Hurley doesn’t block UA fans; he reads them

During his college days at Duke, Bobby Hurley learned about rivalry nastiness. He encountered it every time the Blue Devils played North Carolina.

“I enjoyed that rivalry. It was fun,” the Arizona State coach said Tuesday, not long after the Sun Devils finished practice at Wells Fargo Arena, where Thursday they’ll face No. 17 Arizona.

“It was extreme, kind of like this one is. I just always liked that I encountered so many North Carolina fans that said to me after my career, ‘Hey, you were one of my favorite Duke players, just (with) how you played and competed.’ So I’m just going to wait for the day that an Arizona fan will say that to me.

“I don’t think it’s coming anytime soon, though.”

During his three years in Tempe, Hurley has emerged as Public Enemy No. 1 for Arizona fans. This season, with the No. 25 Sun Devils (19-6, 7-6 in the Pac-12) having success, spending most of the past two months in the national polls, it might be worse.

He understands. Somewhat.

“I’m such a great guy,” Hurley said sarcastically. “I’m such a low-key guy. I keep my composure on the sideline. They should love me, just like our fans do.”

ASU on Dec. 30 opened the conference season in Tucson, a game the Sun Devils lost 84-78. Fans yelled at Hurley throughout. For the most part – with the exception of a brief exchange as he walked to the locker room at halftime – Hurley blocked it out.

“At their place, it’s an intense atmosphere,” Hurley said. “It was a real atmosphere, and I’ve been in a bunch of them so I have experience with that. I think it’s more of the social-media blitz that you get and those attacks, but that’s fine. I’m a big boy. I can handle it.”

Hurley, of course, didn’t have to worry about social media during his playing days because it didn’t exist. As a coach, he used to block obnoxious fans on Twitter, but not so much anymore.

“I gave up on blocks,” he said. “I tried a few last year. I drew a line with inappropriate language directed at me with it, so now it’s anything goes.”

Team improvement

Hurley didn’t watch video of the Dec. 30 Arizona matchup right away because he had to move on to ASU’s next opponent. But after watching it recently, he thought the Sun Devils defended better than he remembered.

“There were some things offensively that we didn’t take advantage of, that if we do a better job on that end of the floor, that will help us in this game,” Hurley said. “I just liked that we faced a deficit a couple times and came back, showed a lot of will and determination.”

In some ways, ASU is a different team. Pac-12 opponents have zoned the Sun Devils, slowing the pace and limiting extended runs. It’s forced ASU to learn how to win in different ways.

“We were coming at you (in) waves and just scoring a bunch of points so fast,” Hurley said. “We’ve had some of those runs (but) not to the extreme that they were early, so we’ve had to play more of a possession game. We’ve had to learn as a team to play through those styles. That’s going to be the biggest thing that helps us the rest of the way.”

Free throws

Freshman forward Kimani Lawrence produced eight points, seven rebounds and three steals in Saturday’s UCLA win. Asked if the freshman forward would play a bigger role Thursday, Hurley said he’d let the game determine his decision. “Certainly, he’s put himself in position of gaining more trust with me based on his play recently,” Hurley said. “... I couldn’t take him out of the game (in Saturday’s) second half, that’s how well he was playing.”