The Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball team (10-13; 3-7) go to Corvallis for a Saturday 3 p.m. PT tilt against the Oregon State Beavers, with Guy Haberman and Eldridge Recasner on the call for the Pac-12 Network. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Sports Radio Network, presented by MidFirst (620 AM). ASU makes its first trip to Gill Coliseum since January 28, 2015.
FINAL FOUR REMINDER: 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.
NOTES VS. DUCKS: ASU had just six turnovers in a 71-70 loss at Oregon Thursday in a game that had nine ties and 15 lead changes...Shannon Evans matched his ASU high with 28 points and Tra Holder added 17...ASU led 60-59 with 3:37 left but Dillon Brooks scored the final 12 points for the win...game was tied at 66 with 1:45...ASU was the first team to not have double-digit turnovers vs. the Ducks this season.
NOTES VS. BEAVERS: ASU has won six of the past nine and 12 of the past 15 in the series...ASU and OSU meet for the 86th time with the Sun Devils holding a narrow 43-42 edge in the series...the teams split last year with ASU winning 86-68 in Tempe (Jan. 28) and Oregon State winning 75-66 in the Pac-12 Tournament (Mar. 9)...ASU shot .593 (32-of-54) in the win, 22-of-61 (.361) in the loss.
QUICK HITTERS: The 81.2 points per game posted by ASU is its best since the 1997-98 squad averaged 84.5, as ASU ranks second in the Pac-12 in scoring and third in free throw shooting (.750). ASU is averaging just 10.7 turnovers (first in the league) and 9.9 three-pointers made, second in the Pac-12.
MINUTE(S)MEN: Markelle Fultz leads the Pac-12 in minutes per game in confererence play at 37.9, but not far behind him are Tra Holder (37.8/second), Shannon Evans II (36.5/fourth) and Torian Graham (35.6/ninth).
SEASON RESET: ASU zig-zagged across North America three times (Orlando, Bahamas and New York City) and got solid road wins at San Diego State (Dec. 10) and Stanford (Dec. 30)...Sun Devils returned two starters (Tra Holder and Obi Oleka) and four total lettermen from last year that posted eight wins against top-100 RPI teams in Bobby Hurley's first season...four players average at least 32 minutes and five players average at least 28 minutes...Obi Oleka is one of three Pac-12 players averaging a double-double (12.3 ppg./10.6 rpg.)...Obi leads the league in double-figure rebounding games with 15.
2,162 POINTS IN BACKCOURT: Junior Tra Holder moved past the 1,000-point mark at UCLA on Jan. 19 with 22 points as he is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club. ASU now has a backcourt with two 1,000-point scorers, as Shannon Evans has 1,121 career points, 754 of them coming in 62 games at Buffalo.
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House/2,044
29. Scott Lloyd, 1973-76/1,093
30. Tra Holder, 2015-present/1,086
FREE THROWS: Shannon Evans II currently leads the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (80-of-92/.870). Two Sun Devils have led the Pac-12 in free throw percentage, as Chris Beasley shot .875 (112-of-128) in 1983-84 and Alex Austin made 69-of-80 (.863) in 1988-89.
TORIAN-ING IT UP: Torian Graham posted a career-high in each tilt of a three-game December span with 24 vs. Creighton, 26 vs. Central Arkansas and then 30 off the bench at Stanford. In his past 12 games he is averaging 20.3 points. He is shooting .518 (71-of-137) from the field in the 11 games he has come off the bench, averaging 31.8 minutes and 18.1 points.
FREE THROW THREE-DOT DATA: The Sun Devils are making free throws at a rate that is third-best in school history (354-of-472/.750) 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 road win at San Diego State on Dec. 10 and was 16-of-18 for the game...junior Tra Holder is 331-of-448 (.739) from the charity stripe in his 86 games...Shannon Evans II made his first 20 free throws to start the season. He 259-of-317 (.817) from the free throw line in his career...Obi Oleka is 145-of-196 (.740) from the free throw line in his career.
THREE IN TOP 10: ASU has three of the top scorers in the Pac-12 entering play this weekend. Torian Graham (18.4 ppg.) is second followed by Tra Holder (17.7/third) and Shannon Evans II (16.0/ninth).
OBI PUTTING UP NUMBERS: Senior 6-8 forward Obi Oleka has to do much of the big man work this year, as he has led or tied for team lead in rebounding in all but two games and has 12 double-doubles. He had a career-best 17 rebounds vs. Central Arkansas on Dec. 22.
PAC-12 OVERALL DOUBLE-DOUBLES
13-Kyle Kuzma, UTAH
12-Obi Oleka, ASU
11-Josh Hawkinson, WSU
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.
SUN DEVIL SEASON DOUBLE-DOUBLES (PAC-10/12 ERA OF 1978-79 TO PRESENT)
Ike Diogu, Jr., 2004-05, 15
Carrick Felix, Sr., 2012-13, 13
Kurt Nimphius, Sr., 1979-80, 13
Obi Oleka, Sr., 2016-17, 12
Alton Lister, Sr., 1980-81, 12
Jordan Bachynski, Sr., 2013-14, 12
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.
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)
ASU 86, WASHINGTON 75 (1/25/17): UW led by seven in the first half and then ASU led by 15 in the second and ASU made 16-of-19 free throws in the second half and was 11-of-25 from three-point range to get the 11-point win. ASU held UW to .403 from the field, its best defensive outing in in Pac-12 this season, as Shannon Evans II had 25 points while Tra had 23.
SUN DEVIL 50+ POINT HALVES THIS YEAR
72, second half vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)
57, second half vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)
55, first half vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)
52, second half vs. Washington (Jan. 25, 2017)
52, first half at Stanford (Dec. 31, 2016)
51, first half vs. Central Arkansas (Dec. 22, 2016)
51, first half vs. UNLV (Dec. 3, 2016)
50, second half at #16 Arizona (Jan. 12, 2017)