The 2025–26 season has been relatively kind to the Arizona State Sun Devils so far, as Bobby Hurley’s 11th year at the helm has opened with a solid 6–2 record. After an impressive run to the championship game of the Southwest Maui Invitational, the Sun Devils were looking to bounce back from their loss to USC. Their next test came against the Oklahoma Sooners — and that’s when something happened that college basketball fans had truly never seen before.

According to ESPN, Arizona State was hit with a technical before the game even started because the team “didn’t turn in its starting lineup on time” at the Mortgage Matchup Center. It’s the kind of thing you almost never see in college basketball, but there’s a first time for everything!

Heading into the game, Dan Hurley’s brother was actually pretty pleased with what he saw from his team during the Maui Invitational. But he also knew the Sun Devils still had plenty to clean up if they wanted to hold their own in the Big 12. “We grew in some areas and regressed in some others,” Hurley said on December 5. “The balance is tilted more toward the offensive end. We put points up against Hawaii and Texas, 100 against Washington State, but our defense kind of dipped.”

Defense has been a major red flag for the Sun Devils this season, and the rebounding issues are hard to ignore. ASU ranks 316th out of 361 programs in rebounding margin at minus-3, and over their last four games, they were beaten on the glass by a combined 20 boards. In two of those matchups, they were dominated by double digits, including the 88–75 title-game loss to USC, where they lost the rebounding battle 32–21.

But against Oklahoma, the Sun Devils looked like a completely different team. Even after the bizarre pregame technical, they came out firing and jumped to a 25–6 lead. On the glass, they held their own with 40 rebounds, two more than the Sooners, and they also outscored them in the paint by six. In the end, all of that was enough for Hurley and his team to secure an impressive 86–70 win.

One of the biggest concerns for Dan Hurley’s brother this season has been junior forward Marcus Adams Jr., who has struggled to find any consistency. But even he broke through and delivered tonight.

Bobby Hurley finally gets a good performance from Marcus Adams Jr.

Playing for his third program in three years, Marcus Adams Jr. arrived at Arizona State with plenty of expectations. He was coming off a strong season at Cal State Northridge, where he averaged 16.1 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. But after returning from a foot injury in September, Adams Jr. just hasn’t been able to replicate that level of play with the Sun Devils.

He was averaging just over two points per game through eight appearances this season, but teammate Maurice Odum made it clear before the Oklahoma game that there’s no panic around Adams Jr.’s slow start, pointing to how hard he’s been working behind the scenes to get back into form.

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“I’m not worried about Marcus at all. He played, he played a little bit in a Hawaii trip. But after, after we got back, I spoke to coach, and we make Marcus run seven teams after practice, and we make him do another running drill, and then we make him shoot after, and then he do that, and then he come work out in the morning,” Odum said. “So it was just all about him getting used to it. You know, he come in, still coming back from injury. It’s his first time playing against high-major comp, so we just got to reel him in slowly. So I’m not worried about Marcus.”

Well, it turned out he was absolutely right. Adams Jr. put up 11 points on 3–6 shooting, marking his first double-digit game of the season. Now Bobby Hurley will be hoping the junior forward can build on this performance and help Arizona State make a deeper run in the Big Dance after last season’s disappointing first-round exit.

Do you think Dan Hurley’s brother can put together a better season than last season? Let us know in the comments below!