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No. 21 Arizona State hopes to right ship vs. Colorado (Jan 27, 2018)
TEMPE, Ariz. -- No. 21 Arizona State's perfect season has turned perfectly bedeviling, but the Sun Devils remain confident.
"We're going to fix this, trust me," freshman guard Remy Martin said after an 80-77 Pac-12 overtime loss to Utah at home Thursday.
"A lot of people think this is the end of the world because we lost this game, but we're fine."
Arizona State (15-5, 3-5) has lost five of eight games in conference play after peaking at 12-0. It was the last undefeated team in NCAA Division I and had eye-catching victories over current top 10 teams Xavier and Kansas.
The recent games have been close -- overtime losses at Colorado and Utah, and all five losses decided by nine points or fewer. Still, the mojo the Sun Devils rode to reach No. 3 in the AP Top 25 has disappeared along with its shooting touch.
Arizona State shot 40 percent from the field against Utah, its third-lowest mark of the season and a continuation of a recent trend that has seen its field goal percentage drop to 42.0 percent in Pac-12 games, 11th in the league.
The Sun Devils shot a season-low 35.5 percent in a 90-81 loss at Colorado (12-9, 4-5) on Jan. 4, and the teams will meet again Saturday. Colorado fell at Arizona 80-71 on Thursday.
"It's hard to put your finger on it," Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley said of the recent downturn. "We have to make shots though. We're getting good, open looks. When you have those opportunities, you need to convert."
Even so, the Sun Devils would have beaten Utah had not reserve guard Sedrick Barefield made a 3-pointer from the right wing with 1.8 seconds remaining in regulation Thursday.
"It happens," Martin said. "He hit a good shot. It's up to me, I was guarding him, to at least know he shouldn't get a wide-open 3."
Arizona State was out of timeouts and did not have time to prep its defense.
"I didn't have the extra one I like at the end of the game to go over those types of things," Hurley said. "We could have talked about whether or not to foul or allow a two or contest the 3. But there was just too much going on to relay that message without a timeout."
Sun Devils guard Tra Holder had his first double-double of the season with 23 points and a career-high 10 rebounds. He had four assists and two 3-pointers. Evans II had 14 points on 5 of 17 shooting including four 3s.
George King had 22 points and six rebounds and McKinley Wright IV had 15 points and seven assists in Colorado's loss at Arizona.
The Buffaloes had more field goals, more rebounds and had a better field-goal percentage than Arizona, but the Wildcats were 22-for-23 from the free throw line while the Buffs were 5-for-8.
"You're never happy with the result of losing," Colorado coach Tad Boyle said.
"Our program is beyond that. But it's a little bit easier to swallow when you know you battled and they had to make tough shots to beat you. They get 22 free throws. We get five. You just have to move on and that's what we have to do."
