WHEN: Sunday at 4 p.m. MT
WHERE: Coors Events Center • Boulder, Colo.
TV: Pac-12 Network
RADIO: NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 (pregame coverage begins at 3:30 p.m.)
LIVE AUDIO: SDA TuneIn Channel
UP NEXT
The No. 19 Arizona State women's basketball team (11-3, 2-1 Pac-12) will close out its first Pac-12 road trip of the season on Sunday (4 p.m. MT) when it travels to Boulder, Colorado, to take on the Colorado Buffaloes.
Sunday's game will be ASU's only encounter with the Buffaloes (11-3, 1-2 Pac-12), who captured their first league win and snapped a three-game losing streak with a 65-56 win over Arizona on Friday night. Also falling into the one-time meeting category for ASU this season will be Utah (defeated the Utes 66-44 on Friday in Salt Lake City), Oregon and Oregon State. The Sun Devils will host both the Ducks and Beavers in Tempe the first week of February.
ASU will attempt to keep its winning record in Pac-12 play intact on Sunday as it will come into its game at Colorado as one of five teams – No. 10 Stanford (3-0), No. 16 Oregon State (3-0), No. 12 Washington (3-1), No. 9 UCLA (2-1) – with above .500 marks after nearly two full weeks of conference play. All but one team will have at least one loss on its ledger after this weekend as Oregon State will play at Stanford on Sunday in a matchup of the Pac-12's only unbeaten teams.
ASU split its first two contests of Pac-12 play last weekend, falling to current No. 10 Stanford 64-57 before bouncing back to knock off current No. 20 and previously unbeaten Cal 72-62 in double overtime. Sophie Brunner (18.0 ppg), Quinn Dornstauder (13.5 ppg) and Reili Richardson (12.0 ppg) combined to average 43.5 points in the two games while Brunner (10.5 rpg), Dornstauder (8.5 rpg) and Kelsey Moos (8.0 rpg) combined to average 27.0 rebounds.
ASU started its current road trip with a 66-44 win at Utah on Friday night. Dornstauder just missed her second consecutive double-double (15 points, nine rebounds) and freshmen Reili Richardson and Robbi Ryan scored 10 points as the Devils handed Utah its first home loss after the Utes won their first seven of the season at the Huntsman Center. Sabrina Haines and Sara Hattis added seven points each for the Sun Devils, who shot 40 percent and were plus-16 on the boards (48-32). Brunner led ASU's rebounding effort with 10 while Ryan (seven rebounds) and Richardson (career-high six rebounds) combined for 13 boards. Richardson also led ASU with five assists. After holding Cal 18.8 points below its scoring average last Sunday, the Sun Devils came up with another defensive gem as they held the Utes (12-2, 1-2) 28.1 points below their usual scoring output.
This season represented the first time since 2002 that the Sun Devils opened the conference slate with the label of 'defending champions,' after tying with Oregon State last season for the league's top spot in the regular season standings (16-2). Prior to tying for the conference title last season the Sun Devils were in the runner-up spot in 2015 after finishing 15-3, one game behind Oregon State (16-2). After they dropped their Pac-12 opener to Stanford on Dec. 31, the Sun Devils found themselves in the unusual spot of having a losing record in conference play. One of the keys to ASU's Pac-12 success the last two seasons has been its ability to get out to fast starts. In 2015 the Sun Devils won their first seven Pac-12 games, which at the time was their best league start ever. They would surpass that mark last season after winning their first nine league games.
COVERAGE
Sunday's game at Colorado can be seen Pac-12 Network. Thad Anderson (play by play) and Joan Bonvicini (analysis) will call the action. The game can also be heard on NBC Sports Radio AM 1060 and on the Sun Devil Athletics Tune-In Channel. Pre-game coverage will begin at 3:30 p.m. Veteran broadcaster and the state of Arizona's 2010 Broadcaster of the Year Jeff Munn is in his 13th season as the voice of ASU women's basketball.
SERIES NOTES VERSUS COLORADO
The Sun Devils dropped their first eight meetings to Colorado with the last of those losses coming in 1987. Prior to its current five-game winning streak in the series, ASU's only other two wins over Colorado came during the 2011-12 season, Colorado's first as a member of the Pac-12 Conference.
Quinn Dornstauder (15 points, 10 rebounds) led the way in last year's 64-37 win in Tempe, the only meeting of the season between the Sun Devils and Buffaloes.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
• This year ASU returned three senior starters – posts Sophie Brunner, Quinn Dornstauder and Kelsey Moos – from the 2015-16 team that captured a share of the Pac-12 regular season title, won 26 games (tied for third-highest in program history) and went on to earn a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament (highest placement in program history). In addition, 2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year Charli Turner Thorne welcomed a five-member freshman class – Sydney Goodson, Reili Richardson, Jamie Ruden, Kiara Russell and Robbi Ryan – that was ranked among the nation's top 10 signing classes when it was announced last fall, and Sara Hattis, a graduate post who will be eligible to play this season after transferring to ASU from the University of Texas in May.
• One of the biggest factors in ASU's Pac-12 success the last two seaons has been its ability to win on the road where they are a combined 16-3 since 2015.
• ASU has held each of its first three Pac-12 opponents 12 or more points below its scoring average coming into the game: Stanford (76.4/64/-12.4), Cal (80.8/62/-18.8 - in double OT), Utah (72.1/44/-28.1).
• As of January 7, ASU is ranked among the top third in the Pac-12 in rebounding defense (1st/28.9 rpg), offensive rebounds (1st/16.0 rpg), 3-point FG percentage defense (2nd/24.8), scoring defense (2nd/54.1 ppg) and rebounding margin (2nd/+11.1). Individually, Brunner is 3rd in offensive rebounds (3.6 rpg), 7th in FG pct. (54.3), 10th in rebounds (7.1 rpg) and 20th in scoring (12.0 ppg); Dornstauder is tied for 12th in blocks (1.2 bpg) and 15th in FG pct (49.5) and rebounds (5.7 rpg), Richardson is 3rd in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.3), 8th in FT pct. (77.3), 11th in assists (4.2 apg) and 14th in steals (1.6 spg) and Moos is 11th in steals (1.8 spg), 13th in offensive rebounds (2.2 rpg) and 14th in rebounds (5.8).
• In November Brunner became the 22nd Sun Devil to reach 1,000 career points. Currently with 1,125 points/16th, Brunner needs 105 points to break into ASU's Top 10 for career points. She needs 47 rebounds (currently has 777 career boards) to pass Monique Ambers for second place on ASU's all-time rebounds list. Brunner, who collected the 18th double-double of her career in ASU's double-overtime win vs. Cal on Jan. 1, is averaging 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in last 5 games.
• Quinn Dornstauder, who had her first double-double of the season in Sunday's win over Cal, has connected on 53.5 percent of her shots (46-86) in ASU's last 10 games. She just missed her second consecutive double-double (15 points, 9 rebounds) in ASU's win over Utah on Friday night.
• Kelsey Moos, who has established new single-game career highs this season for assists (8) and steals (6) and tied a career high with three 3-pointers, is currently out after suffering a foot injury in ASU's 2OT win over Cal (Jan. 1).
• ASU's five member freshman class – Sydney Goodson, Reili Richardson, Jamie Ruden, Kiara Russell and Robbi Ryan – combined for 60 points and 19 assists the first two wins of the season. Richardson was named the Pac-12's Freshman of the Week after averaging 9.0 points and 5.5 assists while connecting on 58 percent of her shots in the two wins. Richardson, who had seven points and seven assists in her Sun Devil debut, tied fellow freshman Robbi Ryan with a game-high 11 points (4-7 FGs) to go along with four assists in ASU's 82-37 win over San Jose State. Ryan scored 19 points in ASU's loss at Marquette (Nov. 19). Ryan also led ASU in scoring (13 points) in its win at Middle Tennessee (Dec. 13).
• Russell started the first seven games at point guard before getting injured during the week of preparation for ASU's game at Kentucky (Dec. 11). She missed six games before returning for ASU's game at Utah (Jan. 6). Richardson has started the last seven games at point guard and has averaged 10.5 points and 4.9 assists during that stretch. In her first career start against Kentucky Richardson accounted for 12 points, six assists and four rebounds while playing 40-plus minutes. She scored a career-high 14 points against Stanford (Dec. 31).
• ASU has won nine of its last 10. Included in that stretch was a seven-game winning streak in which it made 49 percent of its shots, was +12.1 on the boards and had a +7.6 advantage in assists per game. ASU's advantage on the boards was especially telling on the offensive glass where it grabbed nearly twice as many rebounds as the opposition (94-49). The Sun Devils took full advantage of the extra opportunities as they had an 85-28 advantage in second-chance points during the seven-game winning streak.
SUN DEVILS CONTINUE TO EXCEL IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
ASU's win over Holy Cross on Dec. 21 was its 40th regular-season, non-conference win in the last four seasons. Going back to the 1986-87 season – the first season of Pac-10/Pac-12 play – ASU's 40 regular-season, non-conference wins are by far the most in a four-season stretch in program history (the next highest total is 33 games done three times: 2003-06/2004-07/2005-08). In addition, ASU's 40 wins leading up to the start of the conference season are more than any other team in the Pac-12 the last four seasons. This was the fourth straight season that ASU brought a winning streak of six or more games into Pac-12 play. The 2013-14 team won 10 straight, the 2014-15 team won seven straight, the 2015-16 team won six straight and this year's team will brought a seven-game winning streak into league play.
SUN DEVIL WBB JUST AS SUCCESSFUL IN THE CLASSROOM AS IT IS ON THE COURT
For the Fall 2016 semester the Sun Devil WBB team turned in an extraordinary effort in the classroom that resulted in a 3.63 team GPA. Every player on the roster has a cumulative GPA about 3.0, including nine players with a cumulative GPA of 3.4 or higher.
Since the 1996-97 season, Turner Thorne's first season at ASU, the Sun Devils lead the Pac-12 in the number of first-team All-Academic conference awards (19) and the combined number of first- and second-team All-Academic conference awards (40). In 2014-15 ASU's team GPA (3.558) was No. 7 on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) 2015 Academic Honor Roll.
BRUNNER NOMINATED FOR WBCA/ALLSTATE GOOD WORKS TEAM AND SENIOR CLASS AWARD
Arizona State University women's basketball's Sophie Brunner was one of 97 women's basketball student-athletes recently named as nominees for the 2017 Allstate WBCA Good Works Team®. The esteemed award honors an outstanding group of student-athletes who represent the sport's finest in the areas of community service and leadership among their peers. The Allstate WBCA Good Works Team® recognizes players at all levels of college basketball whose charitable involvement and altruistic acts stand out amongst all other student-athletes participating in the sport. Brunner's selfless and giving attitude has been on display since her freshman year when she volunteered to be a frequent participant in the Sun Devil women's basketball team's Character Code program. Since that time Brunner, who was also a nominee for the Good Works Team in 2015, has led assemblies in more than 30 schools across the Valley where she encourages youth to practice good character at home, at school and with friends. In 2014 Brunner joined a group of Sun Devil student-athletes who traveled with Arizona State University American Indian students to Hopi and Navajo lands as part of the ASU Tribal Nations Tour. Sophie joined her peers in the endeavor to interact with tribal members, encourage higher education and wellness, and work on community service projects. Brunner's community service efforts have also included being a leader in the Interact Program, where she performed service projects for the underserved, made holiday baskets and kits for Haiti and organized food drives. She also took part in DAWG, a drug and alcohol awareness group promoting sobriety and mentoring her peers. On January 5 it Brunner was one of 30 student-athletes named as candidates for the 2016-17 Senior CLASS Award® in women's basketball. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: community, classroom, character and competition.
FREE THROWS
• ASU was picked to finish in fourth place in the Pac-12 by both the league's coaches and media who cover the conference. The Sun Devils received one first-place vote in the media poll.
• Over the last three seasons ASU is 40-7 (.851) in regular-season non-conference games and 50-7 (.878) at home.
• ASU is 33-6 in regular season Pac-12 games going back to 2015. Prior to its loss at Oregon State last season, ASU's 9-0 record in Pac-12 play was its best conference start in program history (surpassed last 7-0 start in 2015).
• The Sun Devils are 24-4 in road games since the start of the 2014-15 season (includes a 16-3 mark in Pac-12 play). Last season the Sun Devils set a program record with 11 road wins.
• ASU has allowed an average of only 55.1 points per game since the start of the 2014-15 season (82 games). ASU has held the opposition to 50 or fewer points 30 times during that stretch. They are 29-1 in those contests. The only loss came at home to Cal (50-49) on Feb. 8, 2015. On average, opposing teams scored more than 15.0 points under their scoring average when facing ASU last season. In fact, only two opponents (Marquette and Tennessee), scored more points than what they averaged coming into their respective games vs. ASU.
• In the last three seasons the Sun Devils are 27-6 in games decided by five points or less and/or overtime, including a 2-0 record this season: ASU's 73-71 overtime win at No. 15 Kentucky on Dec. 11 and its 72-62, double-OT win vs. No. 21 Cal on Jan. 1.
CHARLI TURNER THORNE HAS SUN DEVIL WBB AMONG NATION'S ELITE
The all-time winningest coach in program history and No. 2 in the Pac-12 in career wins (391), Charli Turner Thorne has turned Sun Devil women's basketball into one of the nation's premiere programs since taking over in 1996-97. Included in ASU's earlier run of 13 consecutive postseason appearances (2000-12) were a school record five-consecutive NCAA Tournament bids from 2005-09. During that time the Sun Devils qualified for the Elite Eight on a pair of occasions, making ASU one of only 15 programs in the country to have qualified for the Elite Eight at least two times between 2007-12.
Last season Turner Thorne was named the 2016 Pac-12 Coach of the Year (coaches and media), the second time she has been recognized with the honor (2001), after leading the Sun Devils to their second regular season Pac-12 championship. ASU would go on to earn its highest NCAA Tournament seed (No. 2) in program history. In 2016 ASU has also tied the program records for most conference wins (16) and consecutive wins (15) and set the program record for most road wins (11). Turner Thorne would go on to also be named the WBCA Region 5 Co-Coach of the Year.
In 2014-15 Turner Thorne was named one of 10 semifinalists for the Naismith Women's College Coach of the Year for a season in which she led the Sun Devils to their best start in school history (18-1), their best conference start in school history (7-0), a second-place finish in the Pac-12 and 29 wins, the second-highest number of wins in school history.
In 2013-14 Turner Thorne, who recorded both the 400th win of her coaching career and her 200th Pac-12 win last season, raised the curtain on the team's current era of success as she helped the Sun Devils post one of the best turnarounds in the country as they went from a 13-18 record and a ninth-place Pac-12 finish (5-13) in 2012-13 to a 23-10 record and fourth-place Pac-12 finish (11-7). Included among ASU's 23 wins in 2013-14 were three triumphs over Top 25 teams.
The outstanding success Sun Devil women's basketball has enjoyed under Turner Thorne is a 180-degree difference from the program that had an aggregate record of 20-60 in the three years prior to her arrival and only two NCAA Tournament wins in its history.
CELEBRATING ELITE ACCOMPLISHMENT
This season will be the 10th anniversary of ASU's first ever appearance in the NCAA Elite Eight. Led by senior forwards Aubree Johnson and Emily Westerberg who were both named to the All-Pac-10 Team, ASU set school records for overall wins (31), most Pac-10 wins (16 - tied in 2016) and most road wins (10 - broken in 2016) With the honor, Westerberg became the first Sun Devil to be named to the All-Pac-10 Team three times. In addition to Johnson and Westerberg's accolades, sophomore guard Briann January was named All-Pac-10 Honorable Mention and guard Dymond Simon was named to the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
INJURY REPORT
Kelsey Moos suffered a foot injury late in the second overtime of ASU's win over Cal on Jan. 1. She is currently being evaluated on a week-to-week basis. Freshman guard Kiara Russell started the first seven games of the season at point guard before sustaining an injury (quad) in practice on Dec. 5. She missed six games and returned to action at Utah on Jan. 6. Freshman post Jamie Ruden suffered a foot injury in practice on Dec. 28 and is likely to miss the remainder of the season.
SUN DEVIL WBB ANNOUNCES THE SIGNING OF EVA RUBIN AND BRE'YANNA SANDERS
On Nov. 9, 2016, Arizona State University head women's basketball coach Charli Turner Thorne today announced that student-athletes Eva Rubin and Bre'yanna Sanders signed national letters of intent to join the Sun Devil women's basketball program.
"We are excited to announce that Eva and Bre will be joining our Sun Devil women's basketball family," Turner Thorne said. "Both of these young women come from great families and will not only excel on the court but in the classroom and our community."
A 6-5 post, Rubin will be coming to ASU from Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Flossmoor, Illinois, where she averaged 15 points, eight rebounds and four blocks as a junior in 2016. Ranked No. 14 at her position by ESPN.com, Rubin earned Class 3A/4A All-State recognition from the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association last season in addition to also being named to the All-Area and All-Conference teams. As a sophomore in 2015, Rubin helped lead her squad to a fourth-place finish in the IHSA 4A state tournament. During Homewood-Flossmoor's run in the tournament, Rubin tied a Class 4A single-game record with five blocked shots.
A 6-0 forward, Sanders will be joining the Sun Devils from Clovis West High School in Fresno, California, where she has earned first-team All-Valley recognition in addition to being named the team's defensive player of the year each of the last two seasons. In 2016 Sanders averaged 11.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 steals and 2.2 blocks in helping lead her team to 30-4 record and the semifinals of the Southern California Regional Open Division. She would go on to be named the league co-player of the year. In 2015 Sanders had a big role on a team that posted a 26-5 record, its third straight Central Section Division I title and reached the second round of the Southern California Open Division regional.
SUN DEVIL WBB IN COSTA RICA
Over the summer the Sun Devil women's basketball did a six-day foreign tour of Costa Rica. Every four years the program is allowed to take a foreign tour to a destination where it plays games and partakes in a variety of team bonding activities in addition to volunteering time in the community.
The Sun Devils, who graduated five players from last year's team that won a share of the regular season Pac-12 title, won all four games during their stay in Costa Rica. From a basketball standpoint the trip was an invaluable experience for a relatively young team. While ASU returns its entire starting frontcourt this season in the form of seniors Sophie Brunner, Quinn Dornstauder and Kelsey Moos, they are also adding seven new members.
Following its first official practice of the season in October, Charli Turner Thorne said that having the practices prior to the trip and the games in Costa Rica helped to smooth the transition with such a new team.
"Obviously the fact we got some summer practices in I think made it a lot less frantic," Turner Thorne said. "We had great energy and effort out there, but we are by no means peaking right now."
Turner Thorne said preseason practices are important for setting the tone for the upcoming season.
"This such an impactful time because once you get into the season your rest and recovery is so important," Turner Thorne said. "This is when you really lay your foundation and establish how you are going to play. You figure out who you are and try and get as good as you can because once you get into games you are never going to have this amount of quality reps and practice time."