@SunDevilHoops will try and sweep the Los Angeles schools in Tempe when it hosts UCLA Sunday (Feb. 14) at 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU. ASU is coming off a solid 74-67 win over #23 USC on Friday and is on a two-game win streak after winning in Pulllman 67-55 on Feb. 6.
GOING FOR A TRIO: ASU topped UCLA last year in Wells Fargo Arena and also beat the eventual 2012-13 Pac-12 Champion Bruins 78-60. The teams did not meet in 2013-14 in Tempe. ASU will try and beat UCLA three straight in Tempe for the first time in ASU history (which would make Eric Jacobsen the only Sun Devil to beat UCLA three straight at home).
TWEETABLES ABOUT @SUNDEVILHOOPS...
√ Tra Holder: 17.5 points in past 16 games and is 38-84 (.452) from 3PT in that time
√ Willie Atwood: 77-98 (.786) from FTs on the year
√ ASU is averaging 41.3 points in second half (34.2 in the first half)
√ Savon Goodman is at 10.0 ppg/6.9 rpg in the past eight games
√ ASU is 57-12 (.826) at home in the past four seasons (2-0 vs. UCLA)
√ Gerry Blakes had a career-high five assists in the win over USC
VS. USC (2/12/16): ASU's three-man bench outscored USC's reserves 25-9 en route to the Sun Devils knocking off their second top-25 team on the season, as ASU topped No. 23 USC 74-67 and won despite trailing at the half for the fourth time on the year. USC led for 10:40 of the first half but only 16 seconds in the second half. Tra Holder has his seventh 20-point game of his career, while Savon Goodman's 17 points was his most since he had 23 at Creighton on Dec. 2. Gerry Blakes had 14 points, eight rebounds and a career-high five assists, while Obi Oleka had 11 rebounds. ASU has now won eight of the past nine vs. USC in Tempe.
2015-16 FOUR HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS
(3) #23 USC 30, ASU 27 (Feb. 12, 2016)/ASU 74, USC 67
(12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25 (Dec. 16, 2015)/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33 (Dec. 2, 2015)/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(2) UCSB 29, ASU 27 (Nov. 29, 2015)/ASU 70, UCSB 68
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. This year he is averaging a team-best 15.7 points and has made 45 three-pointers. Already he has led the team in scoring in 15 games and has seven 20-point games.
TRA HOLDER 20+ POINT GAMES (ALL THIS YEAR)
26 at UCLA (1/9/16)
24 vs. #8 Arizona (1/3/16)
23 vs. Cal State Bakersfield (12/28/15)
22 vs. NC State (11/23/15)
21 at USC (1/7/16)
20 vs. #23 USC (2/12/16)
20 vs. Washington State (1/14/16)
EJ MOVING UP THE LIST: Senior Eric Jacobsen will play in his 124th game today, matching 1999-2000 Pac-10 Player of the Year and 2008 NBA World Champion Eddie House for seventh on the list.
SUN DEVIL CAREER GAMES PLAYED
132, Jon Gilling (2011-15)
131, Derek Glasser (2006-10)
130, Ty Abbott (2007-11)
129, Jerren Shipp (2006-10)
126, Jeff Pendergraph (2005-09)
124, Eddie House (1996-2000)
123, Eric Jacobsen (2012-present)
DOUBLE DIGITS: ASU had five players in double figures in the Oregon State, Texas A&M and the Houston Baptist wins and in the loss at Washington and had six in the Tempe Washington loss. Five players in double digits happened once last year.
AT HOME: ASU is 57-12 (.827) 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 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 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, all at home.
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 16 double-digit scoring games (he had two last year also had 15 games where he did not score).
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. He has scored in double digits in eight of the past nine games.
TOP 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)
AT THE HALF: ASU is 4-8 when trailing at the half this year with wins over UCSB on Nov. 29 (trailed 29-27 and won 70-68), at Creighton (trailed 41-33 and won 79-77 on Dec. 2), at UNLV (down 37-25 and won 66-56) and vs. #23 USC in Tempe on Feb. 12 (trailed 30-27). ASU went 2-11 last year when it trailed at the half, and was 12-64 (.157) in that category the previous five seasons.