Arizona State Hosts Texas A&M and Weber State
Fri., Dec. 19
Texas A & M Aggies (5-2), 8 p.m. MST, Tempe, Ariz., KMVP 860AM/No TV
Mon., Dec. 22
Weber State Wildcats (1-6), 7 p.m. MST, Tempe, Ariz., KMVP 860 AM/KTVK-3
|
| Jeremy Veal is avergaing 20.7 ppg for ASU this year. |
DEVILS FACE BIG-12 AND BIG SKY FOES:
The Arizona State men's basketball team takes on the Texas A & M Aggies (5-2) and the Weber State Wildcats (1-6) to close its pre-Christmas schedule. The Sun Devils take on the Aggies at 8 p.m. MST on Friday, Dec. 19 (8 p.m. tip-off due to commencement exercises in ASU's University Activity Center earlier in the day). ASU then takes on Weber State at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 22. ASU (6-3) is led by senior Jeremy Veal, who averaged 18.7 ppg. last year en route to earning All-Pac-10 and is averaging 20.7 ppg. this year, tops in the Pac-10.
The Sun Devils have just eight healthy scholarship players available, as 6-8 sophomore Okeme Oziwo is out for season with injuries suffered in an August car accident and 6-8 transfer Maurice McCree left the program in the fall (personal reasons). Two of ASU's three losses were to ranked teams (No. 2 Kansas 90-88 in OT and No. 11 UConn 82-61, both in the NIT at Madison Square Garden), while its third was to undefeated Oklahoma State (7-0). The combined opponent's record of ASU's three losses is 26-2 (.929), as Kansas is 11-1 and UConn 8-1.
RECENT TRENDS: The A & M game will mark the 100th straight for Jeremy Veal, who has yet to miss a game. Veal began his career against Texas A & M in the 1994 Maui Invitational as he posted seven points and one assist in 19 minutes off the bench on Nov. 21, 1994...ASU has won five straight home games. ASU's most recent single-season home winning streaks include: eight straight (1992-93), seven straight (1993-94 and 1991-92) and six straight (1994-95 and 1989-90)...ASU has used the same starting lineup in all nine games this year.
SHOOTING THE BALL: ASU has shot at least 50 pct. in seven of its nine games. The beginning of the year marked the first time ASU has shot at least 50 pct. in four straight games since November of 1994...ASU had shot 50 percent just eight times in the past two seasons entering 1997...ASU is shooting 74.1 percent from the FT line, its best mark since the 1986-87 squad shot 74.6 percent, which is the third-best mark in ASU history...Eddie House is at .484 (16-of-33) from the 3-point stripe after shooting just 31.8 percent (57-of-179) from the arc last year...Mike Batiste is 62-of-106 (.584) from the floor, while Bobby Lazor is 64-of-101 (.634)...ASU's 61.3 pct. shooting (38-of-62) vs. NAU on Dec. 3 was the best since ASU shot 62 percent at Cal on Jan. 14, 1995...ASU has scored at least 87 points in six of its nine games. Last year, ASU scored 87 points just three times, and two of those games were against non-Division I opponents.
MORE NOTES: Jeremy Veal is averaging 4.8 boards per game and had a career-high 10 boards vs. Northern Arizona. He has been (or shared) ASU's leading rebounder in four of the past six games...Bobby Lazor already has 162 points this year (18.0 ppg) after scoring just 96 points in 43 games at Syracuse from 1994-1996...Ahlon Lewis has posted 77 assists on the year after posting just 77 last year. Lewis is averaging 32.8 minutes per game this year after averaging 16.4 last year. He set the school record on Dec. 3 vs. Northern Arizona with 16. The 16 assists also is tied for the fourth-best mark by any Pac-10 player and is the most assists by a Pac-10 player since Jason Kidd posted 18 vs. Cal on Jan. 20, 1994...the 123 points vs. Delaware State on Dec. 1 is the fourth-most points in ASU history, and the most since ASU topped DePauw 124-73 on Jan. 2, 1971...ASU's 39 assists vs. Delaware State was the most by any Sun Devil team in the 1990s...ASU has outrebounded just one opponent (Wagner) on the year...the last two times ASU has started the season 3-0, it has advanced to the NCAA Tournament (1990-91 and 1994-95), ASU's only NCAA appearances since 1980-81...this year also marked just the third time in the past 10 seasons ASU has started 3-0. The last time was in 1994-95, when ASU won the Maui Invitational and advanced the Sweet Sixteen and ended the season 24-9. ASU also was 3-0 in 1990-91, when it ended 20-10 overall, and lost to Arkansas in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In 1987-88, ASU started 3-0 but ended the season 13-16...the Cincinnati win ended a 12-game road loss streak for ASU, with its last road win on Feb. 15, 1996 (69-66 at USC).
SERIES VS. TEXAS A & M AND WEBER STATE:
ASU is 2-0 vs. Texas A & M and 0-1 vs. Weber State...ASU beat Texas A & M 103-73 in the opening round of the 1994 Maui Invitational and 79-73 in the opening round of the 1987-88 Rainbow Classic in Honolulu...ASU lost to Weber State 59-56 in Tempe in 1969-70...Don Newman is 0-2 vs. Weber State, as the Wildcats topped Cal-State Sacramento in both contests in 1996-97...Jeremy Veal is the only current Sun Devil who played against the Aggies in 1994.
BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in 1984-85, only five Pac-10 teams have reached the Sweet Sixteen. Arizona (1988, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1996, 1997), UCLA (1990, 1992, 1995, 1997), California (1993, 1997), Stanford (1997) and Arizona State (1995).
ARIZONA STATE Sun Devils (6-3 in 1997-98) Pos # Name Yr Ht. PPG RPG Notes G 11 Ahlon Lewis Sr. 6-0 5.0 8.6* 16 assts. vs. NAU (ASU record) G 21 Jeremy Veal Sr. 6-3 20.7 4.8 1,504 career points; top Pac-10 scorer G 5 Eddie House So. 6-1 12.3 3.9* 16-33 (48.4%) from 3-pt. stripe F 4 Bobby Lazor Jr. 6-9 18.0 5.1 Syracuse transfer; 5 20-pt. games in '97 F 24 Mike Batiste Jr. 6-8 16.3 7.0 36 pts., 20 rebs. vs. Wagner/29 bks on year G 3 D'Angelo Jones Fr. 5-10 0.8 0.3 Walkon from Scottsdale, Ariz. G 13 Ron DuBois Jr. 5-10 1.6 0.4 Walkon who has earned scholarship G-F 22 Jason Patton So. 6-4 6.3 2.9 21 pts. vs. Del. St./11.3 minutes per game F-C 25 Okeme Oziwo So. 6-8 2.9 5.2 Will miss season (car accident injuries) F 32 Derek Smith Fr. 6-5 0.5 0.8 Walkon from Grand Junction, Colo. F 40 Urit Kelly Sr. 6-6 4.8 2.6 80.4 pct. from FT line in career (45-56) G 42 Reggie Hester Jr. 6-2 6.3 1.9 12 pts. vs. Kansas; 5-5 FGs vs. NAU * -- denotes assists per game. Note # change for Hester (#2 to #42) from media guide.
PAC-10 MEDIA POLL: ASU was picked to finish tenth by the Pac-10 Media in a preseason poll. The results, with first-place votes in parentheses:
1. Arizona (22) 2. UCLA (5) 3. Stanford 4. Washington 5. California 6. USC 7. Oregon State 8. Oregon 9. Washington State 10. Arizona State
BAD LUCK: Since 1990, 23 of 24 Pac-10 teams who have won 11 conference games have been selected to the NCAA Tourney. The exception? ASU in 1992-93, when it was 11-7 and tied for third. Also, 27 of 28 teams since 1990 who have posted 18 overall wins and 10 Pac-10 wins have qualified for the NCAA. Again, the odd team out was ASU in 1992-93.
BATISTE NOTES: Last season at this time, junior college transfer Mike Batiste was not even on the ASU roster, as the 6-8 forward transferred in December and played in 22 games despite have knee surgery the previous March...shooting 58.4 percent (62-of-106) from the floor on the year...posted 12 points, six boards and four blocks in win at UC...had career highs with 36 points and 20 rebounds vs. Wagner on Nov. 19...posted six blocks in opener vs. Northridge...made the Pac-10 All-Newcomer team last year with big games vs. Stanford and Arizona...posted three 20-point games in 1996-97...turned 20 years old on Nov. 21...a good FT shooter (71.8 percent in career)...already has 29 blocks on the year after posting just 17 last season.
GOOD HOUSEKEEPING NOTES: Mike Bibby and ASU's Eddie House were the only Pac-10 players to notch at least 50 three-pointers, 50 steals and 100 assists in 1996-97. House posted 59 steals, an ASU freshman record, and also hit 57 three-pointers and dished out 108 assists, the second-best amount for a freshman in ASU history...House already has 24 steals and 35 assists through nine games this year and has just 11 turnovers...was 5-of-8 (.625) from the floor with two three-pointers in UC win...had 22 points vs. No. 2 Kansas on Nov. 26...has 143 assists and 50 turnovers through 39 games in his career, a 2.86-to-1 ratio.
LEAGUE'S BEST SHOOTER???: Jeremy Veal also is the only player in the Pac-10 returning this year who finished in the league's top 10 in both 3-point shooting percentage and FT percentage. Veal finished third in 3-point percentage (.443/58-of-131) and 10th in FT percentage (.774/106-of-137)...Veal is shooting 78.6 percent (246-313) from the FT line in his career...posted 32 points against Cal State Northridge and 25 at Cincinnati...needs 331 points to become ASU's career leader...seventh on the ASU career scoring list and needs just 12 points to pass Joe Caldwell (1961-64) to move into sixth...only the second player in ASU history to notch 1,400 points and 300 assists.
DOUBLE-O: Okeme Oziwo, a 6-8 sophomore who played the 1995-96 season as a true freshman and redshirted last year with stress fractures, will miss the entire 1997-98 season after suffering numerous injuries in a car accident in late August. Oziwo suffered a broken tibia and fibula and several other injuries. He earned honorable mention All-Pac-10 Freshman honors in 1995-96 and had gained 30 pounds since his freshman year in preparation for this year.
GETTING TO KNOW DON NEWMAN: Named ASU's 11th head coach on Sept. 22, 1997...turned 40 on Nov. 22...born in New Orleans...played at LSU and Idaho...has coached at Cal-State Sacramento, Washington State, Moscow High School and Lewiston High School, both of them in Idaho...played for numerous professional teams, including: Seattle Seahawks, Boston Celtics, Montana Golden Nuggets, New York Jets, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos and Hamilton Tiger Cats...coached at Montana by George Karl...went 20-114 at Cal State Sacramento while taking team from Division I to Division II...CSS traveled to almost half the country (22 states) in his five-year career.
VEAL IN GOOD COMPANY: Jeremy Veal finished in the league's top five in both scoring (4th/18.7 ppg) and assists (T5th/4.7), becoming only the fourth Pac-10 player to accomplish the feat since 1983. The others are all NBA stars: Damon Stoudamire (1993-94 and 1994-95), Terrell Brandon (1990-91) and Gary Payton (1988-89 and 1989-90).
HOUSE ON ALL-FROSH SQUAD: Eddie House made the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team, becoming the seventh Sun Devil to accomplish the feat. Others are: Steve Beck (1983-84), Chris Sandle (1984-85), Jamal Faulkner (1990-91 and also Pac-10 Freshman of the Year), Dwayne Fontana (1990-91), Mario Bennett (1991-92) and Ron Riley (1992-93).
ALL-LEAGUE HONORS: Jeremy Veal earned All-Pac-10 honors, becoming the 13th Sun Devil to earn the honor. The last Sun Devil to accomplish the feat was Mario Bennett in 1995. Veal will have a chance to earn the honor twice in his career, something accomplished by just three other Sun Devils: Mario Bennett (1993-94 and 1994-95), Lafayette "Fat" Lever (1980-81 and 1981-82) and Stevin Smith (1992-93 and 1993-94).
QUICK NOTES: ASU led the league in turnover margin (+5.2) for the fourth time in the past five years...Eddie House earned honorable mention Freshman All-America honors from Basketball Weekly. House also set the ASU freshman record for steals with 59 and became the first ASU freshman to notch 50 steals (59) and 100 assists (108)...Mike Batiste earned Pac-10 All-Newcomer honors. Batiste joined the team in mid-year and played in 22 games and averaged 12.0 points and 6.7 rebounds. He shot 72.2 percent from the free throw line...Eddie House tied a Great Alaska Shootout Tournament record with seven three-pointers vs. Maine on Nov. 30.
MEDIA COVERAGE: KMVP 860 AM is the radio home of Sun Devil basketball. Tom Dillon, Arizona's Sportscaster of the Year 15 years running and the voice of Sun Devil athletics as well as the Arizona Cardinals handles the play-by-play duties. All games are on KMVP 860 AM, except those that conflict with other KMVP programming. Sun Devil games are then moved to KTAR 620 AM. Tim Healey and Gil Tyree handle the play-by-play and color commentary for KTVK-3. KTVK-3 will broadcast 14 Sun Devil games this year.
PRESEASON PREDICTIONS
*Lonnie White, Basketball Weekly...picked the Sun Devils to finish ninth in the league, in front of only Washington State.
*Pac-10 Media...picked ASU 10th in preseason media poll.
*Matt Paulson, ASU State Press...picks the Sun Devils 10th in the league