Arizona State's lost season featured another ignominious chapter in Washington last weekend.
The Sun Devils (8-19, 4-11 Pac-12) trailed by 18 at halftime before losing 77-69 at conference co-leader Washington, then scored just eight first-half points in a dreadful 72-50 loss at Washington State.
They've now lost five of six and are 0-14 this year in games played outside Tempe.
There's nothing new to say about the Devils' woes: They can't avoid turnovers and they're horrible free-throw shooters, and those factors contribute to derailing an offense that has failed to reach 60 points in five of the past six games.
If there was one silver lining for the Devils, it was this: They don't play another road game this season.
Still, with games remaining against UCLA and Arizona, it's hard to imagine how ASU will avoid losing 20 games for the first time since coach Herb Sendek's debut season of 2006-07.
The Sun Devils have been snake-bitten from the start, playing all year without would-be star point guard Jahii Carson, who never cleared NCAA eligibility. Sendek then had to kick Keala King off the team, and ASU's best player, junior wing Trent Lockett, missed six games with a bad ankle sprain.
At least the Devils showed some rare life in the second half at Washington. Using a 15-2 run, ASU pulled within 11 points with 11 minutes left.
"We definitely showed some improvement," Lockett said. "We had stretches where we played decently. You try to take positives out of that, but again, it's the same story."
As it was two days later at Washington State.
NOTES, QUOTES
-- The Devils shot 3 for 18 in the first half of the 72-50 loss at Washington State and trailed 36-8. That came on the heels of a 77-69 loss at Washington in which they trailed 44-26 at the break.
-- Turnovers continue to haunt ASU. The Devils ranked last in the Pac-12 in giveaways at 16.6 per game and coughed up almost exactly their average on the trip to Washington, giving it up 33 times in two games.
-- ASU used a 23-7 run in the second half to pull within 41-31 at Wazzu with 13 minutes left. But the hole was too deep, as the Devils got no closer while losing for the eighth time in nine conference road games.
BY THE NUMBERS: 8 -- First-half points scored by Arizona State at Washington State, the fewest the Cougars have allowed in the first half of a game since the arrival of the shot clock 25 years ago.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "You break it down, I know it's a broken record, but turnovers hurt us. We had 19, which (fueled) their transition game." -- ASU coach Herb Sendek after his team's loss at Washington.
PLAYER NOTES
-- Junior G Chris Colvin, a juco transfer, wasn't able to solve the Sun
Devils' point guard woes when Keala King was booted from the team and
Trent Lockett missed six games with an ankle sprain. But he delivered an
encouraging performance in the 72-50 loss at Washington
State, scoring 18 of the team's points while going 5 for 6 from the field
and 2 for 2 from beyond the 3-point arc. Colvin entered the game
having made just 11 of 25 free throws over his previous five games but
even found the range there, making 6 of 7.
-- Junior G Trent Lockett averaged 11 points and made more than half his 3-point attempts in his first three games back from an ankle sprain that kept him off the floor for six games. But he shot 2 for 10 and missed all three of his 3-point tries in a six-point performance in ASU's loss at Washington State.
--C Jordan Bachynski had 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss at Washington, boosting his production to 41 points and 22 rebounds during a span of three games. But the 7-footer managed just one shot attempt at Washington State, scoring five points in 21 minutes.
-- G Carrick Felix had 13 points in the loss at Washington.
