All access: How Bobby Hurley is shaping ASU basketball

OMAHA, Neb. – Bobby Hurley walked into the CenturyLink Center locker room and stood in front of his Arizona State basketball team. The look on his face reflected his mood.

The Sun Devils trailed Creighton 41-33 at halftime. For the past two days, Hurley and his staff had preached the importance of transition defense. Sprint back, find the shooters, hands up.

And yet, the Bluejays had buried six 3-pointers in the first half.

"I'm not asking for a lot,'' said Hurley, his voice raising. "I've asked other teams to pick up end line to end line, full-court defense for 40 minutes. I'm not asking you to do that. I'm asking you to run back as hard as you can in transition defense and get organized so we're not going to scramble. Could we please change ends of the court so we're not wondering if they're going to get an open 3 somewhere?"

Although Hurley didn't know it, the odds were against ASU. Over the past 10 years, the Sun Devils had posted just six true non-conference road wins. They hadn't rallied from a halftime deficit of more than seven points since James Harden left campus.

But turnarounds start slowly. One step at a time. And that's where Hurley found himself in his first year with the Sun Devils, trying to mold them in his blue-collar image, trying to get them to play each possession with purpose.

Before the team left Tempe, ASU basketball granted azcentral sports full access for its trip to Creighton. Over two days, reporter Doug Haller attended practice, film sessions and team meals. He rode on the team plane and observed locker-room discussions. Mostly, he paid attention to how the team responded to its new coach, especially in a difficult environment.

Winning on the road is among the biggest challenges in college basketball. Hurley brought this up at the start of ASU's first Creighton film session. This will test the courage and fabric of our team, he told the Sun Devils. You can't challenge in the Pac-12, can't advance in the postseason without having the mental toughness required to win on the road.

In the second half, ASU had work to do. Hurley asked the Sun Devils to make a statement over the first four minutes. Let Creighton know they're not going away.

"We're right there,'' he said in the locker room. "We're a couple possessions from putting pressure on them. They're comfortable. They're up eight. All of a sudden, we're hanging in there. We're coming. We're within four, we're within two. And now everything changes. The pressure's on them. All right? Come on, let's go!"

***

That fire Hurley played with as an All-American point guard at Duke? It burns within him as a coach, too. As a player, Hurley ran around the Duke football stadium the night before big games to stoke the flames.

As a coach, he takes a different route.

The night before the Creighton contest, Hurley watched "World War Z" in his hotel room. The movie – starring Brad Pitt – is about a United Nations worker who tries to stop a zombie pandemic that threatens the world. While coaching last year at Buffalo, Hurley often watched "The Edge of Tomorrow," a movie about a military officer fighting off an alien invasion.

"Movies where kind of all hell is breaking loose," Hurley explained, "because that is what happens during the game. It gets me in that mode."

On game day, Hurley, 44, woke up and ran four miles on a treadmill. At 10:15 a.m., he walked into a second-floor conference room at the Hilton Omaha where the Sun Devils had gathered for breakfast.

"(ESPN analyst) Jay Bilas just tweeted that the last time Kentucky lost a regular-season game was March 8, 2014," Hurley said, sitting down. ASU plays Kentucky (which lost a day later at UCLA) on Saturday. "That's a little scary."

Behind Hurley, a man cooked omelettes. To his right was a table with waffles, bacon, muffins and other breakfast food. Hurley, sipping coffee, ignored both. He doesn't eat on game days.

Wait.

He might have a dinner roll with butter a few hours before tip-off, but for the most part, that's it. That's why David Cohen – an ASU senior associate athletics director – acted surprised to see Hurley eating the previous night at Mahogany Prime Steakhouse.

"He ate two croutons the day of the North Carolina State game," said Hurley's son, Bobby, sitting across from his dad at the restaurant. "He lost like six pounds the whole Brooklyn (Legends Classic) trip."

For a game-day boost, Hurley drinks Red Bull. During games, he drinks Diet Coke or Vitamin Water.

"As a player, I couldn't eat a lot," Hurley said. "I would force myself to have something. Similar way (as a coach). With the anxiety of the game, nourishment is the last thing on my mind."

***

By the time the Creighton contest tipped, ASU had sat through two 20-minute film sessions on the Bluejays. On their short trip to the CenturyLink Center, a video scouting report played on the bus televisions. Each started with the same player:

Junior point guard Maurice Watson Jr.

"He's probably the most important player on their team," assistant coach Levi Watkins told the Sun Devils during the first session. "He drives and tries to draw a crowd and kicks it out to their shooters. Very smart and very unselfish."

"This kid is a Philly guard,'' Hurley chimed in. "And Philly guards, they're good off the bounce. And they can create and get in the lane. They're not that tough when they come from Philly, but they can create."

Savon Goodman – who grew up in Philadelphia – looked at his coach.

"What you mean?" the junior forward said.

"Well, I don't know," Hurley said.

(This is Hurley's sense of humor. Last year at Buffalo, he got a technical foul 55 seconds into a game against Toledo. The next day he tweeted a series of things a person can do in 55 seconds. "Plug in your cell phone, make sure your pen works …")

In the second half against Creighton, Goodman showed off his Philly roots.

On ASU's first possession, he hit a short baseline jumper. On its third, he scored inside off a nice feed from sophomore point guard Tra Holder. After coming up with a steal, he missed two foul shots, but got the ball back and scored in the lane.

Overall, Goodman scored eight points during the first 2 minutes, 28 seconds of the second half. Down eight at halftime, the Sun Devils had done just as Hurley requested, striking back within the half's first 4 minutes, putting pressure on Creighton and perhaps a little fear into the crowd of 16,282.

***

ASU chartered a flight for this trip, a cost of about $45,000, according to Cohen, who oversees the basketball program.

"We charter when it's necessary,'' said Cohen, listing several contributing factors, such as game time, game location and school session.

In addition to Creighton, ASU will charter to Kentucky this week. The Sun Devils also will take a charter flight after its Feb. 3 contest at Washington to Pullman for its Feb. 6 contest against Washington State. From there, it will charter back to the Valley.

Higher-profile programs charter much more. ASU assistant coach Rashon Burno said that when he coached under Billy Donovan at Florida, the Gators chartered nearly every time they needed to fly somewhere. ASU has to choose its spots.

"We're fortunate," Cohen said. "With our campus so close to the airport, it's not a huge burden for us to not fly commercial, especially in the Pac-12."

The Sun Devils eat well on these trips. Upon leaving Tempe, they had teriyaki chicken and submarine sandwiches. After landing in Nebraska, they had a light shooting session before heading to the steakhouse, where they were offered entrees of steak or salmon.

On game day, they ate breakfast at 10 a.m., lunch at 1:15 p.m. and a pregame meal at 4. After the game, as the Sun Devils boarded the bus, each would grab a large pizza waiting for them on the first seat of the bus – the one reserved for Hurley – and would eat on the way to the airport.

Said one ASU staff member: "I gain 15 pounds every basketball season."

***

With 7:52 to go, Creighton led 67-66.

During a timeout, Hurley knelt in front of his team. On his right hand, the coach wore his Duke 1992 National Championship ring. He did this for the first time last season, when Buffalo traveled to Kentucky for a non-conference contest. Considering what he faced against the No. 1 Wildcats, Hurley felt he needed extra confidence. Buffalo didn't win, but the Bulls played well, leading 38-33 at halftime.

Hurley's worn the ring for nearly every game since.

In the timeout huddle, he told the Sun Devils: This is what we play for. Moments like this.

"We've been in close games all year," he said. "They haven't."

In the locker room before the game, Hurley had set ASU's statistical goals. Hold Creighton to below 40 percent shooting from the field, 30 percent from 3-point range. Shoot 75 percent from the foul line, establish a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Get at least 40 deflections, control the boards.

The Sun Devils ultimately would fall short in nearly every category, yet they didn't go away. Senior guard Gerry Blakes scored off a back cut, senior center Eric Jacobsen took a charge, Holder stripped a Creighton rebounder and scored, the biggest play of the game.

Final: ASU 79, Creighton 77.

In the locker room, the Sun Devils celebrated. Jacobsen talked about how ASU kept grinding, never going away. He called Hurley's intensity contagious. Blakes said it was "transferable."

"It makes everybody want to follow," Blakes said.

Three weeks earlier, ASU started the Hurley era with a loss to Sacramento State. It was a poor start. Since then, however, the Sun Devils have started to resemble their coach, showing blue-collar toughness with defense and rebounding. Through seven games, it's the program's most positive development.

Hurley called his team together.

"I tell you what, it wasn't easy," he said, exhausted. "To be down that deficit here, with that crowd, against a really good team – they're going to win a lot of games – this is a big-time win. A lot of guys made plays. Big time. Let's put it in, let's shower up and get the hell out of here."