Arizona State led by double digits in the final six minutes on Tuesday, but a cold spell while UCF caught fire to win 79-76 closed the door on a potential upset.
ASU led by 11 with 5:39 remaining, and the Knights had a run in them behind three straight 3s after making just two of their first 17 attempts from deep.
As the shots fell, ASU (11-10, 2-6 Big 12) went four minutes between made baskets, finally breaking the drought with 1:38 left on a Santiago Trouet cut that gave the Sun Devils a two-point lead.
UCF (16-4, 5-3) hit another 3 to pull back ahead and then another to do so again when Odum hit free throws to give ASU the lead back.
ASU trailed by two with the ball in the final 20 seconds, and Odum went into the pick-and-roll with center Massamba Diop. UCF cut off the action with a double, and the point guard’s bad pass for a turnover was followed by his fifth foul to disqualify him.
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Bryce Ford’s 3 at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime went off the rim.
ASU started slow offensively behind a 1-for-6 opening from the floor and eight straight misses later in the half, but it went on a 13-2 run that included eight points from Moe Odum (two 3s) to pull ahead and it took that late scoring drought for the lead to be coughed up.
UCF outscored ASU 18-4 in the final 5:30.
Coach Bobby Hurley is yet to win consecutive Big 12 games in his second year in the league and had a chance to break that on Tuesday coming off Saturday’s 14-point win over Cincinnati. He is now 3-11 in road Big 12 games.
The Sun Devils started the year very well from behind the arc at 39.2% on 22.3 attempts per game over first 11 contests. They then had a five-game cold spell of 20% on 24 attempts per game while Bryce Ford dealt with his injury.
In the five games since, ASU is making 41.4%, including 10 for 23 on Tuesday. However, the four misses to close the game helped seal the loss.
Jordan Burks hit the go-ahead 3 with 34 seconds left that went down as the game winner, giving him 15 points on the night. Odum (18) and Riley Kugel (17) led their teams in scoring.
ASU gets three days before hosting No. 1 Arizona on Saturday. That matchup will be one of three (vs. Oklahoma State and at Baylor) in a 10-game stretch for the Wildcats that is not against a top-15 opponent, which started with Arizona’s win over No. 13 BYU on Monday.
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