The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (9-3) hosts Cal State Bakersfield on Monday, Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. MT on the Pac-12 Network. ASU has won five of of its past six after beating Stephen F. Austin, which included a four-game stretch that had three road games playing in front of 52,961. ASU won at UNLV and at Creighton and lost at #5 Kentucky. Last year in its nine Pac-12 road games, it played in front of 69,519.
The other home game in that four-game stretch? A 67-54 win over No. 18 Texas A&M, which was coming off wins over Gonzaga and Texas. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (620 AM), presented by MidFirst.
FEW QUICK HITTERS:?Six players have led the team in scoring in the first 12 games (Eric Jacobsen and Andre Spight have not among top eight minute-players)...only two teams have outrebounded ASU, Sacramento State (first game) and Texas A&M (13-point Sun Devil win)...Tra Holder is averaging 16.4 points in his past five games...Willie Atwood is averaging 13 points in the past six games and has a career-high 18 vs. Stephen F. Austin which included making all 10 of his free throws...Kodi Justice is 27-of-33 (.818) from the free throw line in his career.
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What is the #ASU basketball team's identity? That's easy, it's Bobby Hurley, writes @PaolaBoivin. https://t.co/ft5Hsoxh8h
— azcentral sports (@azcsports) December 23, 2015?
AT HOME:?ASU is now 53-9 (.854) at home in the past four seasons, the most home wins in a four-year period since the Lionel Hollins-led Sun Devils opened the building in 1974-75. Prior to this era, the most home wins in any four-year era was 51 (1991-95 and from 2007-11). The best winning percentage in a four-year span came from 1979-83, when the Sun Devils went 49-12 (.803).
WILLIE THEN AND NOW:?Last season Willie Atwood averaged 11.6 minutes, scored 92 total points (3.0 per game) and was 11-of-31 (.355) from the three-point stripe. With a slimmed-down frame, he is a new player this year. He is averaging 27.8 minutes and is averaging 10.3 points and has three double-doubles. He has 32 offensive rebounds this year in 333 minutes after grabbing 20 in 359 minutes last year.
WOW ON THE OOC:?ASU played five games away from Tempe in non-conference action, and went 3-2 with wins at UNLV, at Creighton and vs. NC State in Brooklyn, and lost an overtime game to Marquette in Brooklyn and at #5 Kentucky in Lexington. ASU went 3-10 on the road last year and 3-13 away from home, and was 15-42 on the road (.263) and 21-56 (.272) away from home in the previous five seasons.
EFFORT STAT:?ASU is outrebounding its opponents by 7.1 per game and has 52 more offensive rebounds (172-120). Five players have grabbed double-digit rebounds this year, and ASU's rebounding leader in all but three games has notched double-digits. ASU has outscored its opponents 201-119 in second-chance points on the year.
BATTLED IN LEXINGTON:?ASU went to Lexington on Dec. 12 and was down just 32-31 at the half, 44-40 at the 13:34 mark and 49-43 at 12:12 but #5 Kentucky banked in a three-pointer to start a 19-5 over and won 72-58. Tra Holder led ASU with 15 points while Kodi Justice added 12 off the bench. ASU shot an uncharacteristic 3-of-9 from the free throw line in the second half (8-of-15 for the game).
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.
NOV. 23-DEC. 16:?From the end of November until mid-December, ASU had a seven-game stretch of game (which included just two home games) that was solid. The Sun Devils won 79-77 at Creighton on Dec. 2 (who was 89-0 when scoring 75 points in its home arena), topped #18 Texas A&M 67-54 (who beat Gonzaga) on Dec. 5 and lost at No. 5 Kentucky (Dec. 12). Prior to Creighton, the Sun Devils beat 2015 NCAA Tournament team NC State and dropped an overtime game to surging Marquette in Brooklyn. It also beat 19-game winner from year ago UCSB. ASU is 2-1 against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams with wins over Belmont and NC State (loss at Kentucky), and got a quality road win over Creighton Dec. 2 in front of 16,282 people screaming in blue shirts. ASU then had No. 18 Texas A&M down 25 in the second half before notching the 13-point win on Dec. 5, and finished it up with the comeback win at UNLV on Dec. 16.
NOT LETTING GO OF THE ROPE:?After going 2-6 in games decided by three points or less last year (losing first four), the Sun Devils have won three straight in this category. Creighton led for 28:27 on Dec. 2, while UCSB led for 29:50 on Nov. 29. ASU made its final 14 free throws to get the 70-68 UCSB win on Eric Jacobsen's putback with no time left, while the Sun Devils shot 18-of-28 (.643) from the field in the second half against the Blue Jays. ASU trailed 77-76 with 18 seconds left at CU and trailed 68-65? with under a minute left vs. UCSB.?
THREE NON-CONFERENCE ROADIES??When you toss out neutral site tournaments and talk only true road games, the 2015-16 season is just the second time since 1989-90 (also in 2010-11) that ASU played three non-conference road games, and they did it in a two-week span. ASU won at Creighton 79-77 on Dec. 2, lost at #5 Kentucky 72-58 on Dec. 12 and won at UNLV 66-56 on Dec. 16.?
YOU CAN CALL IT A COMEBACK:?The Dec. 16 win at UNLV was the fifth-biggest halftime comeback (down 12, 37-25) in 27 years of Sun Devil hoops (1989-90 to present). It marked the largest ASU halftime comeback since Dec. 14, 2008, when ASU came back from 16 down to beat IUPUI at America West Arena. It also is the largest ASU halftime comeback in a road game since Feb. 12, 1994, when ASU came back from 17 down at the half tot win at Stanford. ASU trailed 45-31 at the 17:12 mark but it was all Sun Devils after that, as ASU outscored UNLV 35-11 from that point to pull away 66-56. ASU held UNLV to 5-of-26 (.192) from the floor in the second half and grabbed 16 offensive rebounds which led to 16-1 advantage in second-chance points. ASU outrebounded UNLV 43-30, which included starting guards Gerry Blakes (11 and all on the defensive end) and Tra Holder (career-high nine) grabbing 20. Holder had 19, Willie Atwood 14 and Blakes 11 to lead the scoring.
ASU 67, #18 TEXAS A&M 54 (DEC. 5, 2015):?ASU jumped out to a 33-19 halftime lead and then led by as much as 25 before notching a 67-54 win over #18 Texas A&M. Willie Atwood had 15 points, Tra Holder added 13, Gerry Blakes had 13/6 and Savon Goodman posted 10 points and 12 rebounds. ASU shot .364 from the floor, but held Texas A&M to 19-of-61 (.311), including just 6-of-27 (.222) in the first half. Kodi Justice added 10 points off the bench.
ASU 79, @CREIGHTON 77 (DEC. 2, 2015):?ASU became the first team to beat CU in its building when it scores 75 (89-1) with the 79-77 win, as Savon Goodman led the way 23 points and seven boards. ASU, the second Pac-12 team to visit Creighton in the regular-season since 1978, fell behind by nine and was down eight at that half (41-33). ASU opened the half with a 14-4 run in the first 3:16 and shot 18-of-28 (.643) from the field in the scond half.
THE BENCH:?A big reason ASU won at Creighton despite being down eight at the half? Three guys off the bench in 21 minutes combined to go 6-of-10 from the field, 4-of-6 from three and score 16 points with zero turnovers. Obinna Oleka had eight points in 11 minutes, including a three-pointer at 3:25 that broke a tie at 72. Andre Spight for the second game in a row had solid second half, as he hit a three-pointer at 8:10 to give ASU a 67-66 lead and a layup at 7:13 to give ASU a 68-67 lead. Kodi Justice hit a three-pointer at 11:23 to give ASU a 61-57 lead.
ANDRE WAS A SECOND HALF GIANT:?Andre Spight is slowly but surely figuring out what it takes to go from junior college to this level, and his second-half efforts vs. UCSB and Creighton have helped lead ASU to a pair of last second wins. Against UCSB on Nov. 29, he had eight second-half points in 11 minutes, including a three-pointer that tied the game at 68 with 34 seconds left. He had all eight points in the final 6:47 and added an assist in that span. At? Creighton he had five points in five second-half minutes with two buckets that cut the lead to 67-66 at 8:10 and gave ASU 68-67 lead at 7:13.
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