By Lindsay Gaesser, SDA Media Relations
Tempe, Ariz.—Shaquielle McKissic’s career-high 20 points lifted the Arizona State men’s basketball team to an 86-50 win over Chicago State in the season opener on Friday. After a relatively slow start, the Sun Devils found their rhythm midway through the first half and never looked back, as the Sun Devils are now 35-5 in their past 40 home games.
With four players posting double-digit points, the Sun Devils presented a well-balanced offense with multiple scoring threats. McKissic led the squad with 20 points, nine of which were from beyond the arc. Juniors Willie Atwood, Gerry Blakes, and Roosevelt Scott each posted 11 points. Freshman Tra Holder, starting in his first game as a Sun Devil, led the team with four assists.
“I think offensively our guys did a really good job of trying to play the right way,” said ASU head coach Herb Sendek. “They really moved the ball and played unselfishly. As a result, they shot a high percentage, and had a good number of assists—17 assists on 30 field goals. It’s an unselfish team and a connected team, even for early in the year.”
The Sun Devils welcomed new faces in Atwood, Blakes, and Holder, who quickly displayed their athletic ability and talent on the court. Atwood opened up with a bucket from downtown, which McKissic followed up with a trey of his own.
Chicago State nipped at Arizona State’s heels early on, but a series of three-point buckets by McKissic and Blakes shook the Cougars, leaving them unable to recover.
“We needed to get the energy up,” said McKissic of ASU’s slow start. “And once it got going, it was like an avalanche for the other team.”
The Sun Devils shot 68.2 percent in the first half and were .500 from beyond the arc, including three from McKissic, who posted a team-high 13 points before heading to the locker room at half.
The Sun Devils continued their momentum in the second half, quickly expanding on their 12-point lead over the Cougars.
“Coach Sendek is always emphasizing winning every four minutes,” said Blakes, who recorded 11 points and seven rebounds in his first game as a Sun Devil. “So, we would try to win all the four minutes. It was like mini games within one game. With us being competitors, we were actually trying to win every four-minute segment. It helped us get the lead and stops.”
New faces saw playing time in the second half as well, with freshmen Kodi Justice and Austin Witherill and walk-on sophomore Corban Murphy each logging minutes. Overall, 14 Sun Devils took the court at Wells Fargo Arena on Friday night.
“We are not the biggest team so we need to have that chemistry,” said McKissic. “To see the pieces come together this year, I am so excited. I have never had so much trust and respect in Coach Sendek. Coach always preaches to us to stay connected and together. Behind the scenes and off the court we do a great job of bonding and connecting.”
ASU concluded its season opener shooting 61.2 percent (30-49) from the field and 43.8 percent (7-16) from three-point range. Ten different Sun Devils scored points and the team tallied 17 assists overall. Senior Jonathan Gilling and sophomore Chance Murray each netted seven points, while junior Eric Jacobsen notched eight points and six boards.
“The two constants for this team are that they really try to do what we ask them to do and they consistently give good effort,” said Sendek of tonight’s team effort. “I think both of those things were present tonight. Obviously we still have to clean some things up, but they are a great group to coach because they want to do better. They want to improve, they want to listen and learn, and they play together.”
Men’s hoops will be back in action on Monday, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m. MST, when the Sun Devils host Bethune-Cookman at Wells Fargo Arena as part of the CBE Hall of Fame Classic.
BIGGEST VICTORY MARGIN BY ASU UNDER COACH SENDEK
52 (87-35) vs. Western Illinois (Nov. 13, 2009)
42 (76-34) vs. Delaware State (Dec. 12, 2009)
42 (97-55) vs. Grambling (Dec. 14, 2013)
39 (104-65) vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
39 (95-56) vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) (Dec. 29, 2007)
39 (77-38) vs. Delaware State (Dec. 5, 2007)
37 (84-47) vs. Central Connecticut State (Dec. 29, 2008)
36 (86-50) vs. Chicago State (Nov. 14, 2014)
36 (90-54) vs. Miami Ohio (Nov. 12, 2013)
35 (96-61) vs. UMBC (Nov. 8, 2013)
SHAQ’S TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Chicago State (11/14/14)*
19 vs. Grambling (12/14/13)*
18 vs. UC Irvine (12/28/13)*
16 at Utah (2/23/14)*
15 vs. Oregon (2/8/14)
14 at DePaul (12/6/13)
*Sun Devil leading scorer
COACH SENDEK QUOTES...
"I think offensively our guys did a really good job of trying to play the right way, they really moved the ball, they played ounselfishley, as a result they shot a high percentage, and had a good number of assists, 17 assists on 30 field goals. It’s an unselfish team, and a connected team even for early in the year. I’ve been saying that all along that we’re really blessed with extremely high character, we’re blessed with team centered guys, with great attitudes. And I think that displayed itself on the offensive end for the opener. And even when we opened up the lead guys still tried to play the right way, that eludes guys."
"I thought our defensive effort was excellent, especially in the second half, I think over the course of the last two weeks we’ve made some good progress on that end of the floor, if I had a couple bones to pick defensively, I would say, we gave up too many second shots, we still have to be a much better rebounding team and we’ve got to cut down on some of our fouling. Sending the to free throw line for 23 attempts on 22 personal fouls was a bit high four our liking, Thought Shaq really did a great job, really got us going. But everybody who played I thought gave us some good minutes, tried to stay in their lane, and play the right way.
ON THE STARTERS AND THE ROTATION...
"I'll tell you what I told the team before the game, as much as any team I have ever coached, there is not a lot of separation between guys, and honestly any number of guys could start or come off the bench so what we try to do is just give some balance between returners and new guys. So we ended up starting three newcomers, two returners, but we quickly came in with three returners and a couple of other newcomers. It wasn’t so much trying to come up with ‘best five to start’ but try to get a rotation that allowed us opening night to have a balance between returners and newcomers.”
ON THE PERFORMANCE...
"The two constants for this team are they really try to do what we ask them to do, they try to play the right way, they have consistently given good effort. I think both of those things were present tonight, obviously we still have to clean some things up we always will, but there are a great group to coach because they want to do better, the they want to improve they want to listen and learn and they play together. So that’s fun.”