TRA'S TREYS AND OTHER THINGS: In his freshman season (2014-15) 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 2015-16 he averaged a team-best 14.2 points and made 49 three-pointers. He led the team in scoring in 16 games and had seven 20-point games after not having any in his freshman season. 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 HOLDER YEAR ONE TO YEAR TWO
2014-15/2015-16
PPG: 7.0/14.2
FG%: .317/.387
3PM: 12/49
3PT%: .240/.366
FT%: .708/.727
TRA HOLDER 7 20+ SCORING GAMES
26 at UCLA (1/9/16)
24 vs. #8 Arizona (1/3/16)
23 vs. CSU-Bakersfield (12/28/15)
22 vs. North Carolina State (11/23/15)
21 at USC (1/7/16)
20 vs. #23 USC (2/12/16)
20 vs. Washington State (1/16/16) 
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. He was in double figures in 13 of the final 16 games and averaged 11.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and was 41-of-49 (.837) from the free throw line in that time. Obi also had three of his four double-doubles in that span. Oleka had no points and one rebound in the first two games, but because 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 OLEKA FIRST 10 GAMES/FINAL 22
MPG:?19.0/27.4
FG:?22-61 (.361)/82-202 (.406)
3PT:?3-16 (.188)/24-70 (.343)
FT:?17-27 (.630)/56-67 (.836)
RPG:?4.9/6.6
PPG:?6.4/11.1
MEET SHANNON EVANS: Transfer Shannon Evans arrived at ASU in spring of 2015 after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo. As a sophomore in 2014-15 he averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists and led 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 sat the 2015-16 season but will have two years to play starting in 2016-17.
ABOUT THAT PUERTO RICO FIELD: ASU will visit Puerto Rico for the second time in its hoops history in November, as it plays in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off at Coliseo Roberto Clemente in San Juan Nov. 17, 18 and 20. Oklahoma (29-8), who advanced to the 2016 Final Four, and three other 2016 PRTO participants who competed in the postseason are in the field, with Northern Iowa (23-13) Xavier (28-6) being NCAA entrants and Davidson (20-13) a NIT team. Clemson (17-14), Missouri (10-21) and Tulane (12-22) complete the field. Northern Iowa won the Missouri Valley Tournament but lost to Texas A&M (92-88 in overtime) in NCAA West Regional action. Xavier defeated Weber State (71-53) and lost to Wisconsin (66-63) in their East Region games, and the Musketeers split a pair of games with NCAA champion Villanova. Davidson is led by the nation’s fifth-leading scorer Jack Gibbs. Gibbs averaged 23.7 points a game and scored 30 or more points in 10 games last season. ASU's only other trip to Puerto Rico was in November of 1999 when it fell to Texas, beat American of Puerto Rico and lost to Virginia.Don't forget about this guy next year. Some reading from this past season from @DougHaller about @hollywood_XI https://t.co/RIqB5ix5Ag
? Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) May 12, 2016
ASU guard signee .@SamCunliffe_3 is ranked no. 36 in the new #Rivals150 2016 Prospect Ranking, forward signee .@j_tshisumpa comes in at #111
? Devils Digest (@DevilsDigest) May 10, 2016
JUSTICE BEING SERVED: Kodi Justice will be a junior in 2016-17 and has made 77 three pointers in just 50 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25 of his freshman year (2014-15) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season in 2015-16. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove his freshman season, and then adapted to a new coaching staff in the summer of 2015 while getting healthy. He posted 10 double-digit scoring games last year (had three in 18 games in 2014-15). He was tied for second on the team in assists last year with 76 and was third in steals with 30.
KODI JUSTICE CAREER STATS
2014-15/2015-16
MINUTES PER GAME: 12.7/24.8
3PT MADE: 17/60
ASSISTS: 28/76
STEALS: 5/30
PPG: 4.6/7.9
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
17 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
16 vs. Washington State (1/14/16)
16 at California (1/22/15)
14 at Washington (2/3/16)
TOP-100 WINS:?ASU notched eight top-100 RPI wins in 2015-16 which was as many or more than 12 NCAA at-large teams. In non-conference action ASU beat SEC co-champion Texas A&M (RPI 18), Southland Conference champions Stephen Austin (61), OVC top seed Belmont (95), UCSB (98), and Creighton (100), while in conference play it won vs. Oregon State (33), USC (51), and Stanford (87).
NCAA AT-LARGE TOURNAMENT TEAMS WITH 8 OR LESS RPI TOP-100 WINS
8-Iowa, Maryland, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Texas Tech, Tulsa
7-Cincinnati, Temple, Vanderbilt
6-Butler
4-Michigan, Wichita State
SOME GOOD WINS IN DECEMBER:?ASU finished 23rd for its strength of schedule in 2015-16, including a No. 13 ranking for its out-of-conference schedule. ASU faced six top-100 teams in its non-conference schedule and only three teams ranked lower than 150. Ten of its 13 non-conference foes posted a top-150 RPI.
SCHEDULE NOTE:?The 2015-16 Sun Devil final official Strength of Schedule and Non-Conference Strength of Schedule (per the NCAA RPI on Monday, March 14) was 23, its best since the 2000-01 season when it also was 23rd. ASU's non-conference schedule was ranked 13th, its best since the 2002-03 squad had the nation's fifth-best out of conference schedule. The past 14 seasons of both rankings are listed below.
SUN DEVIL FINAL STRENGTH OF SCHEDULES
2015-16, 23/13 non-conference
2014-15, 63/185 non-conference
2013-14, 52/236 non-conference
2012-13, 114/285 non-conference
2011-12, 135/182 non-conference?
2010-11, 59/82 non-conference
2009-10, 80/59 non-conference
2008-09, 37/133 non-conference
2007-08, 77/294 non-conference
2006-07, 54/234 non-conference
2005-06, 82/176 non-conference
2004-05, 36/97 non-conference
2003-04, 108/211 non-conference
2002-03, 14/5 non-conference
PAC-12 STATISTICS:?In the 18 league games, Tra Holder ended 15th in scoring at 14.2 points per game...Obinna Oleka finished tied for tenth with 6.9 rebounds per game...Obi Oleka's .852 free throw percentage (46-0f-54) was second-best in the league in the 18 league games...Kodi Justice's 37-of-89 (.416) was eighth-best in the league both for percentage and makes.
NON-CONFERENCE ROAD WINS:?ASU went 2-1 in non-conference road games last season, as it won at both Creighton (79-77 on Dec. 2) and UNLV (66-56 on Dec. 16) and fell at fifth-ranked Kentucky (72-58 on Dec. 12). ASU was 8-22 in the previous 35 non-conference regular season road games prior to this year.
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