LAHAINA, Hawaii -- With the good came the bad Monday for the ASU men's basketball team.
Sun Devil head coach Rob Evans got a stellar performance from junior forward Jamal Hill, who scored 16 points in 37 minutes without turning the ball over. But senior forward Tommy Smith made few contributions while playing in foul trouble.
The end result for ASU was an 82-65 loss to 15th-ranked Kentucky in the opening round of the EA Sports Maui Invitational before a capacity crowd of 2,500 at the Lahaina Civic Center. The Wildcats advance to face Virginia, while the Sun Devils fall into the loser's bracket and will meet host Chaminade at 12 p.m. Tuesday.
"It's difficult to play against a good team from behind," Evans said. "We have to have all components working, and we didn't have everybody working as a group."
ASU (1-1) was forced to play catch-up after the break upon falling behind by as many as 20 points in the first half. The Sun Devils cut the lead to 12 points with 7:22 remaining on the strength of junior guard Kenny Crandall's three-pointer from the wing, but couldn't get any closer.
Hill and freshman forward Ike Diogu combined for ASU's first nine points on a night when their teammates struggled from everywhere. The Sun Devils shot 36.5 percent from the field, 22.2 percent from beyond the arc and 62.5 percent at the free throw line.
ASU faced a 19-point deficit late in the first half, but went into the locker room riding a wave of momentum after Hill showed the type of shooting touch that made him one of the nation's top-ranked prospects coming out of San Jose City College. Hill buried a pair of three-pointers and tossed in a bucket with two seconds remaining to help the Sun Devils trim the lead to 13.
"I just tried to let the game come to me," Hill said. "Give Kentucky credit. They came out and wanted it at the beginning. It's very tough to come from behind when they have such a big lead."
ASU started the second half with a burst of energy and trailed by only a dozen with 17:26 to go before Smith was whistled for his fourth foul. After Smith took to the bench with 16:18 left, the paint opened like Diamond Head erupting on the Big Island.
Senior forward Jules Camara tossed in a bucket, junior swingman Antwain Barbour scored four points and senior forward Marquis Estill added two points to help the Wildcats (1-0) stretch their lead. ASU was outscored 36-18 in the paint.
"We were able to get some baskets in transition," Kentucky head coach Tubby Smith said. "When you're playing well offensively, it usually helps your defense and when you're doing things right defensively, it usually improves you offensively."
Smith fouled out on a hand check beyond the three-point arc with 10:10 remaining. He left the game with eight points and seven rebounds.
"We have really worked hard with Tommy to try to get him to not make foolish fouls," Evans said. "We're continuing to work with him, but at some point it has to be on him. He has to understand he has to stay in ball games for us to have a chance to win."
Diogu finished with 13 points, marking the second consecutive game he has scored in double figures. He attempted only three shots in the first half while being double-teamed nearly every time he touched the ball.
"He's a very skilled player," Estill said. "We wanted to get him in foul trouble early and keep him on the bench as much as we could."
The Wildcats were led by senior guard Keith Bogans, who had 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field. Estill added 14 points, while Barbour and junior guard Gerald Fitch finished with 13 apiece.
ASU senior forward Chris Osborne didn't get into the rotation while nursing a sprained ankle. Osborne suffered the injury when tripping on a basketball in practice Sunday.
"He's one of the most unlucky guys I've ever seen," Evans said. "He was just warming up and he stepped on a ball and turned his ankle." Virginia shoots down Chaminade
History didn't repeat itself this time, as Virginia celebrated an 86-72 victory over Chaminade. Sophomore forward Elton Brown picked up the pace for the Cavaliers (2-0) in the second half after senior forward Travis Watson took to the bench with his fourth foul.
"His shoes are hard to fill," Brown said. "I just knew I had to be aggressive on offense and defense. I realized I had to go even harder."
Brown was 8-for-13 from the field and finished with a game-high 22 points. Watson and sophomore swingman Devin Smith had 16 apiece.
"It was a lose-lose situation," Virginia head coach Pete Gillen said. "If we lose, the coaches are bums, the players are bums. We were supposed to win, but it's not that easy. We beat a good team that played very hard and very well."
Chaminade (0-2) shot only 34.9 percent from the field in the absence of senior guard Kashif Reyes, who was sidelined with a sprained ankle. Junior guard Roy Stigall III had a team-high 18 points and senior swingman Rahshaw McAfee tossed in 10 to lead the Silverswords.
"They thought this was going to be a cakewalk," Chaminade head coach Aaron Griess said. "They thought they were just going to run right over us, but our guys weren't going to let that happen." Indiana overpowers Massachusetts
Head coach Mike Davis got 20 points from senior guard Tom Coverdale and four other Hoosiers scored in double figures as Indiana rolled to an 84-71 win against Massachusetts. Coverdale was only 5-for-20 from the field, but made 4 of 10 attempts from three-point range.
"I thought I could have played better," Coverdale said. "We weren't happy with the way we played, but we were happy we got the win."
The Hoosiers (1-0) held a 51-36 rebounding advantage, which resulted in 17 second-chance points. Indiana junior center George Leach recorded a double-double with 19 points and 16 boards, while senior forward Jeff Newton scored 14, freshman guard Bracey Wright added 11 and senior forward Kyle Hornsby tossed in 10.
"George really stepped up," Davis said. "He hadn't gotten 16 rebounds in a week of practice."
Massachusetts (0-1) trailed by only 10 points at the break, but misfired on all nine of its three-point attempts in the second half. Massachusetts junior forward Raheim Lamb finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds in 30 minutes.
"We're trying to build from scratch," Massachusetts head coach Steve Lappas said. "That team is there and we're not."
What's on tap
The Maui Invitational is scheduled to continue at 12 p.m. Tuesday when ASU faces host Chaminade. Massachusetts will then meet the Utah-Gonzaga loser at 2 p.m.
Virginia will square off with Kentucky at 5 p.m. and Indiana will hook up with the Utah-Gonzaga winner at 7:30 p.m. Both those games will be telecast on ESPN.
Want to get interactive?
This year's Maui Invitational is the first major college basketball tournament to provide real-time coverage of every game via the Internet. For access to scores, stats and live play-by-play, log on to www.mauiinvitational.com. Experimental rules
Several experimental rules will be tested this week at the Maui Invitational. The three-point arc has been moved back nine inches from the center ring of the basket to a new distance of 20 feet, 6 inches.
The free-throw lane has been widened by two feet on each side so that it now stands 16 feet horizontally instead of 12. The eight-inch free-throw lane block also has been reinstated eight feet from the baseline. The block acts as a neutral zone during free-throw attempts, meaning no player is permitted to step past it before the shooter releases the ball. ASU in Paradise
The Sun Devils hold a 5-5 all-time record in four appearances at the Maui Invitational. They fell to Utah and Kansas State in Evans' first year at the helm, before knocking off host Chaminade on the tournament's final day.
Led by center Mario Bennett, ASU strung together three straight victories to win the 1994 Maui Invitational. Former head coach Bill Frieder's team topped Texas A&M, No. 13 Michigan and No. 7 Maryland. How it all started
The Maui Invitational was founded two years after Chaminade beat top-ranked Virginia in what some people call "the biggest upset in the history of college basketball." On Dec. 23, 1982, the Silverswords pulled out a 77-72 victory against the Cavaliers, who had 7-foot-4 All-American center.