BJ Freeman was ejected in the second half of ASU’s 81-61 win over Colorado on Saturday after a flagrant 2 was called as he fought through a screen.
It came after he posted a season-high 19 points (8-for-12 shooting) to key the Sun Devils’ first Big 12 win, and it was the first time in an ASU uniform Freeman looked like the all-conference guard he’s been for the past two years, albeit when he was in a much lesser Horizon League.
Freeman’s best stretch came as ASU had gone 4:18 without points between the end of the first half and the start of the second. He emphatically ended the drought with eight of ASU’s next 10 points over less than 2:30, also drawing an offensive foul in the stretch.
The performance came at a good time as leading scorer Joson Sanon (13.5 points per game) was out with an ankle injury sustained late in Tuesday’s loss to BYU, his first missed game of his career.
The ejection meant the already-shallow Sun Devils — which had played just seven players to that point — were even more so, as they entered the game without depth guard Austin Nunez in addition to Sanon being out.
“He’s moving fairly good and doing more everyday,” head coach Bobby Hurley told reporters postgame, noting Sanon’s availability for Wednesday’s game at No. 7 Kansas was still uncertain.
The lead, which was up to a game-high 25 points at the time, gave the shorthanded Sun Devils enough room for error to escape with the 20-point win.
How did BJ Freeman, ASU open up big lead vs. Colorado?
After Colorado opened with a 6-5 lead, the Sun Devils rattled off a 26-6 run in which three of the Buffaloes’ points came on a 3-pointer from a player who has just three makes on the year.
ASU, meanwhile, was 6-of-11 from 3 to start as it took Colorado 12 attempts to get two makes.
Colorado got back one of its most important wings in Andrej Jakimovski, who missed Monday’s 10-point loss to No. 5 Iowa State, but he struggled offensively with nine points on 4-for-14 shooting.
Instead it was ASU forward Basheer Jihad hitting two 3s in the first half as the team assisted on nine of 15 made field goals. He ended the game with 17 points (6-of-9, 4-of-6 from 3) and six rebounds.
ASU was up 40-17 before Colorado crammed in a 10-point run to end the half and make it more of a game.
The Sun Devils’ healthy star freshman, Jayden Quaintance, picked up a second straight double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds to go with his two steals and three blocks.
ASU next plays at No. 7 Kansas on Wednesday at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN2.
