The No. 16 Arizona State Sun Devils (14-3; 2-3) -- who returned just three players from last year's squad -- plays at California on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m. PT. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Radio Network while Darron Sutton and Don MacLean have the Pac-12 Network tip. Under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley (two-time NCAA champion, 1992 Final Four MOP and NCAA career assist leader) the Sun Devils are led by seniors Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice, who have made .779 of their free throws (946-of-1214). ASU is 11th in the nation in scoring (87.0 ppg.).
FG DEFENSE NOTE: Stanford shot (.508) from the field against ASU Wednesday, the first ASU opponent to shoot 50 percent in 12 games and just the third opponent on the year, as only Kansas State (.576) and Xavier (.556) did the same. Fifteen teams shot 50 percent against ASU last year. The last time ASU held at least 11 straight opponents under 50 percent field goal shooting was the final 13 games of the 2012-13 season.
SHANNON: In the past four games -- which included a 22-point second-half effort in the Oregon State Jan. 13 comeback win -- Shannon Evans is shooting 21-of-44 (.477) from the field, 14-of-26 (.538) from three, 20-of-25 (.800) from the free throw line and averaging 19.0 ppg.
KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including 22 in the Feb. 26 win over USC and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe. In his past 23 games, he is averaging 14.4 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
TRA: Tra Holder in five true road games is averaging 20.8 ppg including 29 at #10 Kansas and 31 at #17 Arizona. In the eight games away from home, he is averaging 20.3 ppg and is 51-of-60 (.850) from the foul line.
SOLID Ws: As of the Jan. 18 NCAA RPI, No. 27 ASU has wins over No. 5 Xavier (17-3) in Las Vegas, at No. 7 Kansas (15-3), at No. 62 Utah (11-7), vs. No. 71 Kansas State in Las Vegas (13-5), vs. No. 70 St. John's (10-9) in Los Angeles and vs. No. 101 San Diego State (11-6).
MORE TRA: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning his first Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? He averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in three ASU wins and shot .548 (23-of-42) from the field, .571 (12-of-21) from three and .813 (13-of-16) from the free throw line. He is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club and also gets to the free throw line as he is 475-of-626 (.758) from the charity stripe in his 115 games starts, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history (Ike Diogu, 671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
6. Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09/1,588
7. Byron Scott, 1979-83/1,572
8. Tra Holder, 2014-18/1,563
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG / RPG / 3P MADE
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0 / 2.2 / 12
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2 / 3.5 / 49
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2 / 3.7 / 46
2017-18: .418 / .842 / 19.3 / 4.8 / 43
FREE THROWS: In ASU's top-100 RPI wins, free throw shooting has been very good. ASU was 20-of-25 (.800) vs. San Diego State, 29-of-44 (.659) vs. Kansas State, 23-of-25 (.920) vs. #15 Xavier, 23-of-27 (.852) vs. Saint John's, 15-of-20 (.750) at #2 Kansas and 20-of-23 (.870) at Utah. It is 130-of-164 (.792) in those wins.
@STANFORD 86, #16 ASU 77 (JAN. 17, 2018): The Cardinal had 46 points in the paint and its two-man bench outscored ASU's bench 28-13 on 11-of-11 FG shooting in the win. ASU trailed just 37-35 at the half, but Stanford opened up a 60-45 lead with 11:51 remaining. ASU cut the lead to 70-68 (4:31) but could not get over the hump. Romello White led ASU with 19 points, including 11-of-14 from the free throw line.
20-POINTS: ASU has six players who have notched a 20-point game this year led by Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II (eight each) and Kodi Justice (three). Romello White has done it twice, while Remy Martin and De'Quon Lake have done it once. As of Jan. 15, the only other schools in the nation to have six players notch a 20-point game are Buffalo, Georgia Southern, Gonzaga, Penn and Seattle.
THANKS TO STATS LLC FOR THIS ONE: Entering this week only Memphis with seven had more halftime deficit wins than Arizona State's six. ASU came back from down at the half against Oregon State, Utah, Kansas, Xavier, Kansas State and San Diego State. ASU is outscoring its opponents by 7.8 points per second half this year, as it is averaging 46.0 points in the second half. ASU is 14-29 (.325) when it trails at half under Coach Hurley, after going 12-64 (.158) the previous five seasons.
PUMPED UP CROWDS: As a ranked team ASU will face its share of fired up crowds, but a good thing for ASU is they have done well under Coach Hurley in places that were large and loud outside of the Pac-12. In addition to this year's win over No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 10 in front of 16,300, ASU in the Coach Hurley era has won at Creighton (16,282), UNLV (13,014) and San Diego State (12,414) and hung tough with Kentucky (23,665) in his first season as it was a 32-31 Kentucky lead at the half and a four-point game with 13 minutes to play. Prior to Bobby Hurley, ASU was 8-22 in its previous 30 non-conference road games. It is 4-1 under Coach Hurley with wins at San Diego State, UNLV, Creighton and Kansas.
ASU OOC ROAD GAMES UNDER COACH HURLEY/CROWDS
#16 ASU 95, #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)/16,300
ASU 74, San Diego State 63 (Dec. 10, 2016)/12,414
ASU 66, UNLV 56 (Dec. 16, 2015)/13,014
#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 5, 2015)/23,665
ASU 79, Creighton 77 (Dec. 2, 2015)/16,282
KU WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest OOC ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher. Kansas also marked ASU's first road win over a ranked team since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
SPURTABILITY: ASU has come back from deficits of at least nine points in six wins. A look at games where ASU has flipped the score and changed deficits.
DEFICIT (TIME/HALF)/FINAL SCORE
Nov. 14: -9 vs. San Diego State (19:22/2nd)/90-68, +31 final 19 minutes
Nov. 23: -9 vs. Kansas State (18:16/2nd)/92-90, +11 final 18 minutes
Nov. 24: -15 vs. #15 Xavier (3:16/first)/102-86, 73 points final 23 minutes
Dec. 10: -13 at #2 Kansas (16:39/first)/95-85, +23 after 15-2 deficit
Dec. 17: -13 vs. Vanderbilt (15:03/first)/76-64, +25 after 13-0 deficit
Jan. 13: -13 vs. Oregon State (11:32/second)/57-44, 33-18 final 11:30
12-GAME STREAK: Much has been made about the best start in school history that not much was said about the win streak as it stood alone. The Dec. 22 win over Pacific gave ASU the second-best winning streak in ASU history. Only four ASU teams have posted 11-game winning
streaks.
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18: 1961-62
12: 2017-18
11: 1980-81 and 1962-63
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS INC. FOR THIS ONE: Since Stats Inc. started tracking this stuff in 1996-97, they unearthed that ASU was the first Pac-12 team to score 90 points in six straight games in more than two decades.
TRA NOTES: Tra's 40 points on Nov. 24 vs. Nov. 15 Xavier was the fourth 40-point effort in the NCAA this season and was the first 40-point performance by a Pac-12 player against a non-conference opponent since Sun Devil Jahii Carson dropped 40 on UNLV on Nov. 19, 2013. It is the most points scored by a Sun Devil against a ranked team.
MORE THAN A DOUBLE NICKEL: Six of the top 11 scoring halves in the past 15 seasons have taken place this year. Prior to dropping 60 vs. Longwood in the second half on Dec. 19, ASU dropped 58 at No. 2 Kansas and 58 on No. 15 Xavier in Las Vegas. On Dec. 22 it had 57 in the second half vs. Pacific. It also had 56 against San Diego State in the second half and had 56 vs. UC Irvine in the first half.
MOST POINTS IN HALF/2003-04 TO PRESENT
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
60 vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)*
58 at #2 Kansas (Dec. 10, 2017)*
58 vs. #15 Xavier (Nov. 24, 2017)*
58 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
58 vs. Oregon (Feb. 11, 2006)*
57 vs. Pacific (Dec. 22, 2017)*
57 vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)*
56 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 19, 2017)
56 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)*
56 vs. Kennesaw State (Nov. 18, 2015)
*notes second-half points
LAST TIME: ASU's 2017 Continental Tire Invitational title was its first exempt tournament title since Bill Frieder's gang won the 1994 Maui Invitational, which started the run to the Sweet Sixteen and a 24-9 record. ASU jumped into the polls at No. 12 after beating Texas A&M, No. 13 Michigan and No. 7 Maryland at No. 12 that year, never fell lower than No. 18 and finished No. 16 as it beat Ball State and Manhattan in Memphis in the 1995 NCAA Tournament before falling to second-ranked Kentucky in Birmingham.
GONNA' PLAY SOME FOLKS: Bobby Hurley is going to make an attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts against NC State in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and against eventual No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by agreeing to play at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, the squad played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in New York City, at San Diego State, in Orlando for three games, and finished a series with No. 9 Creighton. Kansas will return the trip to Wells Fargo next year after ASU's win on Dec. 10, and ASU already played No. 15 Xavier and hosted 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt Dec. 20. Coach Hurley has played four top-10 non-conference opponents in his three years, after ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS (SINCE JOINING PAC-10)
ASU 95 @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
#9 Creighton 96, ASU 85 (Dec. 20, 2016)
#1 Kentucky 115, ASU 69 (Nov. 28, 2016 at Bahamas)
@#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 12, 2015)
#7 Duke 64, ASU 53 (Nov. 25, 2009 at MSG)
#2 Kansas 90, ASU 88, OT (Nov. 26, 1997 at MSG)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (November 23, 1994 at Maui)
@#8 Oklahoma St. 87, ASU 69 (December 2, 1993)
@#9 Kentucky 94, ASU 68 (December 14, 1991)
@#2 Kansas 90, ASU 67 (December 22, 1989)
#10 North Carolina 85, ASU 66 (December 23, 1984 at Tokyo)
#6 Missouri 48, ASU 47 (December 27, 1982 at Honolulu)
SPLASH GAMES: Shannon Evans II arrived at ASU after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo. As a sophomore in 2014-15 he averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists and led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. He made his first 20 free throws to start last season. Also, he had 50 points in an exhibition win this year against Arizona Christian.
SHANNON EVANS II 25-POINT SCORING GAMES (4 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 vs. Idaho State (11/14/17)
25 vs. Washington (1/25/17)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
QUICK QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament
Happiest on the court: Winning the MAC championship
Past sporting event to go back and watch: Duke vs UNLV (March 30, 1991)
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
BIG WEEK FOR SHANNON: The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Shannon Evans II as its Dec. 10 Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. As the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, Evans was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors. The 6-1 guard had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 82-70 win over St. John's in Los Angeles on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, the Suffolk, Va. native hit five 3-pointers en route to 22 points along with five assists and no turnovers as ASU won at No. 2 Kansas. He averaged 20.0 points on 52 percent field goal shooting (13-25), including 53 percent behind the arc (8-15), and 5.5 assists with an 11-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 189 three pointers in 101 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 (freshman year) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove, and then adapted to a new coaching staff in the summer of 2015 while getting healthy.
FOUR QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it? John Wooden
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? Rumble in the Jungle
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman
Biggest challenge in my life: Being dyslexic
KODI'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / 3PM / PPG
2014-15: .424 / 17 / 4.6
2015-16: .394 / 60 / 7.9
2016-17: .421 / 63 / 9.2
2017-18: .470 / 49 / 14.1
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 52-of-73 (.712) from the field. He has 40 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 7-0 when he scores in double digits and 7-0 when he gets at least seven boards.
LENGTH: ASU has solid wing spans this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
SIX: ASU has six newcomers filling roles in 2017-18, led by three who were in the program last year. Romello White is a 6-8 forward from Suwanee, Ga. who practiced last season as an academic redshirt and was a top-100 player (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Texan Mickey Mitchell is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16, came to ASU in December of 2016 and became eligible on Dec. 10, while 6-9 redshirt freshman Vitaliy Shibel has a great southpaw shooting stroke but missed last year with an ACL injury. Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake has a 6-10 frame and a 7-2 wing span. ESPN 2017 top-100 players Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI), is a 6-7 swingman with 6-11 wingspan ranked No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and was No. 82 in the rankings.
HALF: ASU is 14-29 (.326) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
14 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-1) Oregon State 34, ASU 33/Jan. 13, 2018/ASU 77, OSU 75
(-1) @Utah 36, ASU 35/Jan. 7, 2018/ASU 80, @Utah 77
(-3) @#2 Kansas 40, ASU 37/Dec. 10, 2017/ASU 95, @KU 85
(-2) #15 Xavier 46, ASU 44/Nov. 24, 2017/ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86
(-2) Kansas State 44, ASU 42/Nov. 23, 2017/ASU 92, KSU 90
(-6) SDSU 40, ASU 34/Nov. 14, 2017/ASU 90, SDSU 68
(-1) USC 48, ASU 47/Feb. 26, 2017/ASU 83, USC 82
(-2) @UW 41, ASU 39/Feb. 16, 2017/ASU 83, @UW 81
(-1) Stanford 33, ASU 32/Feb. 11, 2017/ASU 75, Stanford 69
(-7) @SDSU 32, ASU 25/Dec. 10, 2016/ASU 74, @SDSU 63
(-3) #23 USC 30, ASU 27/Feb. 12, 2016/ASU 74, USC 67
(-12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25/Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(-8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33/Dec. 2, 2015/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(-2) UCSB 29, ASU 27/Nov. 29, 2015/ASU 70, UCSB 68
SUN DEVIL LEADERS (INCLUDES SHARED)
SCORING: Evans (3), Holder (8), White (3), Justice (2)
REBOUNDING: Holder (2), White (7), Lake (4), Justice, Mitchell (4)
ASSISTS: Holder (6), Evans (8), Mitchell (3), Martin (4)
SUN DEVIL WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS UNDER COACH HURLEY
ASU 95, @#2 Kansas 85/Dec. 10 2017
ASU vs. #15 Xavier/Nov. 24, 2017
ASU 74, #23 USC 67/Feb. 12, 2016
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54/Dec. 5, 2015
FREE THROWS: The Sun Devils made free throws at a rate that was third-best in school history (489-of-653/.749) last year. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best season.
SUN DEVIL CAREER STARTS
120, Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09
119, Ty Abbott, 2007-11
114, Eddie House, 1996-2000
109, Ron Riley, 1992-96
106, Tra Holder, 2014-18
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 media poll announced on Oct. 12, its top preseason ranking since being picked fourth in the final year of the Pac-10 (2010-11). ASU has been picked 11th (2016-17 and 2012-13), eighth (2015-16), ninth (2014-15 and 2011-12), and seventh (2013-14) in six previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.
FG DEFENSE NOTE: Stanford shot (.508) from the field against ASU Wednesday, the first ASU opponent to shoot 50 percent in 12 games and just the third opponent on the year, as only Kansas State (.576) and Xavier (.556) did the same. Fifteen teams shot 50 percent against ASU last year. The last time ASU held at least 11 straight opponents under 50 percent field goal shooting was the final 13 games of the 2012-13 season.
SHANNON: In the past four games -- which included a 22-point second-half effort in the Oregon State Jan. 13 comeback win -- Shannon Evans is shooting 21-of-44 (.477) from the field, 14-of-26 (.538) from three, 20-of-25 (.800) from the free throw line and averaging 19.0 ppg.
KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including 22 in the Feb. 26 win over USC and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe. In his past 23 games, he is averaging 14.4 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
TRA: Tra Holder in five true road games is averaging 20.8 ppg including 29 at #10 Kansas and 31 at #17 Arizona. In the eight games away from home, he is averaging 20.3 ppg and is 51-of-60 (.850) from the foul line.
SOLID Ws: As of the Jan. 18 NCAA RPI, No. 27 ASU has wins over No. 5 Xavier (17-3) in Las Vegas, at No. 7 Kansas (15-3), at No. 62 Utah (11-7), vs. No. 71 Kansas State in Las Vegas (13-5), vs. No. 70 St. John's (10-9) in Los Angeles and vs. No. 101 San Diego State (11-6).
MORE TRA: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning his first Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? He averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in three ASU wins and shot .548 (23-of-42) from the field, .571 (12-of-21) from three and .813 (13-of-16) from the free throw line. He is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club and also gets to the free throw line as he is 475-of-626 (.758) from the charity stripe in his 115 games starts, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history (Ike Diogu, 671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
6. Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09/1,588
7. Byron Scott, 1979-83/1,572
8. Tra Holder, 2014-18/1,563
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG / RPG / 3P MADE
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0 / 2.2 / 12
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2 / 3.5 / 49
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2 / 3.7 / 46
2017-18: .418 / .842 / 19.3 / 4.8 / 43
FREE THROWS: In ASU's top-100 RPI wins, free throw shooting has been very good. ASU was 20-of-25 (.800) vs. San Diego State, 29-of-44 (.659) vs. Kansas State, 23-of-25 (.920) vs. #15 Xavier, 23-of-27 (.852) vs. Saint John's, 15-of-20 (.750) at #2 Kansas and 20-of-23 (.870) at Utah. It is 130-of-164 (.792) in those wins.
@STANFORD 86, #16 ASU 77 (JAN. 17, 2018): The Cardinal had 46 points in the paint and its two-man bench outscored ASU's bench 28-13 on 11-of-11 FG shooting in the win. ASU trailed just 37-35 at the half, but Stanford opened up a 60-45 lead with 11:51 remaining. ASU cut the lead to 70-68 (4:31) but could not get over the hump. Romello White led ASU with 19 points, including 11-of-14 from the free throw line.
20-POINTS: ASU has six players who have notched a 20-point game this year led by Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II (eight each) and Kodi Justice (three). Romello White has done it twice, while Remy Martin and De'Quon Lake have done it once. As of Jan. 15, the only other schools in the nation to have six players notch a 20-point game are Buffalo, Georgia Southern, Gonzaga, Penn and Seattle.
THANKS TO STATS LLC FOR THIS ONE: Entering this week only Memphis with seven had more halftime deficit wins than Arizona State's six. ASU came back from down at the half against Oregon State, Utah, Kansas, Xavier, Kansas State and San Diego State. ASU is outscoring its opponents by 7.8 points per second half this year, as it is averaging 46.0 points in the second half. ASU is 14-29 (.325) when it trails at half under Coach Hurley, after going 12-64 (.158) the previous five seasons.
PUMPED UP CROWDS: As a ranked team ASU will face its share of fired up crowds, but a good thing for ASU is they have done well under Coach Hurley in places that were large and loud outside of the Pac-12. In addition to this year's win over No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 10 in front of 16,300, ASU in the Coach Hurley era has won at Creighton (16,282), UNLV (13,014) and San Diego State (12,414) and hung tough with Kentucky (23,665) in his first season as it was a 32-31 Kentucky lead at the half and a four-point game with 13 minutes to play. Prior to Bobby Hurley, ASU was 8-22 in its previous 30 non-conference road games. It is 4-1 under Coach Hurley with wins at San Diego State, UNLV, Creighton and Kansas.
ASU OOC ROAD GAMES UNDER COACH HURLEY/CROWDS
#16 ASU 95, #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)/16,300
ASU 74, San Diego State 63 (Dec. 10, 2016)/12,414
ASU 66, UNLV 56 (Dec. 16, 2015)/13,014
#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 5, 2015)/23,665
ASU 79, Creighton 77 (Dec. 2, 2015)/16,282
KU WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest OOC ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher. Kansas also marked ASU's first road win over a ranked team since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
SPURTABILITY: ASU has come back from deficits of at least nine points in six wins. A look at games where ASU has flipped the score and changed deficits.
DEFICIT (TIME/HALF)/FINAL SCORE
Nov. 14: -9 vs. San Diego State (19:22/2nd)/90-68, +31 final 19 minutes
Nov. 23: -9 vs. Kansas State (18:16/2nd)/92-90, +11 final 18 minutes
Nov. 24: -15 vs. #15 Xavier (3:16/first)/102-86, 73 points final 23 minutes
Dec. 10: -13 at #2 Kansas (16:39/first)/95-85, +23 after 15-2 deficit
Dec. 17: -13 vs. Vanderbilt (15:03/first)/76-64, +25 after 13-0 deficit
Jan. 13: -13 vs. Oregon State (11:32/second)/57-44, 33-18 final 11:30
12-GAME STREAK: Much has been made about the best start in school history that not much was said about the win streak as it stood alone. The Dec. 22 win over Pacific gave ASU the second-best winning streak in ASU history. Only four ASU teams have posted 11-game winning
streaks.
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18: 1961-62
12: 2017-18
11: 1980-81 and 1962-63
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS INC. FOR THIS ONE: Since Stats Inc. started tracking this stuff in 1996-97, they unearthed that ASU was the first Pac-12 team to score 90 points in six straight games in more than two decades.
TRA NOTES: Tra's 40 points on Nov. 24 vs. Nov. 15 Xavier was the fourth 40-point effort in the NCAA this season and was the first 40-point performance by a Pac-12 player against a non-conference opponent since Sun Devil Jahii Carson dropped 40 on UNLV on Nov. 19, 2013. It is the most points scored by a Sun Devil against a ranked team.
MORE THAN A DOUBLE NICKEL: Six of the top 11 scoring halves in the past 15 seasons have taken place this year. Prior to dropping 60 vs. Longwood in the second half on Dec. 19, ASU dropped 58 at No. 2 Kansas and 58 on No. 15 Xavier in Las Vegas. On Dec. 22 it had 57 in the second half vs. Pacific. It also had 56 against San Diego State in the second half and had 56 vs. UC Irvine in the first half.
MOST POINTS IN HALF/2003-04 TO PRESENT
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
60 vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)*
58 at #2 Kansas (Dec. 10, 2017)*
58 vs. #15 Xavier (Nov. 24, 2017)*
58 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
58 vs. Oregon (Feb. 11, 2006)*
57 vs. Pacific (Dec. 22, 2017)*
57 vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)*
56 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 19, 2017)
56 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)*
56 vs. Kennesaw State (Nov. 18, 2015)
*notes second-half points
LAST TIME: ASU's 2017 Continental Tire Invitational title was its first exempt tournament title since Bill Frieder's gang won the 1994 Maui Invitational, which started the run to the Sweet Sixteen and a 24-9 record. ASU jumped into the polls at No. 12 after beating Texas A&M, No. 13 Michigan and No. 7 Maryland at No. 12 that year, never fell lower than No. 18 and finished No. 16 as it beat Ball State and Manhattan in Memphis in the 1995 NCAA Tournament before falling to second-ranked Kentucky in Birmingham.
GONNA' PLAY SOME FOLKS: Bobby Hurley is going to make an attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts against NC State in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and against eventual No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by agreeing to play at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, the squad played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in New York City, at San Diego State, in Orlando for three games, and finished a series with No. 9 Creighton. Kansas will return the trip to Wells Fargo next year after ASU's win on Dec. 10, and ASU already played No. 15 Xavier and hosted 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt Dec. 20. Coach Hurley has played four top-10 non-conference opponents in his three years, after ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS (SINCE JOINING PAC-10)
ASU 95 @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
#9 Creighton 96, ASU 85 (Dec. 20, 2016)
#1 Kentucky 115, ASU 69 (Nov. 28, 2016 at Bahamas)
@#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 12, 2015)
#7 Duke 64, ASU 53 (Nov. 25, 2009 at MSG)
#2 Kansas 90, ASU 88, OT (Nov. 26, 1997 at MSG)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (November 23, 1994 at Maui)
@#8 Oklahoma St. 87, ASU 69 (December 2, 1993)
@#9 Kentucky 94, ASU 68 (December 14, 1991)
@#2 Kansas 90, ASU 67 (December 22, 1989)
#10 North Carolina 85, ASU 66 (December 23, 1984 at Tokyo)
#6 Missouri 48, ASU 47 (December 27, 1982 at Honolulu)
SPLASH GAMES: Shannon Evans II arrived at ASU after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo. As a sophomore in 2014-15 he averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists and led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. He made his first 20 free throws to start last season. Also, he had 50 points in an exhibition win this year against Arizona Christian.
SHANNON EVANS II 25-POINT SCORING GAMES (4 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 vs. Idaho State (11/14/17)
25 vs. Washington (1/25/17)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
QUICK QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament
Happiest on the court: Winning the MAC championship
Past sporting event to go back and watch: Duke vs UNLV (March 30, 1991)
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
BIG WEEK FOR SHANNON: The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Shannon Evans II as its Dec. 10 Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. As the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, Evans was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors. The 6-1 guard had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 82-70 win over St. John's in Los Angeles on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, the Suffolk, Va. native hit five 3-pointers en route to 22 points along with five assists and no turnovers as ASU won at No. 2 Kansas. He averaged 20.0 points on 52 percent field goal shooting (13-25), including 53 percent behind the arc (8-15), and 5.5 assists with an 11-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 189 three pointers in 101 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 (freshman year) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove, and then adapted to a new coaching staff in the summer of 2015 while getting healthy.
FOUR QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it? John Wooden
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? Rumble in the Jungle
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman
Biggest challenge in my life: Being dyslexic
KODI'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / 3PM / PPG
2014-15: .424 / 17 / 4.6
2015-16: .394 / 60 / 7.9
2016-17: .421 / 63 / 9.2
2017-18: .470 / 49 / 14.1
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 52-of-73 (.712) from the field. He has 40 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 7-0 when he scores in double digits and 7-0 when he gets at least seven boards.
LENGTH: ASU has solid wing spans this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
SIX: ASU has six newcomers filling roles in 2017-18, led by three who were in the program last year. Romello White is a 6-8 forward from Suwanee, Ga. who practiced last season as an academic redshirt and was a top-100 player (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Texan Mickey Mitchell is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16, came to ASU in December of 2016 and became eligible on Dec. 10, while 6-9 redshirt freshman Vitaliy Shibel has a great southpaw shooting stroke but missed last year with an ACL injury. Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake has a 6-10 frame and a 7-2 wing span. ESPN 2017 top-100 players Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI), is a 6-7 swingman with 6-11 wingspan ranked No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and was No. 82 in the rankings.
HALF: ASU is 14-29 (.326) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
14 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-1) Oregon State 34, ASU 33/Jan. 13, 2018/ASU 77, OSU 75
(-1) @Utah 36, ASU 35/Jan. 7, 2018/ASU 80, @Utah 77
(-3) @#2 Kansas 40, ASU 37/Dec. 10, 2017/ASU 95, @KU 85
(-2) #15 Xavier 46, ASU 44/Nov. 24, 2017/ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86
(-2) Kansas State 44, ASU 42/Nov. 23, 2017/ASU 92, KSU 90
(-6) SDSU 40, ASU 34/Nov. 14, 2017/ASU 90, SDSU 68
(-1) USC 48, ASU 47/Feb. 26, 2017/ASU 83, USC 82
(-2) @UW 41, ASU 39/Feb. 16, 2017/ASU 83, @UW 81
(-1) Stanford 33, ASU 32/Feb. 11, 2017/ASU 75, Stanford 69
(-7) @SDSU 32, ASU 25/Dec. 10, 2016/ASU 74, @SDSU 63
(-3) #23 USC 30, ASU 27/Feb. 12, 2016/ASU 74, USC 67
(-12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25/Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(-8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33/Dec. 2, 2015/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(-2) UCSB 29, ASU 27/Nov. 29, 2015/ASU 70, UCSB 68
SUN DEVIL LEADERS (INCLUDES SHARED)
SCORING: Evans (3), Holder (8), White (3), Justice (2)
REBOUNDING: Holder (2), White (7), Lake (4), Justice, Mitchell (4)
ASSISTS: Holder (6), Evans (8), Mitchell (3), Martin (4)
SUN DEVIL WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS UNDER COACH HURLEY
ASU 95, @#2 Kansas 85/Dec. 10 2017
ASU vs. #15 Xavier/Nov. 24, 2017
ASU 74, #23 USC 67/Feb. 12, 2016
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54/Dec. 5, 2015
FREE THROWS: The Sun Devils made free throws at a rate that was third-best in school history (489-of-653/.749) last year. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best season.
SUN DEVIL CAREER STARTS
120, Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09
119, Ty Abbott, 2007-11
114, Eddie House, 1996-2000
109, Ron Riley, 1992-96
106, Tra Holder, 2014-18
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 media poll announced on Oct. 12, its top preseason ranking since being picked fourth in the final year of the Pac-10 (2010-11). ASU has been picked 11th (2016-17 and 2012-13), eighth (2015-16), ninth (2014-15 and 2011-12), and seventh (2013-14) in six previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.