Arizona State (13-14 straight up, 15-12 against the spread) leading scorer BJ Freeman is no longer with the team due to conduct detrimental to the team.
“It was just unfortunate that it came to this,” ASU head coach Bobby Hurley explained after Sunday’s upset win at Kansas St. “He’s our leading scorer and a very productive player for us. It’s just we’ve had too many instances of either player or coach conduct with B.J., and he was already suspended once. It was a really hard decision to make, but it was based on this year, and he’s got another season to play. I’m sure that he’s going to still have a really good market for a place to land next year.”
In Big 12 play this season, Freeman was ejected from a 70-68 win at Colorado in the first half and also tossed in an 81-72 home loss to Arizona on Feb. 1. He was also suspended by Hurley for one game – an 86-73 loss at Oklahoma St. – two weeks ago.
Freeman, who transferred to ASU after playing for two seasons at Milwaukee, played in 25 games for the Sun Devils, averaging 13.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He was making 35.6 percent of his 3-pointers.
Freeman scored a season-high 26 points in a 95-89 loss at Central Florida. Before being dismissed, he had scored 21, 21 and 17 points in the three previous contests.
Without Freeman, ASU ended a six-game losing streak (1-5 ATS) in yesterday’s 66-54 win at Kansas St. as a six-point road underdog. Jayden Quaintance was the catalyst for the winners, producing 18 points, seven rebounds, two assists, two steals and one blocked shot.
Amier Ali added 11 points and Shawn Phillips finished with 10 points, 11 boards and a pair of blocked shots.
As a freshman at Milwaukee in 2022-23, Freeman averaged 18.2 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.9 APG. Then as a sophomore for the Panthers, he averaged 21.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.1 SPG.
ASU will play host to BYU on Wednesday night.