The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (11-8; 1-5) takes on Stanford on Saturday in a Pac-12 Net game tipping at 8 p.m. PT with Ted Robinson and Don MacLean on the call for Pac-12 Network. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (620AM), presented by MidFirst.
TWEETABLES ABOUT @SUNDEVILHOOPS...
√ As of Jan. 22 the Pac-12's top RPI win is ASU over #8 Texas A&M (Dec. 5)
√ 309-of-428 (.721) from the free throw line after 15-27 in first game of season
√ Tra Holder: 18.8 points in past 10 games
√ Willie Atwood: 40-of-45 (.889) FTs in past 10 games
√ Obi Oleka: 11.0 ppg. in past 9 games and 30-35 (.857) FTs
√ Kodi Justice: 12.3 ppg past 4 games, 18-36 (.500) FGs
√ Averaging 41.4 points in second half (33.6 in the first half)
√ 9.9 turnovers per game in the past seven; 13.2 in first 12 tilts
√ 5th in the Pac-12 in FT% at .712, its best mark since 2009-10 (also .712)
CAL 75, ASU 70 (1/21/16): ASU battled back from a 14-point deficit with 12:53 left in the game and tied the tilt at 65 with 2:25 remaining before falling 75-70 at Cal. Obi Oleka had another solid outing with 14 points (8-of-9 free throws) while Savon Goodman added 13 points and seven boards off the bench. Cal shot .545 from the field (24-of-44) and ASU shot just 9-of-27 (.333) in the first half. The Sun Devils did get back to form at the free throw line, making 19-of-24 (.792).
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 of 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 as much as 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. Just a few days past one calendar year later, in the first 19 games this year he is averaging a team-best 15.8 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 Cal's Patrick Christopher in 2008-09. Tra had 23 vs. Cal-State Bakersfield on Dec. 28, then notched 24 vs. Arizona (1/3), 21 at USC (1/7), 26 at UCLA (1/9) and 20 vs. WSU (1/14).
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.
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 309-of-428 (.721) from the free throw line in the past 18 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).
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 Col- lege 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 11.0 points in the past nine games.
OBINNA OLEKA TOP SCORING GAMES
19 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
17 vs. Arizona (1/3/16)
14 at California (1/21/16)
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)