The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (3-2) returns from from Brooklyn to host the always solid UCSB Gauchos on Sunday, Nov. 29 at 3 p.m. in a Pac-12 Network game with Daron Sutton and Steve Lavin on the call, while Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the radio call on 92.3 FM. The Sun Devils topped NC State 79-76 on Monday in Brooklyn in the Legends Classic before falling in overtime to Marquette in the championship Tuesday 78-73. ASU is 2-0 against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams with wins over Belmont and NC State and is 51-9 in its past 60 home games dating to the end of the 2011-12 season, with victories over each of the past three Pac-12 champions.
WHAT WE LEARNED IN FIRST FIVE: Sophomore Tra Holder averaged seven points per game last year but is at 14.8 this year. He is 23-of-29 (.793) from the free throw line..senior Gerry Blakes is averaging 6.6 rebounds (4.2 last year)...senior Willie Atwood averaged 11.6 minutes last year but is at 27.4 this year...junior Savon Goodman has now led the team in rebounding in 16 of his 30 career games...after averaging 2.1 points and 1.8 rebounds in his first two years (64 games), senior Eric Jacobsen is at 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds past two seasons (39 games)....ASU is 70-of-97 (.722) from the free throw line in the past four games.
OBI ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON: Junior college transfer Obinna Oleka (Oh-BEE-nah Oh-LEH-ka) had no points and one rebound in the first two games, but since he only played five games for State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota two seasons ago and didn't play last year, a slow start was expected. Consider this: Before he took the court in the opener Nov. 13, his previous official game was Dec. 7, 2013...a 705-day break between games. Obi had 19 points vs. Kennesaw State on Nov. 18 to get warmed up, and then had 10 points and 14 rebounds (six on the offensive glass) in 29 minutes vs. Marquette on Nov. 24.
ABOUT THE NEXT FIVE: ASU's next five games are about as challenging as one can find among major conference teams in December. The Sun Devils host UCSB (19-14 last year), play at Creighton (4-1, averaging over 88 points a game and average attendance over 16K), host Texas A&M (#25 and just beat Gonzaga), play at Kentucky (Dec. 12) and then play at UNLV on Dec. 16 (just beat Indiana).
GOOD ON REBOUNDING: ASU is outrebounding its opponents by 11.6 boards per game and has 30 more offensive rebounds (75-45). Five players have grabbed double-digit rebounds in a game this year, and ASU's rebounding leader in each game has notched double-digits. After getting out rebounded by seven in the season opener, the Sun Devils have posted rebounding margins of 14, 29, 12 and 10.
VS. UCSB: ASU is 7-2 vs. UCSB, with the last meeting a 69-42 Sun Devil win on Dec. 21, 2009 in Tempe. The series started with an 85-80 Sun Devil Tempe win on January 25, 1957. ASU is 5-1 vs. UCSB in Tempe.
QUICK COACH NOTE: Buffalo was 285-369 (.436) in its first 22 seasons after going Division I (1991-2013). Under Coach Hurley the Bulls were 42-20 (.678) in his two seasons.
TRA IMPROVEMENTS: In his first 15 games last year, Tra Holder averaged 4.2 points per game and made just over 63 percent of his free throws. Starting with the Colorado win on Jan. 17, his play not only earned him Pac-12 All-Freshman honors last year it has carried over to this year, as he is averaging 14.8 ppg and has been ASU's leading scorer in three games (after leading the Sun Devils in scoring just once last year). Tra had a then career-high 17 vs. Sacramento State in the opener, and then led ASU in scoring in both games in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn with 22 in the win over North Carolina State and 15 in the championship loss to Marquette en route to All-Tournament honors. He already has made five three-pointers after making just 12 all of last season.
TRA HOLDER FIRST 15 GAMES OF CAREERFT: 31-49/.633 PTS: 63/4.2 PAST 22 (STARTING WITH CU WIN ON JAN. 17, 2015)
FT: 89-117/.761 PTS: 236/10.7 TRA HOLDER TOP SCORING GAMES
22 vs. NC State (11/23/15)
17 vs. Sacramento State (11/13/15)
16 vs. Oregon (1/30/15)
15 vs. Marquette (11/24/15)
15 vs. Stanford (3/5/15)
15 vs. #6 Arizona (2/7/15)
15 vs. Pepperdine (12/13/14)
SAVON UPDATED: Junior Savon Goodman was bothered by a foot injury in the preseason and missed the team's scrimmage at Long Beach State (Oct. 31) and Nov. 7 exhibition game vs. Western New Mexico. He posted 13 points and 12 rebounds in just 22 minutes vs. Belmont. Against NC State in his first start, he had a monster game with 21 points and 16 rebounds. In the past 17 games he is averaging 12.6 points and 9.5 rebounds and is 90-of-147 (.612) from the field. He has played 30 games at ASU and led team in rebounding in 16 of them.
QUICK FALL SIGNING PERIOD NOTE: ESPN tabbed Arizona State's November signing period two-man class as 19th in the nation. Sam Cunliffe, a 6-6 wing from Seattle who averaged nearly 20 points per game in his junior season, is rated as the top 2016 player in Washington, while shot blocker Jethro Tshisumpa at 6-10 and 260 is ranked as the 12th-best center prospect.
SCHEDULE: Joe Lunardi released his preseason Bracketology on Nov. 11, and it included 11 teams on ASU's schedule. Belmont, North Carolina State, Marquette, Texas A&M, Kentucky and Stephen F. Austin are the teams in the non-conference slate, while Arizona, California, UCLA, Oregon and Utah were picked from the Pac-12. ASU will play North Carolina State on Nov. 23 and then play either LSU or Marquette on Nov. 24 in the Legends Classic in Brooklyn. ASU will play Arizona, California and UCLA twice in Pac-12 play, but won't host Utah or travel to Oregon. So the Sun Devils are scheduled to play 31 games this year, 14 of them against Bracketology projected NCAA teams.
KODI 3-PT NOTE: Sophomore Kodi Justice has now made 23-56 (.411) from the three-point stripe in his 23 career games.
QUICKLY ON THE SIX RETURNERS: Senior Gerry Blakes had five 20-point games last year and shot .822 (60-of-73) from the free throw line. The Inglewood, Calif., native can score in bunches, as he had 16 straight points in 4:24 at Washington State and 17 at in 5:23 at Washington in back-to-back February games...senior Eric Jacobsen has trimmed down and is ready to have a great senior season. The Chandler, Ariz., product 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 entered his senior season with 98 games played and a career .576 shooter (148-of-257)...senior Willie Atwood will see quality time in the frontcourt this year. He once made 33-of-37 free throws in a junior college game...junior Savon Goodman in the final 12 games last year averaged 12.9 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 66-of-107 (.617) from the field...sophomore Kodi Justice is back after suffering a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25 as he missed the remainder of the season. The injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California...sophomore Tra Holder in in his first 15 games last year and made 15 shots. Two months later, he was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team, as he averaged double digits in the final 14 (10.1).
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 is a career .585 shooter (166-of-284) in 103 career games.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Sun Devils might have the best scout-team backcourt in the nation, Shannon Evans (transferred from Buffalo) and Torian Graham (transferred from Houston) will give the regular rotation fits in practice. Evans spent two seasons under Bobby Hurley at Buffalo and as a sophomore averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game helping to lead the Bulls to an appearance in the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. As a true freshman he averaged 8.5 points and 3.3 assists per game and was named to the All-MAC Freshman Team. He played in all 29 games off the bench posting one of the highest minute totals amongst all bench players nationally (26.4 minutes per game). Graham played two seasons at Chipola Junior College and left Buffalo to go with Coach Hurley and was rated as the No. 91 overall prospect by ESPN and No. 67 by Rivals in the Class of 2012.
GERRY: Southpaw and Inglewood native Gerry Blakes averaged 11.1 points and 4.2 rebounds last year after playing two seasons at San Bernardino Valley College (2012-14)...SBVC coach was ASU alumni Quincy Brewer, who played on the Sun Devil 1994-95 Sweet Sixteen team...had career-high 24 at WSU on Feb. 13 (including ASU's final 16 in 4:24)...in the Feb. 15 win at UW, he had 17 points in 5:23 of the second half (11:05 to 5:42) and ASU needed every bucket to stop an eight-game skid against UW and give ASU its first win in Seattle since another southpaw (with a small beard) was doing this thing in 2008.
GERRY BLAKES CAREER 20-POINT GAMES (6)
24 at Washington State (2/13/15)
23 at Washington (2/15/15) and vs. Colgate (11/29/14)
22 vs. Belmont (11/16/15)
21 vs. Alabama @Kansas City (11/25/14)
20 at Marquette (12/16/14)
COULDN'T PLAY THE FIRST NINE LAST YEAR: After not playing in a college hoops game for 635 days and missing the first nine games last year after transferring, Savon Goodman in the final 12 games averaged 12.9 points and 9.7 rebounds while shooting 66-of-107 (.617) from the field. At WSU he had season-high 14 rebounds, and then he went bonkers at UW 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 at Richmond he notched 14 points and 17 rebounds, including eight on the offensive end, in the NIT overtime loss.
SAVON GOODMAN CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES (7)
21/16 vs. NC State (11/23/15)
13/12 vs.Belmont (11/16/15)
14/17 at Richmond (3/22/15)
20/12 vs. UCLA (2/18/15)
19/13 at Washington (2/15/15)
22/11 vs. Detroit (12/23/14)
24/12 vs. Lehigh (12/20/14)