Feb. 16, 2008
TEMPE, Ariz. -
By Matt Storey, ASU Media Relations
Forward Ryan Anderson scored 28 points and had 11 rebounds to lead California to a 76-73 win over the ASU men's basketball team Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena.
Guard Patrick Christopher added 20 points to help the Golden Bears get the victory.
"We quite simply did not have the requisite energy level that is necessary to win in the Pac-10 today," head coach Herb Sendek said. "Our physical, mental and passion tanks never got filled, and as a result, we were on fumes and never put ourselves in position where we really had a right to feel like we deserved to win.
"I most certainly don't want to take anything away from Cal. They clearly and unequivocally deserved to win. They were by far the better team today."
Freshman guard Ty Abbott led the Sun Devils with 30 points on 10-16 shooting, including 8-13 from 3-point range.
However, he was the only ASU player to really get going offensively. Freshman guard James Harden had just 11 points on 3-10 shooting, and junior forward Jeff Pendergraph had only three points and was just 1-5 from the field.
Pendergraph played just 16 total minutes, only four in the second half, and fouled out with 7:25 remaining.
"He's a big part of what we do," Abbott said. "So, to lose him that early in the second half, it hurts."
The Sun Devils shot 40.3 percent from the field and made just seven of 14 free throw attempts.
They also took a season-high 40 3-point attempts, making 16 of them, and Sendek credited Cal's defensive game plan for taking the inside away from his team.
"When James [Harden] put the ball on the floor today and drove to the paint, sometimes there were seven guys on him," Sendek said. "So then you do what? You pass outside, the guy has an open 3 and he takes it.
"I do think, having said all that, we took some ill-advised shots, we took some challenged 3's and we took some out-of-rhythm 3's. So those two things working in concert leads to the kind of numbers you see on the stat sheet."
ASU led through much of the first half, as Abbott's hot outside shooting helped the Sun Devils to take a lead that reached nine at one point. However, Cal closed the first half on a 7-0 run to cut the lead to one at the break.
The Golden Bears then began the second half with a 10-1 run, as the Sun Devils went nearly six minutes without making their first field goal of the half.
Cal stretched its lead as high as 13 with 9:13 remaining, and though ASU made seven 3-pointers in the final 1:11 of the game, it was not quite enough to make up the deficit.
The Sun Devils return to the court Thursday, when they play at No. 21 Washington State at 7 p.m. Arizona time.