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They didn’t grow up feeling the Territorial Cup vibe, the polarization between athletic programs at the state’s two biggest universities, neither wearing nor disliking one of those gold “No Pity for the Kitty� T-shirts.

But, for 40 hotly contested minutes Saturday at Desert Financial Arena in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s 81-72 win over ASU, they were all behaving like ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ns.

“You could sense it at the start of the game,â€� ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ guard Caleb Love said. “It was a lot of chirping and things like that. Fans were into it.â€�

Love was into it. So the St. Louis native led the Wildcats with 27 points, carrying the momentum from his buzzer-beating heroics five days earlier against Iowa State, and .... didn’t finish the game.

That was all about chirping, too, apparently.

In a game with five total technical fouls, Love and ASU’s BJ Freeman were ejected with 30 seconds left. The game was already all but decided, with UA leading by the final score, when Freeman strode over to Love and head-butted him.

Later saying the head-butt did not hurt and that he and Freeman were "just competing," Love leaned back in protest, and Freeman was indeed ejected for what officials ruled a Flagrant 2 foul.

But Love was also ejected and officials did not clarify if it was because he picked up a second technical foul that would come with an automatic ejection: Love could have been given a technical for responding to Freeman and a second for responding to refs, but the official box score said Love only received one technical.

In any case, as the final seconds ticked away, ASU coach Bobby Hurley ushered his players off the floor before a postgame handshake could even be attempted.

Maybe that was just as well in case anything else happened, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said, noting during his postgame media session that he had not seen the video of the incident yet.

“Obviously it’s disappointing, probably on all sides,� Lloyd said. “We want to be a program that, when the tough things happen, we want to respond with class. I don’t know if we did or didn’t but it was just a tough moment in an emotional game.�

Hurley didn’t express any questions about whether the Wildcats did or didn’t.

“If you were right near our bench, it was relentless, constant chatter from a couple of the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ players that was not being policed properly,â€� Hurley said. “Of course, they’re going to be happy with winning, but it was done with no class, in my opinion.

“Words that were said back and forth led to the moment where Freeman lost it, lost his cool, because of the constant talk that was allowed to go on.�

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ of Hurley’s reaction filtered into the small room where ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ was holding postgame interviews, between Lloyd’s appearance and one with Love and UA teammate Jaden Bradley.

So, after the players sat down and answered a few other questions, Love was asked about Hurley’s comments.

“I don’t know nothing about that,� he said.

While the Love-Freeman incident happened in the final minute, when UA had pulled away slightly in what was a tight game almost entirely played within two possessions, the tension was building all throughout the midday CBS-televised affair.

Even the normally mild-mannered point guard Bradley heated up, getting called for his own technical late in the first half after making a layup and then appearing to gesture toward the Sun Devils’ bench.

“I’m not sure� what happened, Bradley said. “Me and the ref talked about it. Just a chippy atmosphere and I’m gonna do better next time and not put my teammates in that position for them to make free throws.�

It was the kind of taunting-related penalty the Wildcats had committed several times earlier this season, with Bradley’s T allowing ASU’s Adam Miller to essentially nullify Bradley’s layup with a pair of technical free throws that put ASU back ahead 25-23.

Or, another way of looking at it in a hotly contested game like Saturday’s, was that it prevented UA from fully taking advantage of the first technical foul, just over a minute earlier, when Hurley received a T for protesting a call with 5:13 left and Love hit two free throws.

“That’s not a great decision,� Lloyd said of Bradley’s gesture. “We need to have learned from previous mistakes, and we’ve talked about that. We’ll address that as a team.

“But I know emotions run high. Basketball is an emotional game filled with a bunch of random events. And sometimes people make decisions that maybe are regretful later, but you’ve just got to keep it moving.�

Ultimately, while ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s two technical fouls didn’t cost the Wildcats the game, and Love’s ejection did not mean he faces a suspension Tuesday against BYU, they did obscure the fact that Love stayed on a high level for two games, improving his candidacy for a possible Big 12 Player of the Week award.

Also, that freshman forward Carter Bryant had eight points and set career highs in rebounds (10), blocks (three) and steals (four). That guard KJ Lewis had eight points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals. That center Henri Veesaar collected 11 points and six rebounds against the Sun Devils’ big and athletic interior.

Nor that the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ defense held ASU to just 36.8% shooting and outrebounded it 52-38, while the Wildcats also took eight more free throws — making 21 of 22 while ASU was 10 of just 14.

Bradley’s technical came toward the end of a slow first half in which both ASU and UA struggled to shoot, with the Sun Devils missing 2 of their first 13 shots before former UA commit Joson Sanon hit a short jumper in the lane eight minutes into the game.

Freeman, who had missed most of the Sun Devils’ win at Colorado on Tuesday with a thigh bruise, began heating up with a personal 9-0 run to give ASU an 18-17 lead with 7:53 left in the half, and the Wildcats led just 35-34 at halftime.

Early in the second half, the Sun Devils took three different leads of up to five points before Bryant’s blizzard of defensive plays helped the Wildcats regain control. He grabbed three steals within 71 seconds that led to two free throws and a jumper from Lewis, who scored six straight points to put UA ahead 48-47.

“It was a great effort by Carter,� Lloyd said.

After Love hit a pair of 3s that helped the Wildcats go ahead by five, 54-49, ASU came back to tie the game at 60 on a 3 from ASU’s Miller with 9:10 left. But after the Sun Devils tied it again at 62 with 7:40 left, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ took the lead for good.

Over the next two minutes, Love hit a pair of free throws, then Veesaar threw in two dunks, giving UA a 66-62 lead.

The win moved the Wildcats to 15-6 overall and 9-1 in the Big 12, possibly pushing them back into the Associated Top 25 on Monday, while ASU dropped to 12-9 and 3-7.

The win also was Lloyd’s seventh in eight games against ASU during his three-plus-year UA career, and possibly the most heated one yet.

But Lloyd said he wasn’t sure about that either.

“I can’t remember,â€� Lloyd said. “It was great. It was fun. It’s a fun environment and you wish everybody can kind of experience it when you’re sitting in that frying pan a little bit. We like playing in these guys because it’s fun and it’s great for the state of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.â€�