TEMPE — Arizona State men’s basketball avoided a brutal upset to Georgia State on Monday with a second-half comeback to win 75-62.
This was a game ASU had no business losing. It was favored by 18.5 in a matchup between a top-100 team facing one in the bottom 100 of Division 1, according to KenPom.
But Georgia State was the more assertive and disruptive team on defense, and it moved with a purpose offensively to open up looks in a way ASU was not ready to defend. It led for more than half the game as a result.
ASU coach Bobby Hurley said postgame it was as much of a trap game as possible, due to the 9 p.m. tipoff against Gonzaga it had less than 72 hours earlier and the 5 a.m. flight the team had to Hawaii the next morning along with Georgia State flying under the radar in general.
Point guard Moe Odum admitted postgame ASU underestimated the Panthers and “almost got our heads blew off” because of it.
The deficit grew as large as 11 points with 14:20 remaining, and Pig Johnson answered the bell with seven straight points for ASU with a high-flying dunk part of it, jump starting the 20-1 run that gave the Sun Devils control for the first time.
AND THIS PIGGY WENT ON A FLIGHT ✈️
📺 ESPN+@PigGlizzy2 pic.twitter.com/7vv74Y9fZB
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) November 18, 2025
Belgian point guard Noah Meeusen, making his ASU debut after missing the first three games with an ankle injury, came up with a big steal on an inbounds play with 10:25 left trailing by two. Moe Odum cashed in a bucket to tie the game.
Less than four minutes later, ASU had its largest lead of the game at nine points. From there, it was never closer than five.
Odum led all scorers with 24 points, adding season highs with nine assists and five steals.
Despite finishing without any made shots (two points on two made free throws), Meeusen showed his international polish in how he set the table on offense, having averaged 6.3 assists at U20 EuroBasket in 2024.
Odum said he felt an enormous sense of relief playing with another creator.
“I know he only had two points, but if somebody could watch the film and realize what Noah was doing like they gonna say ‘That boy played really, really good today,’” he said.
Hurley said he likes the fit of the two creators on the floor together, given Meeusen’s size at 6-foot-5 with a wider frame than Odum along with his shooting capabilities that didn’t come to light in his first game out there.
How did Arizona State fall behind early to Georgia State?
While the shot quality was there for the Sun Devils early, the looks were not falling. It took until 6:50 left in the first half for their first 3-point make (missed their first seven attempts).
Georgia State was 4-for-7 in the same timeframe, as ASU was lackadaisical defensively.
The slow start for the Sun Devils included a 1-for-8 sequence from the floor, with a stretch of four straight 3-point misses.
Odum almost singlehandedly pulled the Sun Devils out of the spell with a 15-6 run in which he scored or assisted on 12 of the points, earning a lead ASU wasn’t able to maintain into halftime.
The Panthers finished 9 of 25 from 3 (36%), while ASU’s four makes from distance were the fewest of the season and the 21.1% was its lowest as well.
ASU has its first road game of the year on Saturday at Hawaii before remaining there for its first appearance in the Mau’i Invitational since 2007.
Texas and an old familiar foe in head coach Sean Miller will be the Sun Devils’ first opponent in the tournament on Monday.
