Arizona State assistant returns following suspicion of DUI arrest

Arizona State assistant coach Brian Merritt returned to practice Tuesday following a two-week absence after being arrested on suspicion of DUI and being impaired to the slightest degree on Feb. 13.

"He made a mistake," Sun Devils head coach Bobby Hurley said to Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic. "He apologized to the team and coaching staff, and hopefully, we just learn from it and move forward."

Police reports say Merritt was pulled over following an illegal turn in Scottsdale, Ariz., on the night of the 13th. He then failed the ensuing sobriety test, registering a blood-alcohol level of .109 percent. The Sun Devils have lost all four games in Merritt's absence.

"You could rewind back and imagine what I might have felt like prior to the UCLA game," Hurley said of the first game in the Sun Devils' current losing streak. "We need to just focus on basketball, and that's why I was hoping we could get to a week that we could just do that. Maybe it's next week, and that'd be a great time for us just to focus on basketball, considering it's the Pac-12 tournament."

Merritt's arrest is just the latest incident in a tumultuous season off the court for the Sun Devils. Three players have been suspended this season for various rules violations, and Andre Spight left the team last week following an argument with Hurley. The product on the court hasn't been much better, as Arizona State has posted a dismal 4-12 record in conference play during Hurley's first season in the desert.

The Sun Devils are next in action on Thursday when they'll be visited by Stanford, in what will be Arizona State's second-last Pac-12 game of the season.