QUICK PARAGRAPH AS WE HEAD TO 2017-18: The Arizona State Sun Devils under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley will be led by a pair of a 1,000-point career scorers, as guards Tra Holder (16.2 ppg.) and Shannon Evans (15.0) return along with fellow senior Kodi Justice (140 career three-pointers). ASU will welcome many newcomers to a team that was one of the best free throws shooting squads in school history (.749) last season as well as the best scoring Sun Devil squad in 20 seasons, as it averaged 78.6 points per game.
NOT MANY CAN SAY THIS: As rosters become complete for 2017-18, Arizona State will have a rare and solid note to start, as its backcourt will have two 1,000-point career scorers. Tra Holder has 1,215 points in 97 Sun Devil games (12.5 ppg.), while Shannon Evans has 1,248 career points (13.1 ppg.), with 754 of them coming at Buffalo from 2013-15. Combined the duo has made 764 total field goals, 277 three-pointers, 658 free throws and has dropped 3,121 collegiate points in 192 career games.
TOP SCORERS COMING BACK: ASU has two of the top five scorers in the Pac-12 returning next year, as Tra Holder (16.2 ppg) and Shannon Evans (15.0) averaged more than 31 points per game last year. Only Reid Travis (Stanford), Kyle Kuzma (Utah) and Stephan Thompson (Oregon State) averaged more than Tra and Shannon last year in overall games. Players listed below are those listed in NCAA stats with minimum games played.
PAC-12 TOP RETURNING SCORERS IN 2017-18
17.4-Reid Travis, Stanford
16.4-Kyle Kuzma, Utah
16.3-Stephen Thompson, Oregon State
16.2-Tra Holder, Arizona State
15.0-Shannon Evans II, Arizona State
TWO IN TOP-100: Two of ASU's newcomers in 2017-18 are ESPN top-100 players. Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI) is a 6-5 guard who is No. 54, whole Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and is No. 82 in the rankings.
WHO WERE THOSE THREE GUYS ON THE BENCH? ASU is expected to have several newcomers fill roles in 2017-18, led by three Sun Devils who were in the program last year. Romello White is a 6-8 forward from Suwanee, Ga., who practiced last season as an academic redshirt and was a top-100 players (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Mickey Mitchell, out of Texas, is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16 and came to ASU in December of 2016 and will be eligible this December, while 6-9 redshirt freshman Vitaliy Shibel has a great southpaw shooting stroke but missed last year with an ACL injury.
Rob Edwards gets buckets. Also, Rob Edwards is a Sun Devil. https://t.co/2yTc00PeAl @SunDevilTix @jeffmetcalfe @TheSunDevils @TimHealeyASU pic.twitter.com/il9XnrwLwp
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) April 25, 2017
KODI FINISHED STRONG: Kodi Justice in his final five games of 2016-17 averaged 15.6 points, which included a career-high 22 points in the Feb. 26 win over NCAA Tournament-bound USC. He was in double digits in 11 games in 2016-17 and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe and perfect in nine free throw attempts in those final five games. He will enter his senior year of 2017-18 with 83 games played, 140 three-pointers, and 184 assists. He is a career .760 free throw shooter (76-of-100) and .414 three-point shooter (140-of-338). He averaged 31.1 minutes per game in 2016-17 after 20.4 in the first two seasons in 50 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 solid sophomore and junior seasons. 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 in 2015-16 and tied for second on team in assists (76) and steals (30) that sophomore season, then in 2016-17 averaged 9.2 points and had 63 three-pointers while averaging 31.1 minutes in 33 games and 26 starts. He posted double-digits in 11 games, and ASU was 6-5 in those games.
FOUR QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it? John Wooden
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
KODI JUSTICE TOP SCORING GAMES
22 vs. USC (2/26/17)
20 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
20 vs. Houston Baptist (12/19/15)
19 vs. #5 UCLA (2/23/17)
We have all kind of schedule information today. Anyone want to go to Las Vegas with us? https://t.co/Qldp3DAp6a
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) April 24, 2017
MILES: The Sun Devils in 2015-16 had a tough out-of-conference schedule, playing three non-conference road games for just the fifth time in 38 seasons. In 2016-17, it had one true "road" game but its travel schedule was even tougher. ASU between Nov. 16 (travel day) and Dec. 10 (win at San Diego State) traveled 12,900 miles and slept 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
THE MINUTES: Arizona State had five players average at least 30 minutes per game this season: Shannon Evans II (35.7), Tra Holder (35.6), Torian Graham (34.7), Obinna Oleka (32.9), and Kodi Justice (31.1). The last Pac-12 school to have five players average at least 30 minutes per game was Arizona in 2003-04 (Andre Iguodola, Salim Stoudamire, Hassan Adams, Channing Frye, and Mustafa Shakur). Three of those players––Graham (18.6), Holder (16.2), and Evans II (15.0)––averaged at least 15 points per game. The last Pac-12 school to have at least three players average 15 or more points per game in a season was Arizona in 2008-09 (Jordan Hill, Nic Wise, and Chase Budinger).
SWEEPS: ASU swept Washington for the first time since 2002-03 and swept Stanford for first time since 2009-10 and also beat Stanford for a third time in the Pac-12 Tournament, ASU's third Pac-12 Tournament first-round win in 15 seasons since tournament was brought back in 2002.
GRAHAM ON ALL-PAC-12 TOURNAMENT TEAM: Torian Graham earned Pac-12 All-Tournament team honors after scoring 32 vs. Stanford and 17 vs. Oregon. He was 19-of-37 (.513) in the two games from the field, including 10-of-20 (.500) from the three-point stripe and grabbed 13 rebounds in 77 minutes.
2017: Torian Graham
2013: Jahii Carson
2009: Derek Glasser, James Harden, Jeff Pendergraph
1990: Alex Austin
THREE PEAT: With the wins over Stanford this year marked the third time ASU beat a team three times (also Arizona in 2008-09 and Washington State in 1986-87).
RECORDS SET: ASU set school records for three-pointers made (328) and attempted (896). It also shot .749 from the free throw line (489-of-653) third-best mark in school history and best mark since team joined the Pac-10 in 1978-79. ASU's 2,593 points is the second-most in school history, behind only the 1997-98 team that scored 2,703.
SUN DEVIL FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
1. 75.6 – 1978
2. 75.4 – 1955
3. 74.9 – 2017
PAC-12 GAMES ONLY: In the 18 conference games the team led the league in turnover margin (+3.3), fewest turnovers per game (9.7) and was second only to UCLA (10.3) in three-pointers per game (10.0)...Torian Graham averaged 18.6 points per game in league play which led the league...Tra Holder (37.9), Shannon Evans II (36.7) and Torian Graham (36.6) were the top three in the league in minutes per game in the 18 league games.
TRA ON CAREER POINTS CHART: Tra Holder finished his junior season with 1,215 career points. With 54 more points he move into 20th on the Sun Devil career list past Arthur Thomas (1985-88). How high could Tra end up? ASU's fifth-highest point total is 1,673 points (Stevin Smith from 1990-94). He has made 374-of-506 (.739) free throws in his career. The 374 makes is second only to Ike Diogu (671) on the ASU career chart.
SUN DEVIL CAREER FREE THROWS MADE
1. Ike Diogu, 2002-05/671
2. Tra Holder, 2014-present/374
3. James Harden, 2007-09/373
SUN DEVIL CAREER FREE THROWS ATTEMPTED
1. Ike Diogu, 2002-2005/854
2. Tra Holder, 2014-present/506
2. Mario Bennett, 1991-95/506
OBI MAKES HIS MARK: Senior Obinna Oleka posted 522 career rebounds in his two-year and 65-game career, an average of eight boards per game. His 522 rebounds is third-most by any Sun Devil in a two-year career, topped only by Paul Stovall (647 from 1979-72) and Jerry Hahn (553 from 1960-62).
SUN DEVIL TWO-YEAR CAREER REBOUNDING AVERAGE
12.4, Paul Stovall, 1970-72
10.0, Jerry Hahn, 1960-62
8.3, Bobby Lazor, 1997-99
8.2, Lester Neal, 1991-93
8.0, Obinna Oleka, 2015-17
SINGLE-SEASON REBOUNDS
415, Tony Cerkvenik, 1961
359, Mark Landsberger, 1977
351, Paul Stovall, 1972
330, Joe Caldwell, 1964
327, Obi Oleka, 2017
SOLID ROAD WIN HERE: 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 2016 MWC regular season champion SDSU was 49-5 in its previous 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 under Coach Hurley 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.
SUN DEVIL SINGLE SEASON POINTS
8. 617 – Mario Bennett, 1995
9. 615 – Ike Diogu, 2004
10. 614 – Torian Graham, 2017
10. 614 – Jahii Carson, 2014
FIELD GOAL ATTEMPTS
1. 623 – Eddie House, 2000
6. 521 – Joe Caldwell, 1964
7. 513 – Torian Graham, 2017
FREE THROWS
1. 248 – Ike Diogu, 2005
9. 152 – Tra Holder, 2017
9. 152 – Jahii Carson, 2013
MOST POINTS
1. 2,703 – 1998
2. 2,593 – 2017
ASU STARTING LINEUPS IN 2016-17 (7)
Cunliffe, Evans, Holder, Justice, Oleka (2-0)
Cunliffe, Evans, Graham, Holder, Oleka (3-3)
Cunliffe, Evans, Holder, Oleka,Tshisumpa (0-1)
Cunliffe, Evans, Holder, Justice, Vila (1-0 vs. San Diego State)
Evans, Holder, Justice, Oleka, Tshisumpa (1-3)
Evans, Graham, Holder, Justice, Oleka (2-2)
Evans, Holder, Justice, Oleka, Vila (6-9)