Tra Holder notched his ninth 20-point game as ASU topped Cal Poly 96-74 behind 57 second-half points to move to 2-0 on the season.
Four Sun Devils scored in double digits as Shannon Evans II stayed aggressive with his energy and had 20 points, making all 12 free throws. Torian Graham added 18 points off the bench while Obinna Oleka had 17. ASU has now posted the second- and fourth-highest point total in Coach Hurley's 34 games as Sun Devil head coach.
MOST SUN DEVIL POINTS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
ASU 98, Houston Baptist 79 (12/19/15)
ASU 96, Cal Poly Slo 74 (11/13/16)
ASU 91, Kennesaw State 53 (11/18/15)
ASU 88, Portland State 70 (11/11/16)
ASU 86, Oregon State 68 (1/28/15)
"We are very pleased with where we are right now after the first weekend," head coach Bobby Hurley said. "A lot of new faces, new parts and guys working together. It has been a crazy weekend just outside of our little world here with a lot of upsets which will be more of the norm in college basketball with the parody so for us to have to respond late in the first half and early second half I think is a good thing for us heading to Orlando next week."
ASU led by 10 early, but Cal Poly made 7-of-17 three pointers to make it a 39-38 Sun Devil lead at halftime. But the Mustangs had no answer for the Sun Devil backcourt, as Tra Holder notched his ninth 20-point game of his career and matched the second-best output in his career.
TRA HOLDER 9 20-POINT SCORING GAMES
26 at UCLA (1/9/16)
24 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/16)
24 vs. #8 Arizona (1/3/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
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 Oleka posted his fifth career double-double and matched the second-best scoring night of his career with 17 points and 13 rebounds.
TOP SCORING GAMES FOR OBINNA OLEKA
19 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
17 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/16)
17 vs. #23 Oregon (1/31/16)
17 vs. Oregon State (1/28/16)
17 vs. #8 Arizona (1/3/16)
DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR OBINNA OLEKA (5)
17/13 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/16)
14/13 vs. UCLA (2/14/16)
13/11 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
11/10 vs. Washington State (1/14/16)
10/14 vs. Marquette (11/24/15)
The Sun Devils now head to Orlando to play Northern Iowa on Thursday (Nov. 17) at 4:30 ET/2:30 p.m. MT, which will be televised on ESPNU. UNI returns five letterwinners and two starters for the 2016-17 season, which saw the Panthers win the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament and reach the second round of the 2016 NCAA Tournament. UNI is one of 13 teams to have won at least one game in the NCAA Tournament and accumulate 54 combined wins over the past two seasons.
"I am happy for Jethro with that free throw today to knock that one in," said head coach Bobby Hurley. "He had a nice dunk in the first half. I also enjoyed his somersault, I think everyone enjoyed that. He has so much life, so much positive energy and he is just a fun guy to be around. I think he is going to keep getting better since he has such great physical talent and tools to apply for once he gets a little more experienced, he is going to be very good."
SHANNON EVANS II TOP SCORING GAMES
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
24 at UT-Arlington (11/18/14)
23 at Western Michigan (1/10/15)
23 at Grand Canyon (11/25/14)
21 at Kent State (2/28/15)
21 at St. Bonaventure (12/3/14)
20 vs. Niagara (12/19/14)
20 vs. Manhattan (12/21/13)
20 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/06)
19 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
19 at Bowling Green (2/21/15)
19 at Central Michigan (2/8/14)