ASU Welcomes Underdog Role at Big 12 Tournament

Kansas City, Mo. – Moments after fans stormed the Desert Financial Arena floor for the second time this season, Arizona State seniors Moe Odum, Anthony “Pig” Johnson and Allen Mukeba sat shoulder-to-shoulder in a packed media room, eyes still red from the tears they had shared before toppling No. 14 Kansas. The scene captured everything about these Sun Devils: bonded by late-arriving chemistry, fueled by slights and suddenly carrying the weight of a program that was picked dead last in the 16-team Big 12 last October.

On Sunday that same chip-on-the-shoulder mindset followed ASU (16-15, 7-11) to the Midwest, where the 12th-seeded Sun Devils open the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship against No. 13 Baylor (16-15, 6-12) at 9:30 a.m. CT Tuesday inside T-Mobile Center. The winner draws fifth-seeded Iowa State, which throttled ASU by 20 just six days ago, in Wednesday’s second round.

“We were picked dead last in the Big 12 by everybody, and no one thought we could win any games, basically,” coach Bobby Hurley said. “I think we’ve proven a lot of people wrong.”

The proof sits in the record book: victories over ranked foes Texas Tech and Kansas, a three-game improvement over last season’s win total and a roster Hurley admits is “fun to watch” precisely because it is imperfect. Turnovers pile up, rebounds slip away, yet the Sun Devils keep arriving early for practice and playing through pain. Mukeba has been a game-time decision for three straight games with an undisclosed injury; two would-be rotation players are already done for the year, trimming Hurley’s bench to eight bodies.

No one on the roster was a five-star recruit. Odum, at his third Division I stop after Pacific and Pepperdine, calls ASU his “dream school.” Johnson arrived from NAIA Cumberlands without a single scholarship offer. Mukeba, Trouet and Ford have logged minutes while hurt because, Hurley says, “they’re trying to help the team win.”

That collective biography feeds the underdog narrative Hurley embraced last summer when he mined the international and transfer markets to replace a locker room fractured by character issues the previous season. One newcomer never saw the floor for conduct reasons; others learned quickly that emotional outbursts would not be tolerated.

“We prioritized high character more than ever this year,” Hurley said. “A lot of them are underdogs, like I always was, and that’s why I could relate.”

The approach produced cohesion rare for a patchwork roster. Odum and Johnson cried together before the Kansas game because they realized their shared time is almost over. After the win Odum said he would spend another year at ASU “in a heartbeat” if eligibility allowed.

“I want to be remembered … as a person somebody can say is respectful,” Odum said. “Somebody who came here every day willing to work.”

Work now means navigating a path that almost certainly requires four wins in four days to capture the league’s automatic NCAA bid. First up is Baylor, which beat ASU 73-68 in Waco on Jan. 25 when the Sun Devils faltered in the final two minutes. A rematch victory would likely bring Iowa State and its press that forced 23 ASU turnovers last week.

Hurley, whose team has already exceeded external expectations, welcomes the scenario.

“They’ve never given up,” he said. “They’re fighters. It starts with Moe Odum and goes right down the line.”

For a program picked 16th in October, the chance to keep fighting is all the motivation required.