KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Seventh-ranked Iowa State trounced turnover-prone Arizona State 91-42 on Wednesday in the second round of the Big 12 tournament in what might have been the Sun Devils’ final game with coach Bobby Hurley on the bench.
Iowa State’s 49-point win was the largest in Big 12 tournament history, topping Texas’ 43-point win over Colorado in 2000, according to ESPN Research. It was also the second-largest loss in Arizona State history behind a 50-point defeat to Texas Tech in 1956.
Every indication has been that Arizona State is ready to move on from Hurley, who fell to 185-167 in his 11th season.
“I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I don’t know. I have spoken about my future next year,” Hurley said. “But I don’t have any regrets. I laid it out all on the line to the best that I could every night. And I did it until the last buzzer sounded.”
Milan Momcilovic scored 21 points, Joshua Jefferson had 20 points and 12 rebounds for the fifth-seeded Cyclones (26-6), who beat the Sun Devils (17-16) for the second time in less than a week while advancing to play No. 16 Texas Tech in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
Santiago Trouet had 13 points for Arizona State, which was just 1 of 19 from 3-point range, turned the ball over 23 times and was called for three technical fouls.
Iowa State was so thoroughly dominant that it had built a 45-16 lead by halftime. The decisive blow was an 18-0 run late in the first half, when the Sun Devils earned two of their three technicals on a single disastrous trip down court.
The sequence began as Buchanan was hammered by the Sun Devils’ Pig Johnson on a drive to the basket, a foul that was upgraded to flagrant. Massamba Diop was barking at Buchanan as he stood up and was hit with the first technical, and Hurley quickly earned the second while arguing about the first.
Iowa State made five of the ensuing six free throws, Jamarion Batemon capped the seven-point trip down the floor with an easy bucket underneath and the Cyclones’ comfy 33-10 lead suddenly had become a 40-10 blowout with 2:40 left in the first half.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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