TEMPE — After an ugly Thanksgiving night loss to No. 19 BYU, 77-49, in Las Vegas, the Sun Devils had a better performance in the consolation game of the Vegas Showdown, beating Vanderbilt 82-67 on Black Friday. The wild Las Vegas trip produced a 1-1 record on the holiday weekend and some glaring problems with head coach Bobby Hurley’s team.
On Wednesday night, Arizona State welcomed Sam Houston to Desert Financial Arena.
The Sun Devils needed to be able to flush an up-and-down weekend before a three-game stretch of crucial conference home games in Tempe. The Sun Devils leaned on their veteran guard, graduate student Jose Perez, to lead ASU to a 78-61 win.