Bobby Hurley was ejected for the first time this season as Arizona State trailed Santa Clara late in the first half in Las Vegas on Saturday.
The coach erupted at an official after ASU guard Trevor Best took high contact and tried to sell it as a charge but no call was made.
Hurley was assessed the first technical foul in the middle of a Santa Clara possession, which had four seconds left on the game clock before half. He was given another and subsequently ejected after the words continued while walking back.
A few possessions earlier, ASU forward Santiago Trouet was called for a charge in transition with what appeared to be much softer contact.
think it’s pretty easy to see bobby hurley’s frustration given the difference in what’s a charge on asu and what isn’t on santa clara on these two plays pic.twitter.com/ppOpKCP82o
— Damon Allred (@iamdamonallred) December 14, 2025
The ejection paused any progress made by the Sun Devils in getting back into the game, as they had trailed by as much as 14 prior but had cut it to eight with a minute left in the half.
Santa Clara’s Christian Hammond, who Hurley wanted the charge called on, hit all four technical free throws and got a layup to go at the buzzer going into the half. Hammond also hit a 3 in the final minute before Best’s no-called charge to turn in a 9-0 run by himself.
ASU was down by 17 at the half with assistant Nick Irvin leading the way for the final 20 minutes.
The deficit reached 19 early in the second half before an 8-0 run shortly after cut it to single digits again with 12:12 remaining.
Hurley was facing off against his predecessor, Herb Sendek, who was coaching his 1,000th game. Saturday marked his 292nd game coaching the Broncos, after he led the Sun Devils in 296 contests from 2006-15.
