ASU Basketball: Hurley and the Sun Devils are all in

TEMPE, Ariz. — In the final year of the PAC-12, teams around the conference have one last shot at the PAC-12 championship in Las Vegas, and Arizona State head coach Bobby Hurley is all in. He’s aiming to give the Sun Devils a swan song as they move to the BIG-12 next year. 

“This is the last season of the PAC-12, and we talked about what we are going to do this year, with this being the last year,” said Hurley during the team’s first practice of the season. “It’s our last chance to win anything in the PAC-12 for Arizona State basketball, and I don’t see any banners in the arena.” 

Hurley is coming off of a two-year contract extension with the program in March, after leading the Sun Devils to 23 wins for the first time since 2009 and an appearance in the NCAA tournament as an 11-seed. Only for ASU to lose to Texas Christian University in the first round. 

The new look Sun Devils

Following the departures of Devan Cambridge, Austin Nunez, Warren Washington, DJ Horne, Enoch Boakye, and Duke Brennan to the transfer portal. Hurley began reloading the roster with new talent.

In the portal, Hurley and his staff added LSU transfers Adam Miller and 7-foot center Shawn Philips, Louisville transfer Kamari Lands, 3-point specialist Brycen Long, and Juco-transfer point guard Malachi Davis.

Defensive tenacity has become accustomed to coached Hurley teams. Arizona State held the 15th-best field goal percentage defense in the country last year.

Hurley believes the team makeup has the potential to soar to new heights this season. 

“Jamiya Neal and Frankie have been very good defensively. You know Malachi Davis, Braelon Green, Adam Miller is a seasoned player, so we got some guys on the perimeter that can defend.” Hurley said. “Around the basket, Shawn Philips has been a real difference-maker he’s 7 feet with a 7-5 wingspan and goes after shots and plays with an edge to him. You know Alonzo Gaffney and those two together have really good length and shot-blocking ability. The defense has pretty good potential.” 

The Ellie Ziegler Foreign Tour

With a batch of new players to bolster an already talented roster. Hurley and the Sun Devils traveled across Europe on a 10-day excursion.

From Paris to Athens and the beaches of Mykonos, Hurley used the opportunity to build team chemistry. The team also played multiple exhibition matches against European professional teams.

In 2017, Hurley took the team to Barcelona and Rome for bonding exercises. That team started the season 12-0 and ranked as high as No. 3 in the country. 

“Off the court, the guys were organically spending time together, laughing, and having a good time. That part of it was excellent,” said Hurley. “I saw this team had speed, aggression, and things that we look for when recruiting, so I liked the group with what we did over there.”

Hurley is entering his seventh season and vying for back-to-back NCAA tournaments. The Sun Devils kick off the season against Mississippi State on Nov. 8 as part of the 2023 Barstool Sports Invitational.

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