The Arizona State Sun Devils (17-15; 9-9 in the Pac-12) will travel to face the defending NCAA champion UCONN Huskies on Wednesday, March 18, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on ESPN2 in the NIT.
SERIES HISTORY: ASU and UCONN have met three times, with UCONN having a 2-1 series lead. The last meeting was on Nov. 28, 1997, in the preseason NIT at Madison Square Garden, when ASU fell 82-61. ASU fell to UCONN 66-60 on Dec 29, 1983, in Hartford, and beat the Huskies 74-69 in Tempe on Dec. 3, 1982.
NIT NOTES: ASU has appeared in the NIT 12 times (1983, 1990, 1992-94, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2010 and 2013) and is 6-12 all-time....five current Pac-12 members have won the NIT, as Colorado (1940), Utah (1944), UCLA (1985), Stanford (1991 and 2012) and California (1999)...under Coach Sendek the Sun Devils are 3-3 in the event, beating Alabama State and Southern Illinois in 2008 falling to Florida, losing to Jacksonville in 2010 and beating Detroit and losing at Baylor in 2013.
SPARKY BEATS LEAGUE CHAMPS: With UA winning the Pac-12 title, ASU is the only team to beat the Pac-12 champions in each of the past three seasons. ASU and Oregon State beat Arizona this season (16-2). Last year only California, Oregon and ASU beat the Wildcats (15-3). In 2012-13, UCLA won the league at 13-5, with losses at WSU, at Cal, at Oregon, at ASU and to USC in Pauley Pavilion. The Pac-12 champions are 44-10 in the past three seasons, and ASU is the only team to have three of the wins.
SOME NOTES FROM THE 18 PAC-12 GAMES: Savon Goodman was sixth in the Pac-12 in rebounding in the 18 league games at 6.8 per game. Only Josh Hawkinson (WSU/10.9) and Wesley Gordon (CU/7.6) will return with better numbers...Eric Jacobsen averaged 5.3 rebounds per game in Pac-12 play...Goodman's .571 field goal percentage (76-of-133) was second only to Jakob Poelt of Utah (.714/55-of-77)...Tra Holder ended fifth in the league in assists per game with 76 (4.2) in the 18 league games...ASU ranked fifth in the league giving up just 68.8 points per game in league play...Goodman's 39 offensive boards in Pac-12 games was fifth-best in the league.
GOOD RUN IN PAC-12: The Sun Devils were picked to finish ninth in the preseason media poll, and only Oregon (eighth to second) and Oregon State (12th to seventh) had better jumps.
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 PREDICTIONS/FINISH PAST THREE SEASONS
2014-15: 9th/T-5th
2013-14: 7th/T-3rd
2012-13: 11th/T-6th
CAREER CHART LOOK: When Jon Gilling takes the floor vs. UCONN, it will be his 131st game in a Sun Devil uniform, matching Derek Glasser for the school record. Also, Jon is closing in on the 1,000 point mark, as he has 992 career points.
GOOD COMPANY: Here is a look at how Tra Holder's freshman season compares to former Sun Devil Derek Glasser (2006-10), a four-year starter at point guard who is the Sun Devil career record holder for games played (131), assists (551) and free throw percentage (.838) and is the only Sun Devil with 1,000 career points and 500 assists. His 108 assists is tied with Eddie House (1996-97) for fourth on the Sun Devil freshman list, behind only James Harden (110/2007-08), Bobby Thompson (114/1983-84) and Jahii Carson (177/2012-13).
DEREK GLASSER (2006-07)/TRA HOLDER (2014-15)
MPG: 27.9/26.3
FT PCT: .778/.709
ASSISTS: 97/108
PPG: 6.3/7.0
DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING GAMES IN PAC-12: 6/9
QUIETLY GETTING BETTER: In his past 15 games freshman Tra Holder is averaging 9.9 points and has made 64-of-85 (.753) of his free throws. He posted a career-best 16 points vs. Oregon on Jan. 30, and and set career-best with eight assists (and 15 points) vs. #6 Arizona on Feb. 7 in the 81-78 win going against arguably the nation's best point guard in T.J. McConnell. How good was his 15 points and eight assists vs. Arizona on Feb. 7? Jahii Carson was one of the best freshmen point guards in the Pac-12 the past decade. He did that in a Pac-12 game once in his freshman year (21/8 vs. USC on Jan. 24, 2013). Derek Glasser, a four-year starter at point guard who is the Sun Devil career record holder for games played (131), assists (551) and free throw percentage (.838) and is the only Sun Devil with 1,000 career points and 500 assists, never had eight assists in a game in his freshman season (2006-07) and scored 15 points twice all season. Tra had another solid game with 14 points in 38 minutes at Washington State Feb. 13 and had 13 points and seven assists vs. UCLA on Feb. 18.
TRA HOLDER COMPARSIONS FIRST FOUR PAC-12 GAMES/PAST 15
MINUTES PG: 20.5/33.0
FGM: 0/37
3PM: 0/10
FTM-A: 6-10 (.600)/64-85 (.753)
ASST-TO: 8-9/71-44
PPG: 1.5/99
TRA HOLDER TOP SCORING GAMES
16 vs. Oregon (1/30/15)
15 vs. Stanford (3/5/15)
15 vs. #6 Arizona (2/7/15)
15 vs. Pepperdine (12/13/14)
14 at Colorado (3/1/15)
14 at Washington State (2/13/15)
14 at Texas A&M (12/6/14)
13 vs. UCLA (2/18/15)
CLOSE GAMES: After losing its first five games of six points or less, ASU is 6-4 in its past 10 games in that category.
REMINDER THIS GUY COULDN'T PLAY THE FIRST NINE GAMES: After not playing in a college hoops game for 635 days and missing the first nine games this year after transferring, sophomore Savon Goodman in the past 11 games is averaging 13.0 points and 8.6 rebounds while shooting 58-of-91 (.637) from the field. He posted 18 points off the bench in the 89-70 loss at Stanford on Jan. 17 and had 15 vs. No. 6 Arizona on Feb. 7 (7-of-9 shooting) to go along with nine rebounds. At Washington State he had career-high 14 rebounds, and then he went bonkers at Washington on Feb. 15 with 19 points and 13 rebounds prior to doing nearly the same Feb. 18 vs. UCLA with 20 points and 12 rebounds.