Arizona State eyes 4-0 start in Pac-12 play vs. Colorado

Field Level Media|published: Sat 6th January, 24:24 2024

Jan 4, 2024; Tempe, Arizona, USA; ASU Sun Devils guard Jose Perez (12) drives past Utah Utes center Branden Carlson (35) at Desert Financial Arena. credits: Joe Rondone/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bobby Hurley is coming off his 150th win as Arizona State's coach heading into Saturday's Pac-12 game with Colorado at Tempe, Ariz.

Hurley, the former All-American and two-time national champion at Duke, is 150-118 in his nine seasons at Arizona State.

He is approaching his 200th career win. He is 192-138 factoring in his 42-20 record in two years as Buffalo's coach from 2013-15.

Jose Perez scored a season-high 26 points and Frankie Collins had 19 points, seven rebounds and six assists in Arizona State's 82-70 win over visiting Utah on Thursday night that improved the Sun Devils to 3-0 in the Pac-12 and 9-5 overall.

"It was just great to share (win No. 150) with the team and the guys were excited for it," Hurley said. "I've loved coaching in this program and I told the guys I should have about 20 or 25 more wins. I probably messed some up along the way. But I'm happy to be at this number."

The Sun Devils will play a Colorado team that is coming off a 97-50 loss at Arizona on Thursday without starters Tristan da Silva (ankle) and Cody Williams (wrist).

Their status for the Arizona State game is not determined. Williams has missed six consecutive games and da Silva has sat out the last three.

The 47-point loss to Arizona snapped a six-game winning streak for Colorado (11-3, 2-1 Pac-12). It was the largest margin of defeat for the Buffaloes dating to a 49-point loss against Kansas on Jan. 7, 1998.

"I'm not going to sit here and make that excuse now," Colorado guard KJ Simpson said of the injuries to Williams and da Silva. "We showed that we can win. We showed we can win with people down.

"We just didn't follow with our game plan. We kind of let the crowd get to us. The (18) turnovers, that's my fault. We just didn't run our offense to the highest of our capability that we've been doing."

Simpson, who averages a team-leading 20.3 points per game, had a season-low 10 points, shooting 5 of 17 from the field. He also committed a career-high eight turnovers.

—Field Level Media

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