Men's Hoops Recap: Sun Devils Battle at Kennel, Fall 88-80

The Sun Devil men's hoops team (2-1) battled with one of the top teams in the nation at one of the toughest places to play Sunday afternoon, but fell to Gonzaga 88-80 in the first game of a home-and-home series that will have the Bulldogs coming to Tempe in 2025-26.
 
ASU had quality games from Alston Mason (19 points on 8-of-13 shooting), Basheer Jihad (22 points including perfect in seven free throws and 10 boards) and B.J. Freeman (12 points) but couldn't keep Gonzaga off the line (18-of-22) or get there enough (11-of-12).
 
ASU led 69-67 with under eight to go and had an 11-0 run in the solid outing, but Gonzaga had a 36-19 advantage in bench points and outrebounded ASU 38-29.
 
ASU will next take on 2025 WAC champion Grand Canyon at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix Thursday at 7 p.m.
 
That Schedule
Preseason No. 6 Gonzaga is one of seven games against six teams who were in the Associated Press preseason top-10. ASU will play at No. 1 Kansas (Jan. 8), host No. 4 Houston (Feb. 18), host No. 5 Iowa State (Jan. 25), host No. 8 Baylor (Jan. 11) and then plays games in Tempe vs. Arizona (Feb. 2) and in Tucson (Mach 4).