However, as the clock ticked down on Arizona’s 22nd straight victory, the game felt as if it were being played in Tucson instead of Tempe.

Behind a great showing from Wildcats fans on the road and a commanding second half, No. 1 Arizona (22-0, 9-0 Big 12) stayed flawless on the season with an 87-74 victory over the Sun Devils (11-11, 2-7 Big 12) at Desert Financial Arena in Tempe on Saturday, Jan. 31.

Freshman forward and Chandler native Koa Peat led the charge for the Wildcats with 21 points, including 15 in the second half.

Peat, a projected lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft — who picked Arizona over ASU when deciding between his final two schools — averaged 22.5 points in two contests against the Sun Devils this season.

Freshman guard Brayden Burries finished with 17 points for the Wildcats, while junior center Motiejus Krivas contributed 15 points and three blocks.

Senior guard Moe Odum started hot for ASU, pouring in 12 points in the first half alone. However, Odum went 1-for-6 from the field in the final 20 minutes and only finished with 15 points in the game.

Odum’s cold shooting was a microcosm of an overall cold half for the Sun Devils, as they went 10-for-26 from the field to start the second half before a late scoring spurt from sophomore guard Noah Meeusen that was too little, too late.

Meeusen led all ASU scorers for the first time this season, finishing with 16 points off the bench.

A key turning point in the second half was an Arizona fastbreak that led to Odum picking up his fourth foul with 13:34 left on the clock, sidelining him for a large chunk of the second half and frustrating Sun Devils coach Bobby Hurley.

“He’s gotta know better,” Hurley said. “Not having him on the floor definitely hurt for that period of time.”

From that point until the Wildcats took out their starters with 1:03 remaining, Arizona opened up a 35-20 run and put the game to bed.

The Wildcats also dominated the boards in the second half, outrebounding ASU 24-10 in the final frame. Odum attributed the rebounding problems after halftime to one glaring issue.

“Our intensity,” Odum said. “They picked theirs up, we let ours down. That’s just been the thing the whole season.”

Recently, the second-half struggles have been even worse, as the Sun Devils have either led or been tied at halftime and come up empty in four of their last six games.

ASU also left points at the line all game, going 60% (12-for-20) from the charity stripe on Saturday. In particular, Odum and senior guard Anthony “Pig” Johnson — two of the three most efficient free-throw shooters on the Sun Devils roster this season — went a combined 0-for-5 from the line.

“We should be able to shoot free throws better,” Hurley said. “There’s no excuse for that.”

The free-throw issues carried over from ASU’s narrow loss on Tuesday at UCF, where the Sun Devils only connected on 70% of their attempts from the stripe.

In the bigger picture, today’s loss continues a draining cold streak for ASU against the Wildcats, as Arizona has prevailed in 12 of the last 13 games in the rivalry series.

It also drops Hurley’s career record against the Wildcats to 4-19, a mark that has many Sun Devil supporters calling for a change at the top.

However, those same ASU supporters were outperformed in their own gym by a raucous Arizona fanbase that consistently drowned out the noise from the home fans and changed the atmosphere for Hurley and his players.

“Unfortunately, there were too many red shirts in the arena,” Hurley said. “It was not a home game.”

The Sun Devils drop to 2-7 on the year in conference play and are left with a lot of work to do in order to stay competitive in a loaded Big 12.

In Odum’s opinion, there’s no doubt about where ASUs work needs to start.

“It’s us,” Odum said. “This has nothing to do with anybody but us if we don’t fix it.”