The effort was certainly there.
Despite having its five starters play all but one minute of Thursday night’s game, the Arizona State Sun Devils gave the big, bad, fifth-ranked UCLA Bruins all they could handle before eventually falling, 87-75.
And while the players involved came short of calling the performance a moral victory, there’s no denying the fact that the outing was a step in the right direction for a growing program like Arizona State’s.
“We battled the whole time,” said Kodi Justice after the loss. “I wouldn’t trade the five we had out on the court for anybody.