconds to go, Martin reached the basket. The only man in his way was Arizona freshman power forward Azoulas Tubelis. Neither man flinched.

As their bodies brushed into one another, Martin’s shot missed badly. It’s a 50-50 call. Photographs of the play suggest that it was probably 60-40 that Martin was fouled.

Hurley was waiting for a whistle that never came.

"Clearly (Martin) was fouled by a player in the restricted area," he said. "The guy should’ve been called for a foul and (Martin) put at the foul line.

"(The officials) swallowed their whistles."

In the chaos, with Martin on the ground and Arizona players sprinting toward their basket, an airball by UA guard James Akinjo dropped into the hands of Tubelis, alone under the Arizona basket. He scored without opposition.

The Wildcats won 84-82.

"I thought we deserved to win the game," said Hurley. "I thought we played a winning game."

Hurley said he spent time consoling Martin in the ASU locker room before meeting with reporters. "He was crushed," the coach said. "The kid was fouled and it was not whistled."

Sean Miller on Azuolas Tubelis' game-winner, Arizona's 'unsung hero' and the challenges in beating ASU

Sometime this weekend, or early next week, the Pac-12 will probably announce that Hurley has been fined for going public with criticism of the referees. This one might be a big one, maybe reaching the $25,000 fine Arizona’s Miller was assessed in the infamous "He touched the ball!" game at the 2013 Pac-12 championship finals.

With the temperature turned up in the Hurley vs. Arizona series — if that’s possible — the two rivals will play again Monday night at McKale Center. The Wildcats weren’t about to apologize for Martin’s rushed final possession, or for the no-call that so enraged Hurley.

"We’ve lost a couple of games here exactly as we won tonight," said Miller. "It has a way of even-ing out."