The Sun Devil men's basketball team defeated Citadel 127-110 at Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday afternoon behind a balanced offense that saw six players score in double-digits and a solid performance from freshman guard Sam Cunliffe, as ASU fell just three points short of the school record 130 points.
"I was pleased to see the ball go through the basket, that's the good news," said Coach Hurley, as ASU ran its home record to 61-14 in the past five seasons. "We shot and scored the ball a lot better than we did in Florida, particularly our last game. I just wish we had a little more resistance, especially in the second half but they're a very unique team. You don't come across many teams that play the style that they play and get up and down the way they do. I think it was a good game for us leading into next week and, just in terms of pace of the game getting us ready for our next game."
"I actually felt better about our Davidson game than I do right now. We won a game today, and that's great, that's what you're supposed to do but I think we fought harder on defense against Davidson, our numbers say that. They're a very good offensive team and we held them down to low percentages shooting the ball and then turned them over 18 times. Our defense wasn't good enough to win a lot of game we'd like to win."
Cunliffe notched his first career double-double with season-bests in points (23), rebounds (10) and assists (5). The performance marked his third-consecutive double-figure outing.
"Sam looked really, really smooth out there, he made a lot of plays for us," noted Coach Hurley. "He just looks more and more relaxed and comfortable in what we're doing. He's thrown himself in to both ends of the floor. He's rebounding, I think he had ten rebounds today, so he's helping at that end. He's thinking about everything not just being a scorer. He scored well tonight, like a lot of guys did but he did a lot of other things well."
Senior forward Obi Oleka notched seventh career double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds, while junior guard Tra Holder's 22 points marked his third 20-point game this season. ASU shot 42-of-78 (.538) from the field and scored 26 points off 15 Citadel turnovers. After going just 7-of-15 from the free throw line in the first half, ASU was 21-of-22 in the second as Holder was perfect in eight attempts.
The Sun Devils came out of the gate quickly, establishing and maintaining the lead through Oleka's seven points in the first three minutes. ASU trailed the Bulldogs only once (4-3 with 18:01 remaining in the first half) and kept up the pace with an 8-0 run that ended with 12:57 remaining, as ASU led 55-45 at the break. Kodi Justice matched his career-best with 20 points and went 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Torian Graham added 19 points and Shannon Evans 17.
The Sun Devils scored nine unanswered points that put them up 66-52 with 15:55 remaining in the game. Citadel cut the lead multiple times, but could not get closer than four. The Devils put up a total of 72 second-half points.
Up next, the Sun Devils travel to the Bahamas to take on No. 1 Kentucky on Monday, Nov. 28. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET/5 p.m. MT.
NOTES AND CHARTS...
CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR OBINNA OLEKA (7)
20/15 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
11/10 vs. Northern Iowa (11/17/16)
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)
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
20 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
17 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
TRA HOLDER 10 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. Citadel (11/23/16)
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)
"I was pleased to see the ball go through the basket, that's the good news," said Coach Hurley, as ASU ran its home record to 61-14 in the past five seasons. "We shot and scored the ball a lot better than we did in Florida, particularly our last game. I just wish we had a little more resistance, especially in the second half but they're a very unique team. You don't come across many teams that play the style that they play and get up and down the way they do. I think it was a good game for us leading into next week and, just in terms of pace of the game getting us ready for our next game."
"I actually felt better about our Davidson game than I do right now. We won a game today, and that's great, that's what you're supposed to do but I think we fought harder on defense against Davidson, our numbers say that. They're a very good offensive team and we held them down to low percentages shooting the ball and then turned them over 18 times. Our defense wasn't good enough to win a lot of game we'd like to win."
Cunliffe notched his first career double-double with season-bests in points (23), rebounds (10) and assists (5). The performance marked his third-consecutive double-figure outing.
"Sam looked really, really smooth out there, he made a lot of plays for us," noted Coach Hurley. "He just looks more and more relaxed and comfortable in what we're doing. He's thrown himself in to both ends of the floor. He's rebounding, I think he had ten rebounds today, so he's helping at that end. He's thinking about everything not just being a scorer. He scored well tonight, like a lot of guys did but he did a lot of other things well."
Senior forward Obi Oleka notched seventh career double-double with 20 points and 15 rebounds, while junior guard Tra Holder's 22 points marked his third 20-point game this season. ASU shot 42-of-78 (.538) from the field and scored 26 points off 15 Citadel turnovers. After going just 7-of-15 from the free throw line in the first half, ASU was 21-of-22 in the second as Holder was perfect in eight attempts.
MOST POINTS @ASU HISTORY
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) November 24, 2016
130 vs Pasadena (2/17/62)
127 vs Citadel (about 2 hours ago)
127 vs Oklahoma (12/20/63) @Pac12Network @jmarshallap
The Sun Devils came out of the gate quickly, establishing and maintaining the lead through Oleka's seven points in the first three minutes. ASU trailed the Bulldogs only once (4-3 with 18:01 remaining in the first half) and kept up the pace with an 8-0 run that ended with 12:57 remaining, as ASU led 55-45 at the break. Kodi Justice matched his career-best with 20 points and went 5-of-6 from behind the arc. Torian Graham added 19 points and Shannon Evans 17.
The Sun Devils scored nine unanswered points that put them up 66-52 with 15:55 remaining in the game. Citadel cut the lead multiple times, but could not get closer than four. The Devils put up a total of 72 second-half points.
Up next, the Sun Devils travel to the Bahamas to take on No. 1 Kentucky on Monday, Nov. 28. The game will be televised on ESPN2 at 7 p.m. ET/5 p.m. MT.
NOTES AND CHARTS...
CAREER DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR OBINNA OLEKA (7)
20/15 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
11/10 vs. Northern Iowa (11/17/16)
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)
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
20 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
17 vs. Washington (1/16/16)
TRA HOLDER 10 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. Citadel (11/23/16)
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)