The 2016-17 Sun Devil men's basketball team (6-5) zig-zagged across North America three times (Orlando, Bahamas and New York City), got a solid road win at San Diego State on Dec. 10 and now hosts No. 9 Creighton (11-0) on Tuesday, Dec. 20, in a 7 p.m. tip on ESPN2, with Eric Rothman and Kara Lawson on the call. ASU is 62-15 (.805) at home in the past five seasons, with wins over five ranked teams in the past four seasons The Sun Devils returned two starters (Tra Holder and Obi Oleka) and four total lettermen from last year's squad that posted eight wins against top-100 RPI teams in Bobby Hurley's first season. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network, presented by MidFirst.
SUN DEVIL WINS OVER RANKED TEAMS PAST FOUR 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
ABOUT THIS GAME: No. 9 Creighton (11-0) is one of only six unbeatens and is the highest ranked non-conference team to play at ASU since No. 7 Ohio State visited on Dec. 20, 1980. Since Wells Fargo Arena opened in 1974-75, below are the non-conference ranked teams ASU has faced in the regular season.
RANKED OOC OPPONENTS AT WELLS FARGO ARENA (REGULAR SEASON SINCE 1974-75)
#9 Creighton vs. ASU (Dec. 20, 2016)
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)
ASU 79, #25 Marquette 77 (Nov. 25, 2013)
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55 (Dec. 15, 2007)
#18 UTEP 60, ASU 55 (Dec. 22, 1983)
#14 ASU 71, #7 Ohio State 58 (Dec. 20, 1980)
ASU 96, #12 Iowa 88 (Dec. 6, 1980)
#19 Kansas State 101, ASU 74 (Dec. 14, 1977)
ASU 89, #5 San Francisco 70 (Dec. 3, 1977)
SO FAR, REALLY GOOD: The Sun Devils are making free throws at a rate that is tied for second-best school history, as ASU is shooting 180-of-238 (.756) from the charity stripe. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best seasons. ASU went 12-of-12 in the second half of a tight win at San Diego State on Dec. 10 and was 16-of-18 for the game to seal that road tilt.
JETHRO NOTE: Freshman Jethro Tshisumpa -- with a 7-5 1/2 wingspan and 6% body fat -- has 14 blocks in 74 minutes on the year. Sun Devil Jordan Bachynsnki, the Pac-12 career leader, had 20 his freshman season when he played 240 minutes. Mario Bennett has the Sun Devil freshman record with 55 in 1991-92.
FINAL FOUR IN 2017: ASU and Glendale/Phoenix host the 2017 Final Four, the first Final Four held west of Texas since Seattle in 1995. It will be held at University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the Arizona Cardinals. The 2017 Final Four also marks the 25th anniversary of Bobby Hurley earning 1992 MOP.
ASU 74, @SDSU 63 (12/10/16): ASU fell behind 14-4 and was down 32-25 at the half but came back behind 10 three-pointers and 16-of-18 free throws to post a solid road win at always tough Viejas Arena, where SDSU was 49-5 in its past 54. ASU, which had won two OOC road games in Coach Hurley's first season (UNLV and Creighton), earned another and is now 3-1 in road OOC games after going 8-22 in the previous 30. Tra Holder had 17 points (perfect in six free throw attempts) while Obi Oleka had 15 points and 12 boards off the bench. SDSU was 65-1 at home and 48-2 in past 50 games overall when leading at the half.
THREE-DOT SUN DEVIL DATA: Junior Tra Holder is 275-of-376 (.731) from the charity stripe in his 75 games...senior Torian Graham has three 20-point games...Shannon Evans made his first 20 free throws to start the season. He is 224-of-277 (.809) from the free throw line in his career...Obi Oleka is 32-of-43 (.744) from the free throw line and is averaging 12.1 points and 9.8 rebounds...Kodi Justice has made 93 three-pointers in 61 career games.
FALL SIGNINGS: From one coast to the other one, Bobby Hurley's staff signed a pair of top-100 players this past fall, as 6-6 swingman Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H.) and 6-2 guard Remy Martin of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon will join the Sun Devil program in 2017-18. A four-star signee according to Scout, Martin averaged 14.5 points as a junior. Lawrence, a four-star small forward from The New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H., is the nation's 54th overall prospect according to ESPN, while Scout.com lists him as the nation's No. 11 small forward.
SCOUT.COM SUN DEVIL TOP-100 RECRUITS ON ROSTER NEXT FALL
54. Kimani Lawrence, 2017 (freshman next year)
81. Romello White, 2016 (sitting this year/academic redshirt)
98. Remy Martin, 2017 (freshman next year)
100. Tra Holder, 2014 (2015 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)
GOT IT DONE FAST: Buffalo was 285-369 (.436) in 22 seasons after going Division I (1991-2013). Under Bobby Hurley the Bulls were 42-20 (.678) in his two seasons.
THREE-POINT NOTE: Entering 2016-17 ASU had made a three-pointer in 522 straight games. The last time ASU did not make a three-pointer was in an 89-57 win over Washington in Tempe on Feb. 10, 2001. That streak is now up to 533 games.
ASU VS. CREIGHTON: ASU leads the series 5-4 after last year's win. Creighton had won the previous two meetings, winning in 2012 in Las Vegas (87-73) and in 2013 in Fullerton (88-60).
LAST YEAR'S WIN AT CREIGHTON: A big reason ASU won at Creighton on Dec. 2 last season despite being down eight at the half was big buckets off the bench by Obi Oleka (eight points in 11 minutes, including a three-pointer at 3:25 that broke a tie at 72) and Kodi Justice (three-pointer at 11:23 to give ASU a 61-57 lead). Creighton led for 28:27, but the Sun Devils shot 18-of-28 (.643) from the field in the second half. ASU had 21 assists vs. Creighton (after having just 10 in each of the previous three games).
CALL THEM COMEBACKS: In the past 11 seasons, ASU has made four halftime comebacks on the road of at least seven points, three of them under Bobby Hurley. Last year ASU came back from 12 down to win at UNLV and eight down at Creighton. It came back from seven down to win at San Diego State on Dec. 10.
HALFTIME COMEBACKS ON ROAD 2006-07 PRESENT (7+ POINTS OR MORE)
(12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25 (Dec. 16, 2015)/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33 (Dec.2, 2015)/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(7) @San Diego State 32, ASU 25 (Dec. 10, 2016)/ASU 74, @San Diego State 63
(7) @Stanford 35, ASU 28 (Feb. 25, 2010)/ASU 68, @Stanford 60
ABOUT THIS STRETCH: ASU is in a six-game stretch that has them playing No. 1 Kentucky, No. 18 Purdue and No. 9 Creighton along with UNLV, at San Diego State (2016 Mountain West regular season champion) and New Mexico State (2016 WAC regular season champion). Starting with its Nov. 28 game vs. top-ranked Kentucky, ASU is playing six games in 23 days that are full of NCAA Tourney proven teams.
SUPER TOUGH SIX IN A ROW
Monday, Nov. 28 vs. #1 Kentucky at Bahamas (8-time NCAA champion)
Saturday, Dec. 3 vs. UNLV (6 NCAA Tournaments in past 10 seasons)
Tuesday, Dec. 6 vs. #18 Purdue at New York City (8 NCAA Tournaments past 10 seasons)
Saturday, Dec. 10 at San Diego State (7 NCAA Tournaments past 11 seasons)
Saturday, Dec. 17 vs. New Mexico State (4 NCAA Tournaments past 5 seasons)
Tuesday, Dec. 20 vs. #9 Creighton (10 NCAA Tournaments past 18 seasons)
ASU 97, UNLV 73 (12/3/16): ASU started fast and never looked back in a 97-73 win over UNLV, as ASU made 13-of-22 (.591) three-pointers in the first half en route to matching a school record with 18. Shannon Evans II led ASU with 28 points while Torian Graham had 22 and Tra Holder 20. ASU led 51-32 at the half and had just eight turnovers. The 28 points by Evans II is the most by a Sun Devil since Jahii Carson had 29 at Oregon on March 4, 2014 (107 games).
SUN DEVIL MOST THREE POINT FIELD GOALS
18 vs. UNLV, Dec. 3, 2016
18 vs. San Francisco, Nov. 20, 2009
17 vs. Oregon State, Mar. 5, 2011
17 vs. Idaho State, Dec. 23, 2008
16 vs. Miami (Ohio), Nov. 12, 2013
15 vs. Citadel, Nov. 23, 2016
SHANNON EVANS II TOP CAREER SCORING GAMES
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
BEST THING ABOUT FRESHMAN IS THEY BECOME SOPHOMORES: Tra Holder averaged 14.2 points in 2015-16 after averaging 7.0 in his freshman season. The +7.2 increase is the best from first year to second year Sun Devil since Jeremy Veal went from 7.4 in 1994-95 to 18.9 in 1995-96 (+11.5).
BIGGEST SUN DEVIL SCORING IMPROVEMENTS (FIRST SEASON TO SECOND)
Jeremy Veal, +11.5 (7.4 in 1994-95 to 18.9 in 1995-96)
Dennis Hamilton, +11.1 (6.2 in 1963-64 to 17.3 in 1964-65)
Art Becker, +10.1 (9.0 in 1961-62 to 19.1 in 1962-63)
Arthur Thomas, +9.4 (4.3 in 1984-85 to 13.7 in 1985-86)
Tra Holder, +7.2 (7.0 in 2014-15 to 14.2 in 2015-16)
OBI ONE TO KEEP AN EYE ON: It was the Jan. 14 WSU game where forward Obinna Oleka (Oh-BEE-nah Oh-LEH-ka) began to emerge last season. Obi 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. He 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 the previous two seasons and didn't play in 2014-15, 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 CAREER GAMES/PAST 33
MPG: 19.0/28.0
3PT MADE: 3/31
FT: 17-27 (.630)/88-110 (.800)
RPG: 4.9/7.7
PPG: 6.4/11.3
HE CAN PLAY: Transfer Shannon Evans II arrived at ASU 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 sat the 2015-16 season but has two years to play starting in 2016-17.
SHANNON EVANS II TOP SCORING GAMES
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
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 vs. Tulane (11/18/16)
21 at Kent State (2/28/15)
21 at St. Bonaventure (12/3/14)
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset you have ever been on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament.
Happiest you have ever been on the court: Winning the MAC championship.
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? 1991 Duke vs UNLV
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman.
Who has been the biggest influence on your career? Mom, dad, and Coach Hurley
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 92 three pointers in 60 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 (freshman year) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove, 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 (three in 18 games in 2014-15). He tied for second on the team in assists with 76 and third in steals with 30.
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
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)
FIVE QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it?: John Wooden
Happiest you have ever been on the court: My first game at ASU
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? Rumble in the Jungle
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman
Biggest challenge in my life: Being dyslexic