OPENING THREE GAMES AT HOME
The Arizona State men's basketball team (18-16 in 2014-15) opens the 2015-16 season and the Bobby Hurley era on Friday, Nov. 13, at 5:30 p.m. vs. Sacramento State. The Hornets were 21-12 in 2014-15, made its first Division I postseason appearance and set a school record with the 21 wins.
ASU's four November home games are Nov. 13 vs. Sacramento State (5:30 p.m.), Monday, Nov. 16 vs. Belmont (8 p.m.), Wednesday, Nov. 18 vs. Kennesaw State (6:30) and Sunday, Nov. 29 vs. UCSB (3 p.m.). All of those games are on Pac-12 Network.
ASU is 2-0 against Sacramento State with an 85-73 win on Dec. 16, 1995, and a 90-70 on Dec. 1, 2012. ASU has met Belmont once, beating the Bruins 92-44 on Dec. 22, 2000, while it will be the first meeting between Kennesaw State and ASU. The Sun Devils have won four straight season openers and six of the past seven.
BIG IMPACT GUY
Coach Hurley and Danny Manning are the only current college coaches who earned NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player honors.
POINT OF REFERENCE
Buffalo was 285-369 (.436) in 22 seasons after going Division I (1991-2013). Under Bobby Hurley the Bulls were 42-20 (.678) in his two seasons.
ABOUT THOSE 47 @SUNDEVILHOOPS HOME WINS
ASU is 47-8 (.854) in the past three seasons at home, and is the only team to beat the past three Pac-12 champions in that time (UCLA in 2013, UA in 2014 and 2015). Wondering how 47 wins stacks up? In the Pac-12 it is fourth, but in the nation it is tied for tenth. ASU has posted records of 16-4 (2012-13), 16-1 (2013-14) and 15-3 (2014-15) the past three seasons that includes a 21-6 mark in the Pac-12.
Arizona State's Bobby Hurley ready for big stage https://t.co/NUrNemqcsu
— grant hill (@realgranthill33) November 3, 2015
47-8 PRETTY DARN GOOD
The Sun Devils enter the 2015-16 47-8 (.854) at home in the past three seasons, one of the best marks in the four decades of hoops in Wells Fargo Arena. Since the Lionel Hollins-led Sun Devils opened the building in 1974-75, the most home wins in any four-year era is 51 (1991-95 and 2007-11). The best winning percentage in a four-year span came from 1979-83, when the Sun Devils went 49-12 (.803).
ABOUT THOSE ROAD GAMES
ASU will play at Kentucky, UNLV and Creighton this year. Kentucky (23,572 average attendance) trailed only Syracuse (23,854) in average home attendance last year, while Creighton (17,048) was sixth behind only Louisville, North Carolina and Wisconsin. In addition, Kentucky was ranked No. 1 in the RPI last year. Want more? In ASU's nine Pac-12 road games last year the Sun Devils played in front of 69,519 fans. Kentucky, UNLV and Creighton, who ASU plays in a 14-day span in December, averaged a total 52,377 fans.
GOOD SCHEDULE
ASU will have at least 10 non-conference games against teams in the top 155 of last year's RPI with Kentucky (1), Stephen F. Austin (33), NC State (39), LSU (57) or Marquette (147), Texas A&M (67), UCSB (87), Belmont (105), UNLV (114), Sacramento State (142) and Creighton (151). Kentucky, Stephen F. Austin, LSU, NC State, and Belmont made the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Sun Devils will travel to Creighton (Dec. 2), Kentucky (Dec. 12/ESPN/1:15 p.m. ET) and UNLV (Dec. 16/CBS Sports Network/7 p.m. PT) in a two-week span, and host Texas A&M (Dec. 5/ESPN2/8:30 p.m.), who is in the ESPN Way-To-Early Preseason Top-25.
EJ MAKES SHOTS
He doesn't take a lot of them, but when he does, he makes them. Eric Jacobsen shot .626 from the field (102-of-163) last season, the fourth-best season mark in Sun Devil history. Jacobsen averaged 28.6 minutes, 8.3 points and 5.9 rebounds last year in 34 games after averaging 8.8 minutes, 2.1 points and 1.8 rebounds in his first two seasons. He will enter his senior season with 98 games played and a career .576 shooter (148-of-257).
FINAL FOUR IN 2017
Remember that Arizona State and Phoenix host the 2017 Final Four, the first Final Four held west of Texas since Seattle in 1995. It will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals. The 2017 Final Four will also mark the 25th anniversary of Bobby Hurley earning 1992 Most Outstanding Player honors.
REMINDER THIS GUY COULDN'T PLAY THE FIRST NINE GAMES LAST YEAR
After not playing in a college hoops game for 635 days and missing the first nine games last year after transferring, sophomore Savon Goodman in the final 12 games averaged 12.9 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 66-of-107 (.617) 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. His final game of the season he was off the charts at Richmond in the NIT, notching 14 points and 17 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end, in the NIT overtime loss to Richmond.
Is Savon Goodman the Pac-12's most overlooked player? Maybe. His play will have a lot to do w/ ASU's 2015-16 success https://t.co/BbxoG8IY3m
— Doug Haller (@DougHaller) November 9, 2015
WHEN WAS LAST TIME ASU PLAYED THREE NON-CONFERENCE ROADIES?
When you toss out neutral site tournaments and talk only true road games, the 2015-16 season will be the just the second time since 1989-90 (also in 2010-11) that ASU will play three non-conference road games. This year will mark just the sixth time in ASU's 38 seasons of Pac-12 play it will go on the road for three non-conference games.
SEASONS OF THREE NON-CONFERENCE ROAD GAMES (1978-79 TO PRESENT)
2015-16 (at Creighton, Kentucky and UNLV)
2010-11 (at New Mexico, Baylor and Nevada)
1989-90 (at San Francisco, Northern Arizona and Kansas)
1982-83 (at DePaul, Ohio State and Kansas State)
1981-82 (at Kansas, Utah and Marquette)
1978-79 (at Purdue, Hawaii and San Diego State)
GOOD COMPANY: Here is a look at how Tra Holder's freshman season compared to former Sun Devil Derek Glasser (2006-10), a four-year starter at point guard who set Sun Devil career records 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. Tra’s 115 assists in 2014-15 is second on the Sun Devil freshman list behind only Jahii Carson (177/2012-13).
DEREK GLASSER (2006-07)/TRA HOLDER (2014-15)
MPG: 27.9/27.0 FT PCT: .778/.708
ASSISTS: 97/115
PPG: 6.3/7.0
DOUBLE DIGIT SCORING GAMES: 7/13