(NOTE: A PDF AND OTHER NOTES WILL BE ADDED TUESDAY AFTERNOON)
The Arizona State Sun Devil men's basketball team (14-12; 4-9) tries to win a third game over a ranked team this season when it hits the I-10 to Tucson for a Wednesday night ESPN2 broadcast against the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats with Dave Pasch and Miles Simon on the call. ASU beat #23 USC 74-67 Friday and also topped then No. 18 Texas A&M 67-54 back on Dec. 5 for its wins over ranked teams this year. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the Sun Devil radio call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network (98.7 FM), presented by MidFirst. Random nugget heading down the home stretch: ASU is the only team to beat each of the past three Pac-12 champions: UA (2014-15 and 2013-14) and UCLA (2012-13).
TWEETABLES ABOUT @SUNDEVILHOOPS...
√ Obi Oleka: 39-43 (.907) FTs in Pac-12 games, best in the league
√ Willie Atwood: 16 double-digit scoring games/15 games without scoring last year
√ ASU is averaging 75.5 ppg., its best mark since 2004-05 squad scored 76.0
√ ASU has played eight games that were decided by five points or less (and a 12-pt OT L)
√ Obi Oleka: 11.6 ppg in past 16 games and 48-54 (.889) FTs/6.4 ppg first 10 games
√ Tra Holder: 16.8 ppg. past 17 games and is 39-88 (.443) from 3PT in that time
√ Willie Atwood: 78-100 (.780) from FTs on the year; 8th in Pac-12
√ Kodi Justice: 9.5 ppg past 10 games
√ Averaging 40.8 ppg in second half (34.3 in the first half)
√ Savon Goodman: 9.2 ppg/6.9 rpg in the past nine games
OBI ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON: It was the Jan. 14 WSU game where junior Obinna Oleka (Oh-BEE-nah Oh-LEH-ka) began to emerge as he has been in double figures in nine of the past 10 games and is averaging 12.5 points and is 33-of-36 (.917) from the free throw line in that time. Only Tra Holder (13.7) is averaging more in the past 10. Obi also has three of his four double-doubles in that span. Oleka 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 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)
WILLIE THEN AND NOW: Last season Willie Atwood averaged 11.6 minutes, scored 92 total points (3.0 per game) and was 31-of-50 (.620) 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). He made just 11 three-pointers last year but has 33 this year.
52,961: The Sun Devils have had good practice in big 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. 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.
SUN DEVIL WINS OVER RANKED TEAMS PAST 10 SEASONS
ASU 74, #23 USC 67/Feb. 12, 2016
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54/Dec. 5, 2015
ASU 81, #6 Arizona 78/Feb. 7, 2015
ASU 69, #2 Arizona 66 (2 OT)/Feb. 14, 2014
ASU 79, #25 Marquette 77/Nov. 25, 2013
ASU 68, #24 Washington 51/Jan. 8, 2010
#23 ASU 75, #13 Washington 65/Pac-10 Tourney/Mar. 13, 2009
#18 ASU 74, #11 UCLA 67/Feb. 12, 2009
#16 ASU 61, @ #9 UCLA 58 (OT)/Jan. 17, 2009
ASU 72, #7 Stanford 68 (OT)/Feb. 14, 2008
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55/Dec. 15, 2007
ASU 68, #22 USC 58/Feb. 18, 2007
DOUBLE DIGITS: ASU had five players in double figures in the Oregon State, Texas A&M and 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.
LOOKING AHEAD: Transfer Shannon Evans transferred after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo and as a sophomore averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists helping lead the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. As a freshman he averaged 8.5 points and 3.3 assists per game and was named to the All-MAC Freshman Team. He played in all 29 games off the bench posting one of the highest minute totals amongst all bench players nationally (26.4 minutes per game). He is sitting out this year but will have two years to play starting in 2016-17.
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 and in front of 16,282 people screaming in blue shirts), 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 then had 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.
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.
FALL SIGNINGS: ESPN tabbed ASU's fall 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.
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 railed 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)
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 15.3 points and has made 46 three-pointers. Already he has led the team in scoring in 15 games and has seven 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. Since the CU win on Jan. 17, 2015 (past 43 games), he is shooting .709 (171-of-241) from the free throw line and is averaging 13.0 points.
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.
QUICK UA SERIES NOTE: ASU had had modest success against the two-time defending Pac-12 champion Wildcats, as in the past nine years its nine wins (9-9) against Arizona can only be topped by UCLA’s 11. The 69-66 double-overtime Sun Devil win over No. 2 Arizona (23-1) on Feb. 14, 2014, marks the highest ranked team the Sun Devils have topped at home, while Arizona's 20-2 mark last year is tied for the third-best opponent record to play in Wells Fargo Arena since ASU joined the Pac-10 in 1978-79. Weird note: ASU has trailed at the half in six of those nine wins vs. Arizona.