After a Sunday night game the Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (12-10; 2-7) makes a super quick turnaround for a 2,316-mile round trip north to battle Washington (Wed., Feb. 3) and Washington State (Sat., Feb. 6). Tommie Hart and Dino Gaudio have the Washington ESPNU broadcast at 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT, while JB Long and Matt Muehelbach have the Pac-12 Network call from Pullman at 3:30 on Saturday. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (98.7 FM on Wednesday and 620 AM on Saturday), presented by MidFirst. It was only Jan. 16 since the Huskies and Sun Devils last met, but in the four games since Obinna Oleka has emerged, leading the team in scoring (14.8 ppg.) and going 15-16 from the free throw line.
TWEETABLES ABOUT @SUNDEVILHOOPS...
√ Obi Oleka is averaging 13.8 points in the past six games (team's top scorer)
√ Willie Atwood: 15 double-digit scoring games/15 games without scoring last year
√ ASU is averaging 76.1 ppg., its best mark since 2002-03 squad scored 77.0
√ ASU has played eight games that were decided by five points or less
√ Obi Oleka: 12.0 ppg. in past 12 games and 37-42 (.881) FTs
√ Obi Oleka: 28-31 (.903) FTs in Pac-12 games, best in the league
√ Tra Holder: 17.4 points in past 13 games and is 28-65 (.431) from 3PT in that time
√ FT% of .709 is best since 2009-10 (.712)
√ Willie Atwood: 67-85 (.788) from FTs on the year (7th in Pac-12)
√ Kodi Justice: 10.0 ppg past 6 games
√ Averaging 42.0 points in second half (33.8 in the first half)
√ As of Feb. 1 the Pac-12's top OOC RPI win is ASU over #12 Texas A&M (Dec. 5)
√ Savon Goodman is at 10.0 points per game in the past five games
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 has 15 double-digit scoring games (he had two last year also had 15 games where he did not score).
52,961: Hec Ed can be a tough place to play, but the Sun Devils have had good practice in tough crowds this year. 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 at UNLV (Dec. 16) 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.
DOUBLE DIGITS: ASU had five players in double figures in the Oregon State, Texas A&M and the Houston Baptist wins and six in the Washington loss. Five players in double digits happened once last year.
LAST MEETING VS. THE HUSKIES: In Jan. 16 89-85 Husky win in Tempe Washington jumped out to leads of 9-0 (18:10) and 14-5 (114:53) before ASU tied the game at 18...Huskies led 44-34 at half and led by 12 (46-34) and never let go of the lead, but ASU cut the margin to two three times...ASU had a season-high 51 second half points...Washington 34 field goals and 65 attempts were both ASU opponent highs, as was its 21 assists...ASU was just 16-of-29 (.552) from the free throw line, including 5-of-13 (.385) in the first half...Savon Goodman had his first double/double (10/10) since Dec. 5.
LAST WIN: VS. OREGON STATE (JAN. 28): ASU topped Oregon State 86-68 last Thursday (Jan. 28), as its .593 shooting percentage (32-of-54) was its best in a Pac-12 game since Feb. 2, 2013, when it shot .638 (37-of-58) at Washington...ASU's 24 assists was its most in a Pac-12 game since it also had 24 vs. Oregon State on March 5, 2011...OSU's 17 points in the first half was the fewest by an ASU opponent since a 34-13 halftime lead at California last year (Jan. 22, 2015)...ASU placed five players in double figures for the fourth time this year.
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.
EIGHT OF 75: ASU was one of eight in the "power five" conferences (75 teams) to play at least three out-of-conference "true" road games (true being on the opponent home floor). Others: 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.
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.
THEY WON'T QUIT: Scoring margins can be twisted and turned in many ways, but in ASU's 2-7 conference start, the margin in those games was just over a three-pointer (-3.1). ASU has trailed at the half in all seven of its losses, but had some big rallies fall just short. Quick notes on five second-half rallies.
SUN DEVIL SECOND-HALF RALLIES
@Stanford: Trailed 66-56 with 4:50 left, took 73-72 lead but lost 75-73 (17-7 run)
@California: Trailed 54-40 with 12:53 left, tied it at 65 at 2:25 (25-11 run over 10:28)
UW: Trailed by 12 with 19:34 left, cut it to 3 three times in final 10 minutes in 89-85 loss
@UCLA: Trailed by 12 in first half, held 74-72 lead with two minutes left in 77-74 loss
@USC: Trailed by 17 with 10:27 left, yet had 3PTA to go ahead 1:02 (26-9)
OBI ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON: Obinna Oleka (Oh-BEE-nah Oh-LEH-ka), who is ASU's leading scorer in the past six games averaging 13.8 points, 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.
TOP FIVE SCORING GAMES FOR OBINNA OLEKA
19 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
17 vs. Oregon (1/31/16)
17 vs. Oregon State (1/28/16)
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)
LAST TIME IN SEATTLE: Last year in Seattle in a 78-68 win on Feb. 15, Gerry Blakes had a really good five minutes and 23 seconds in the second half. ASU needed every second and every bucket in that time to stop an eight-game skid against Washington and give ASU its first win in Seattle since another southpaw (with a small beard) was doing this thing in 2008. After scoring 16 straight points vs. Washington State in the final 4:24 two days earlier, he outdid that with 17 points between the 11:05 and 5:42 marks of the second half vs. Washington and ASU needed every bucket in that 5:23 time to pick up the road win.
GERRY BLAKES AT WASHINGTON SECOND HALF
(11:05 TO 4:26/FEB. 15, 2015/ASU 78-68 WIN)
11:05: Down 47-44, hits a three-pointer to make tie it at 47
10:04: Down 50-47, hits a jumper to make it 50-49
8:57: Down 52-51, makes a layup to give ASU a lead
7:42: Down 60-55 and with ASU on the ropes, hits a three to cut the lead to 60-57
7:12: ASU gets a defensive stop, and Blakes hits a three to tie it at 60
6:36: Down two, nails two free throws to tie the game at 62
5:42: With game tied, makes a layup to five ASU a 64-62
4:26: With Husky defenders doing all they can to stop him and the score tied at 64, he finds Shaq McKissic for a three to give ASU a 67-64 lead they would not relinquish
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 344-of-479 (.718) from the free throw line after shooting 15-27 in first game of the year (includes 8-of-15 at Kentucky, 6-15 at USC, 16-29 vs. Washington, 10-17 at Stanford, all four losses). Coach Hurley made .776 of his free throws while in college (441-of-568).
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. In the first 22 games this year he is averaging a team-best 15.4 points and has made 35 three-pointers. Already he has led the team in scoring in 12 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). Since the CU win on Jan. 17, 2015 (past 39 games), he is shooting .752 (155-of-207) from the free throw line and is averaging 12.8 points (500 points).
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.
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
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
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 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.
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 .571 shooter (208-of-364) in 120 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)
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)