The 2016-17 Sun Devil men's basketball team (5-3) has zig-zagged across North America a third time (to Orlando and the Bahamas prior) and now plays No. 18 Purdue in the Jimmy V Classic on Dec. 6 at Madison Square Garden. Dave O'Brien and Jay Bilas have the call for ESPN, as ASU is in the middle of a six-game stretch that has them playing No. 1, No. 18, and No. 10 Creighton along with UNLV, at San Diego State and New Mexico State. 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, on ESPN 620 AM in Phoenix.
ASU 97, UNLV 73 (12/3/16): ASU started fast and never looked back in a 97-73 win over UNLV on Saturday evening, as ASU made 13-of-22 (.591) three-pointers in the first half en route to matching a school record with 18 for the game. 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 GOALSWho says it never rains in desert?????@SunDevilHoops tied a SCHOOL RECORD for made threes in a game! #Pac12Hoops pic.twitter.com/QNTTGcfIHN
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) December 4, 2016
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
ASU IN MSG: ASU has played four games in Madison Square Garden, with both trips taking place in the Preseason NIT. In 2009 ASU fell to No. 7 Duke 64-53 on Nov. 25 and beat LSU 71-52 two days later. In November of 1997 ASU and Eddie House battled No. 2 Kansas with Paul Pierce in an 90-88 overtime loss and then fell to No. 11 UCONN 82-61.
WHOA: Starting with its Nov. 28 game vs. top-ranked Kentucky, ASU will play six games in 23 days that are...well...challenging. Check out the six games and the basketball history of each opponent.
SUPER TOUGH SIX IN A ROW (RANKINGS AS OF DEC. 5)
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. #17 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. #12 Creighton (10 NCAA Tournaments past 18 seasons)
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-DOT SUN DEVIL DATA: Junior Tra Holder leads ASU in scoring (17.5 ppg.) and is 39-of-51 (.765) from the free throw line on the year. He is 261-of-360 (.725) from the charity stripe in his 72-game career...senior Torian Graham has three 20-point games...Shannon Evans II is 32-of-38 (.842) from the free throw line on the year. He made his first 20 to start the season. He is 216-of-269 (.803) from the free throw line in his career...Obi Oleka is 21-of-29 (.724) from the free throw line and is averaging 11.9 points and 10.0 rebounds...Kodi Justice has made 88 three-pointers in 58 career games...ASU is 138-of-187 (.738) from the free throw line...seven players are averaging more than 14 minutes per game and five players are averaging double digit scoring numbers.
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)
MILES: The Sun Devils last year had a tough out-of-conference schedule, playing three OOC road games for just the fifth time in 38 seasons. This year, it has one true "road" game but its travel schedule is even tougher. ASU between Nov. 16 (travel day) and Dec. 10 (game at San Diego State) will travel 12,900 miles and sleep in a hotel in 11 of 25 nights.
ROAD TRIP(S)!!! ... ROUND TRIP MILES FROM PHOENIX
Orlando/Tire Pros Invitational (Nov. 17-20)=3,680
Bahamas vs. #1 Kentucky (Nov. 28)=4,320
Jimmy V Classic @NYC vs. #18 Purdue (Dec. 6)=4,300
San Diego @SDSU (Dec. 10)=600
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 will also marks the 25th anniversary of Bobby Hurley earning 1992 MOP.
PURDUE SERIES: Purdue and Arizona State last met in Las Vegas on Dec. 21, 2002, as ASU won 70-53 in route to a 2003 NCAA Tournament appearance. The teams have met five times, with ASU winning twice, the other Sun Devil win an 85-80 game on Dec. 21, 1968 in Tempe when the Boilermakers were ranked 12th.
ASU VS. PURDUE SERIES (PURDUE LEADS 3-2)
ASU 85, #12 Purdue 80 (Nov. 21, 1968 in Tempe)
#11 Purdue 76, ASU 75 (Dec. 8, 1977 in Tempe)
Purdue 73, ASU 63 (Dec. 11, 1978 in West Lafayette)
Purdue 92, ASU 87 (Dec. 29, 1978 in Honolulu)
ASU 70, Purdue 53 (Nov. 21, 2002 in Las Vegas)
ASU 96, CAL POLY 74 (11/13/16): ASU led just 39-38 at the half the Sun Devils scored 57 in the second half and raced to a 96-74 win. Tra Holder posted 24 points, while Shannon Evans II added 20 and Torian Graham had 18 off the bench. Evans II became the first Sun Devil since Ike Diogu (Jan. 17, 2004 vs. USC) to go perfect in at least 12 free throw attempts, while ASU's 57 second-half points was the most in a half since it scored 58 vs. San Francisco on Nov. 20, 2009.
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 30
MPG: 19.0/29.5
3PT MADE: 3/30
FT: 17-27 (.630)/77-96 (.802)
RPG: 4.9/7.7 --- PPG: 6.4/11.1
TOP SCORING GAMES FOR OBINNA OLEKA
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
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)
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 530 games.
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)
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.
FALL SIGNINGS: From one coast to the other one, Bobby Hurley's staff signed a pair of top-100 players for the second straight 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. ASU had signed five ESPN top-100 players in the previous nine years, but now has signed five in its 2016 and 2017 classes. Last year marked the first time in the Scout.com recruiting era (2002-present) ASU signed three four-star players, as next year Coach Hurley is expected to have at least five top-100 players on the roster. ASU had signed eight top-100 players in the previous 15 years, but signed two in the Scout top-100 in Sam Cunliffe (45) and Romello White (81), with Lawrence (54) and Martin (98) now in the fold.
SCOUT.COM SUN DEVIL TOP-100 RECRUITS (2002-PRESENT)
23. James Harden, 2007 (2009 Pac-10 Player of Year)
34. Jahii Carson, 2011 (2013 Pac-1- Freshman of Year)
45. Sam Cunliffe, 2016 (Coach Hurley's first fall signee)
54. Kimani Lawrence, 2017 (freshman next year)
55. Ike Diogu, 2002 (2005 Pac-10 Player of Year)
79. Keala King, 2010
81. Romello White, 2016 (sitting this year/academic redshirt)
84. Keith Wooden, 2003
96. Jamelle McMillan, 2007
98. Trent Lockett, 2009
98. Remy Martin, 2017 (freshman next year)
100. Tra Holder, 2014 (2015 Pac-12 All-Freshman Team)