The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (11-7; 1-4) travels to the Bay Area this week as it faces California on Thursday (Jan. 21) for a Fox Sports 1 6 p.m. PT game and then takes on Stanford on Saturday in Pac-12 Net game tipping at 8 p.m. PT.
Kevin Burkhardt and Jim Jackson have the call for Fox Sports 1, while Ted Robinson and Don MacLean have the Pac-12 Network broadcast duties Saturday.
Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (620 AM), presented by MidFirst.
ASU has won the past five against California, sweeping the Bears the past two seasons for the first time since 1999-2000.
The Sun Devils are averaging 76.2 points per game, their best mark sincet the 2002-03 squad average 77 en route to a 20-12 mark and NCAA Tournament win over John Calipari's Memphis Tigers.
TEN TWEETABLES ABOUT @SUNDEVILHOOPS...
√ Tra Holder: 19.9 points in past 9 games and is 21-47 (.447) from 3PT in that time
√ Willie Atwood: 12.4 ppg. and 40-of-45 (.889) FTs in past 9 games
√ Obi Oleka: 10.6 ppg. in past 8 games and 22-26 (.846) FTs
√ Kodi Justice: 14.7 ppg past 3 games, 17-32 (.531) FGs
√ 290-of-404 (.718) from the free throw line in the past 17 games
√ Averaging 42.1 points in second half (33.8 in the first half)
√ 10 turnovers per game in the past six; 13.2 in first 12 tilts
√ ASU 5th in the Pac-12 in FT% at .708, its best mark since 2009-10 (.712)
√ As of Jan. 18 the Pac-12's top RPI win is ASU over #6 Texas A&M (Dec. 5)
√ ASU has won past five against California and swept Bears past two seasons
RPI/SOS: As of the Jan. 18 official NCAA RPI, here are the 11 top-50 RPI teams who also have a top-15 SOS: Oklahoma (1 RPI/9 SOS), Villanova (2/1), Kansas (4/6), Iowa (8/10), Oregon (9/7), Dayton (10/15), Florida (18/2), Texas (27/3), Texas Tech (36/5), Stanford (44/4) and ASU (50/11).
52,961: In early December ASU had a four-game stretch that included three road games and home game vs. a SEC ranked team. ASU won at Creighton (Dec. 2) and UNLV and lost at #5 Kentucky (Dec. 12), playing in front 52,961 in those three games, while last year in its nine Pac-12 road games, ASU played in front of 69,519. The home game in that stretch? A 67-54 win over No. 18 Texas A&M (in which ASU led by 25) on Dec. 5, which itself was coming off wins over Gonzaga and Texas.
ONE CALENDAR YEAR: Last year after the Jan. 15 Utah game Tra Holder was shooting below 30 percent, had 15 buckets, two three-pointers and was averaging just over four points. One calendar year later, in the first 18 games this year he is averaging a team-best 16.2 points and has made 28 three-pointers. Already he has led the team in scoring in 11 games and has six 20-point games. He became the first Sun Devil to post five straight 20-point games since James Harden did it in his freshman season of 2007-08 and the first Pac-12 player to open league play with four straight 20-point games since Patrick Christopher in 2008-09. a Pac-12 season sincHe had 23 vs. Cal-State Bakersfield on Dec. 28, then got 24 vs. Arizona (1/3), 21 at USC (1/7), 26 at UCLA (1/9) and 20 vs. WSU (1/14).
TRA HOLDER A YEAR AGO STATS...AND NOW
DATE---GAMES/MIN PG---FG/%---3PT/%---FT%/PG---PTS/PG
JAN. 16, 2015---15/19.5---15-54/.278---2-12/.167---31-49/.633 63/4.2
JAN. 16, 2016---18/30.9---90-210/.429---28-74/.378---83-111/.748---291/16.2
VS. CAL: ASU swept Cal for the tenth time in its 37 Pac-12 seasons last year, while the year prior (2013-14) marked the first time since 1999-2000 ASU swept the Bears...ASU's 35-point 79-44 win Jan. 22, 2015, at Cal is its biggest Pac-12 win since since it beat Washington State by 41 (96-55) on Jan. 11, 2003, and the second-largest Pac-12 road win in school history, as it dealt the Golden Bears their second-largest home loss...Kodi Justice had a season-high 16 points, but it was Kodi’s his last full game as he injured foot in first half vs. Stanford th enxt game...ASU has won five straight over California...California scored their fewest points in the first half for the season (ASU led 34-13) and went a span of 13 minutes without scoring...Sun Devils ended the first half on a 23-1 run to lead 34-13. It marked ASU's biggest halftime lead in conference game since it led Stanford 54-22 on Jan. 30, 2010...Cal was just 4-of-17 from the floor in the first half, but actually made its first and last shots so it went through a 2-of-15 stretch.
ASU FIVE-GAME WIN STREAK VS. CALIFORNIA
ASU 74, California 70/March 7, 2015
ASU 79, @California 44/Jan. 22, 2015
ASU 78, California 60/March 1, 2014
ASU 89, @California 78(OT)/January 29, 2014
ASU 66, California 62/February 7, 2013
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.
UW 89, ASU 85 (1/16/16): Washington jumped out 9-0 and led by as many as 12 in the second half, but ASU cut it to two on three occasions in the loss. ASU was just 16-of-29 (.552) from the free throw line (5-of-13 in the first half), despite entering the game second in the Pac-12. ASU placed six players in double digits for the first time since January of 2005, led by Kodi Justice notching 17 off the bench. UW shot .523 (34-of-65) from the field, including .571 (20-of-35) in the first half.
ASU 84, WASHINGTON STATE 73 (1/14/16): ASU jumped out to a 40-25 halftime lead, WSU cut it to eight early in the second, but it was too much Tra Holder and Kodi Justice for the Cougars as ASU won its sixth straight vs. WSU in Tempe. ASU shot just .383 from the field (23-of-60) but was 28-of-33 (.848) from the free throw line. Tra Holder led ASU for the 11th time on the year with 20 points, while Kodi Justice added 16 off the bench.
NOTES FROM LAST PAC-12 ROAD TRIP: ASU fell at USC 75-65 (Jan. 7) and 81-74 at UCLA (Jan. 9), but had good chances down the stretch in both. ASU was down 54-37 at the 10:37 mark at USC but came back and was down 65-63 with the ball with a minute left before three missed shots resulted in run-out baskets for the Trojans. At UCLA, ASU led 74-72 with 2:01 left but gave up a three-pointer with just over a minute left after a UCLA offensive rebound. On the weekend Tra Holder was 17-of-30 (.567) from the field, 7-of-12 (.583) from three and had 21 at USC and career-best 26 at UCLA. ASU was uncharacteristic 6-of-15 from the free throw line at USC.
AT HOME: ASU is 55-11 (.833) 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). ASU is 22-8 (.733) in Pac-12 play at home in the past four years and is the only team to beat each of the past three Pac-12 champions in those seasons as it topped Arizona the past two seasons and beat UCLA in 2012-13.
CLOSE STATS: In the final 10 minutes of three close wins (NC State, UCSB and at Creighton), Andre Spight was 4-of-7 from the field (including 3-of-6 from the three), Eric Jacobsen was perfect in eight FTA and the Sun Devils grabbed 14 offensive boards (opponents had four). In the second half of those games, Savon Goodman was 12-of-15 from the field, ASU was 28-of-37 (.757) from the free throw line (opponents 20-of-31/.645) and grabbed 25 offensive boards (opponents have just nine).
EIGHT OF 75: There are 75 teams in the the "power five" conferences and ASU was one of just eight to play at least three out-of-conference "true" road games (true being on the opponent home floor). Others to do it were Alabama, Auburn, Creighton, DePaul (4), Florida, Ole Miss (4) and Penn State.
OOC: ASU played five games away from Tempe in non-conference action, and went 3-2 (wins at UNLV, at Creighton and vs. NC State in Brooklyn). It lost at #5 Kentucky and in an overtime game to Marquette in Brooklyn. ASU went 3-10 on the road last year (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.
QUICK HITTERS: ASU has played four games decided by three points or less (3-1)...ASU is averaging just 10 turnovers per game in the past six contests after averaging 13.2 in first 12 games...want a halftime adjustment stat? The Sun Devils are averaging 42.1 points in the second half this year (33.8 in the first half)...ASU had five players in double figures in the Texas A&M and the Houston Baptist wins and six in the Washington loss. Five players in double digits happened once last year.
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 28.3 minutes and is averaging 10.6 points and has three double-doubles. He has 40 offensive rebounds (after grabbing 20 last year) and 12 double-digit scoring games (he had two last year also had 15 games where he did not score).
WILLIE ATWOOD THEN AND NOW
SEASON -- MIN PG -- FG/% -- 3PT/% -- REB/PG -- PTS/PG
2014-15 --11.6 -- 25-73/.342 --11-31/.355 -- 54/1.7 -- 92/3.0
2015-16 -- 28.3 -- 54-117/.462 --21-53/.396 -- 97/5.4 -- 191/10.6
FTS: ASU went 23-of-26 (.885) from the FT line in its 70-68 UCSB win on Nov. 29 (made final 14). The .885 mark is the second-best in school history for at least 25 attempts, behind only the 24-of-26 mark set on Dec. 19, 1981, vs. Cal State-Los Angeles. ASU is 290-of-404 (.718) from the free throw line in the past 16 games (includes 8-of-15 at Kentucky, 6-15 at USC and 16-29 vs. Washington, all three losses). Coach Hurley made .776 of his free throws while in college (441-of-568).
NOV. 23-DEC. 16: From the end of November until mid-December, ASU had a seven-game stretch (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 and Texas) 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 3-2 against 2015 NCAA Tournament teams with wins over Stephen F. Austin, Belmont and NC State (loss at Kentucky and Arizona), 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 one second 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.
SEASONS OF THREE NON-CONFERENCE ROAD GAMES (1978-79 TO PRESENT)
2015-16 (at Creighton, #5 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)
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 to win at Stanford. ASU trailed 45-31 at the 17:12 mark but it was all Sun Devils after that, as ASU outscored UNLV 35-1. 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 Tra Holder (career-high nine) grabbing 20. Holder had 19 and Willie Atwood 14 to lead the scoring
LARGEST HALFTIME COMEBACK DEFICITS (1989-1990 TO PRESENT)
(17) @Stanford 46, ASU 29--Feb. 12, 1994/ASU 71, @Stanford 69
(16) IUPUI 34, ASU 18 (@Phoenix)--Dec. 14, 2008/ASU 59, vs. IUPUI 58 (OT)
(16) New Mexico St. 45, ASU 29--Mar. 15, 2000/ASU 83, NMSU 77 (NIT)
(16) Georgia 39, ASU 23--Dec. 29, 1989/ASU 62, Georgia 61
(12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25--Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
FALL SIGNING PERIOD: 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
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 run 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).
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.
8+ POINTS HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS PAST 10 YEARS (2006-PRESENT)
(16) IUPUI 34, ASU 18 (@Phoenix/Dec. 14, 2008)/ASU 59, vs. IUPUI 58 (OT)
(12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25--Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33--Dec. 2, 2015)/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
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.
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 in FGs, 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 SECOND HALF GIANT: Andre Spight's second-half efforts vs. UCSB and Creighton 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.
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 .568 shooter (196-of-345) in 116 career games.
ERIC JACOBSEN’S CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES (3)
15/10 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
16/12 vs. UNLV (12/3/14)
13/10 vs. Bethune-Cookman (11/17/14)
ERIC JACOBSEN'S TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Pepperdine (12/13/14)
16 vs. Houston Baptist (12/16/15)
16 vs. UNLV (12/3/14)
16 vs. Hartford (12/5/12)
15 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
OBI ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON: 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, and then had 10 points and 14 rebounds (six on the offensive glass) in 29 minutes vs. Marquette on Nov. 24. He also had eight second-half points in 11 minutes in the win at Creighton on Dec. 2. He is averaging 10.6 points in the past eight games.
TOP SCORING GAMES FOR OBINNA OLEKA
19 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
17 vs. Arizona (1/3/16)
14 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
13 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR OBINNA OLEKA (3)
13/11 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
11/10 vs. Washington State (1/14/16)
10/14 vs. Marquette (11/24/15)
TRA IMPROVEMENTS: In his first 15 games last year, Tra Holder averaged 4.2 points 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 it has carried over to this year. In the first 15 career games he was 31-of-49 (.633) from the free throw line and averaged 4.2 points. Since the CU win on Jan. 17, 2015 (past 35 games), he is shooting .749 (149-of-199) from the free throw line and averaging 12.9 points (453 points).
GERRY: 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 24 at WSU on Feb. 13 (including ASU's final 16 in 4:24)...in 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 his 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)
SAVON: 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.
SAVON GOODMAN CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES (9)
10/10 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
10/12 vs. #18 Texas A&M (12/5/15)
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)
SCHEDULE: Joe Lunardi's preseason Bracketology included 11 teams on ASU's schedule. Belmont (83-74 win on Nov. 16), North Carolina State (79-76 win on Nov. 23), Marquette (78-73 overtime loss on Nov. 24), Texas A&M (67-54 win on Dec. 5), Kentucky (72-58 road loss on Dec. 12) and Stephen F. Austin (beat 80-73 on Dec. 22) are the teams in the non-conference slate, while Arizona, California, UCLA, Oregon and Utah were picked from the Pac-12. ASU plays 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.