There would be no redemption for the Arizona State basketball team, only embarrassment.

The Sun Devils dropped their sixth straight game, this time falling to rival Arizona 80-67 on Monday night at McKale Center in Pac-12 play.

It was the second game between the teams in four days. When the two squared off on Thursday in Tempe the Wildcats got a put back at the buzzer for an 84-82 victory.

But the latest meeting was a lopsided affair from the opening tip as the Wildcats (12-3, 6-3) scored the first 12 points and 18 of the first 22. The Sun Devils (4-8, 1-5) missed their first 12 shots from the field before Jalen Graham scored inside with 13:14 left in the half.

It didn’t get any better as the Wildcats took a 40-18 lead into the locker room at halftime and never looked back. ASU made just 8 of 35 shots from the field while Arizona hit 14 of 25 with 20 points scored in the paint in surging out to a lead that was never in jeopardy.

The Wildcats led by as many as 26 points but ASU crept back a bit getting within nine points on a 3-pointer by Remy Martin with 2:29 to play. But that was as close as the visitors would get.

Arizona did suffer a blow when freshman standout Bennedict Mathurin sustained a sprained ankle in a collision with Martin under the basket late in the first half. He did not return and finished the game with eight points and seven rebounds.

Standout performers

The playing time was spread out with the Wildcats maintaining a sizeable lead.

Terrell Brown tallied a team-high 18 points with four rebounds and three assists. Freshman Azuolas Tublis, who had the game-winning bucket on Thursday, added 16 with 12 rebounds while James Akinjo contributed 16 points with six assists.

Martin led the Sun Devils with 24 points, going 8-of-19 from the field with five 3-pointers.

Sophomore forward Jalen Graham had a career-high 14 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks for his first career-double-double. Graham was playing his second game back after missing the previous three with mononucleosis.

Quotable

“We lacked energy early, kind of lethargic out of the gate. I need to do a better job of getting us ready to play early in the game. They were more aggressive. They got a few transition baskets which with our speed and quickness, we should not give up. I thought we took some really challenging shots, so our shot selection was not really good but the bottom line was Arizona was the hungrier team and they were more ready to play.” – ASU coach Bobby Hurley.

Up Next

The Sun Devils return home to face California (7-10, 2-8) at 9 p.m. on Thursday at Desert Financial Arena. It will be the second meeting of the teams this season with ASU winning 70-62 on Dec. 3 at Cal.

Arizona next faces Stanford at 9 p.m. on Thursday. The Wildcats will be looking to avenge a 78-75 loss to the Cardinal earlier this season.

Reach the reporter at [email protected] or 602 444-4783.  Follow her on Twitter @MGardnerSports.

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