The Arizona State Sun Devil men's hoops team that returns three starters from last year's squad and welcomes six newcomers takes on its neighbor from the the north when it faces the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks on Friday, Nov. 10, at 6 p.m. on Pac-12 Network (Arizona) with Daron Sutton and Eddie House on the call. ASU, under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley, is led by seniors Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Radio Network/620 AM. Tra Holder will play in his 100th career game on Friday and his 91st start.
100TH GAME NOTES: Tra Holder moved past the 1,000-point mark at UCLA on Jan. 19, 2017, as he is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club...384-of-517 (.743) from the charity stripe in his 99 games, and both marks are second in ASU history behind only Ike Diogu (671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
17. Al Nealey, 1957-60/1,304
18. Art Becker, 1961-64/1,284
19. Tony Zeno, 1975-79/1,282
20. Arthur Thomas, 1984-88/1,268
21. Jahii Carson, 2012-14/1,261
22. Tra Holder, 2014-present/1,257
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2
QUICK HITTERS: De'Quon Lake has made 15-of-17 (.882) from the field to start his ASU career...Tra Holder is 10-of-11 (.909) from the free throw line...Shannon Evans II is 291-of-359 (.811) from the free throw line in his 97-game career...Remy Martin is averaging 12.0 points and is 10-of-20 from the field coming off the bench.
ASU 90, SAN DIEGO STATE 74 (NOV. 14, 2017): For the ninth time in Bobby Hurley's Sun Devil tenure ASU trailed at the half but came back and won and did it in convincing fashion with a 90-68 win over San Diego State. ASU was down 40-34 at the half and 43-34 at 19:22 mark before it exploded and outscored the Aztecs 56-25 the rest of the way, including a 22-2 run from the 14:40 to 6:42 mark. It marked the first time SDSU had given up 90 since a 100-90 loss to BYU on Feb. 22, 2006, as Tra Holder led the way with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Romello White added 16 points and 15 rebounds in his debut, while De'Quon Lake added 15 points (perfect in seven shots) and seven rebounds off the bench. ASU shot .667 (20-of-30) from the field in the second half and held SDSU to 9-of-30 (.300). Shannon Evans II added 14 points, six boards and six assists while Remy Martin had 12 points off the bench.
ASU 94, IDAHO STATE 74 (NOV. 10, 2017): Junior De'Quon Lake posted 24 points -- the best Sun Devil debut since Steve Moore had 26 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock on Nov. 22, 2003 -- and added eight rebounds and three blocks in the season opening win. Shannon Evans II added 25 points (with five three-pointers), while Tra Holder had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Lake finished 10-of-14 from the line after going 1-of-4 in the first half. ASU led 51-33 at the half, sparked by Remy Martin who finished with 16 points and five assists on 6-of-8 shooting in 34 minutes off the bench. ASU had 22 assists and shot 34-of-65 (.523) from the field.
TOP SCORERS: ASU has two of the top five scorers in the Pac-12 returning, as Tra Holder (16.2 ppg) and Shannon Evans II (15.0) averaged more than 31 points. Only Reid Travis (Stanford), Allonzo Trier (Arizona) and Stephan Thompson (Oregon State) averaged more than Tra and Shannon last year in overall games.
PAC-12 TOP RETURNING SCORERS IN 2017-18
17.4-Reid Travis, Stanford
17.2-Allonzo Trier, Arizona
16.3-Stephen Thompson, Oregon State
16.2-Tra Holder, Arizona State
15.0-Shannon Evans II, Arizona State
NOT MANY CAN SAY THIS: ASU's backcourt has two 1,200-point career scorers. Tra Holder has 1,257 points in 99 Sun Devil games (12.7 ppg.), while Shannon Evans II has 1,287 career points, with 754 of them coming at Buffalo from 2013-15. Combined the duo has made 790 total field goals, 289 three-pointers, 675 free throws and has dropped 2,544 collegiate points in 196 career games.
MOST COMBINED CAREER POINTS BY TWO TEAMMATES ENTERING 2017-18
2,707/St. Bonaventure: Jaylen Adams (1,377) and Matt Mobley (1,330)
2,701/Rhode Island: E.C. Matthews (1,519) and Jared Terrell (1,182)
2,639/Xavier: Trevon Bluiett (1,585) and J.P. Macura (1,054)
2,463/Arizona State: Shannon Evans II (1,248) and Tra Holder (1,215)
STRENGTH NOTES: ASU's 78.6 points per game last year was its best since the 1997-98 squad averaged 84.5...ASU ranked third in the Pac-12 in free throw shooting (.749) and averaged just 10.4 turnovers (first in the league and T-11th in the nation) and 9.9 three-pointers made (second in Pac-12)...Tra Holder led the league in free throws made and attempted (152-of-197/.772)...ASU likes to shoot the three as its 328 made last year was third-most in league history behind only UCLA (354 in 2016-17) and Oregon (350 in 2006-07).
LENGTH: ASU has some solid wing spans and length this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Freshman Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
MEET THE SIX: ASU will have six newcomers fill roles in 2017-18, led by three 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 player (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Texan Mickey Mitchell is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16, 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. Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake has a 6-10 frame and a 7-2 wing span. ESPN 2017 top-100 players Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI) is a 6-7 swingman with 6-11 wingspan who is No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and is No. 82 in the rankings.
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll announced on Oct. 12, its top preseason ranking since being picked fourth in the Pac-10 prior to the 2010-11 season. ASU has been picked 11th (2016-17 and 2012-13), eighth (2015-16), ninth (2014-15 and 2011-12), seventh (2013-14) in seven previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.
ABOUT THE FRESHMEN: From one coast to the other one, Bobby Hurley's staff signed a pair of top-100 players last fall, as 6-7 swingman Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H.) and 6-1 guard Remy Martin of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon joined the program this summer. 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
54. Kimani Lawrence, 2017
81. Romello White, 2016
98. Remy Martin, 2017
100. Tra Holder, 2014
SHANNON FTS: Shannon Evans II finished tied for second in the Pac-12 in free throw percentage (100-of-120/.833), just .002 off the leader. Two Sun Devils have led the Pac-12, as Chris Beasley shot .875 (112-of-128) in 1983-84 and Alex Austin made 69-of-80 (.863) in 1988-89.
40-MINUTE MEN: On Feb. 16 at Washington, Tra Holder and Shannon Evans II each played 40 minutes, while Torian Graham and Kodi Justice both played 39 minutes in the 83-81 win. According to Stats Inc., it was the only time in the past 21 seasons (1996-97 to present) that four Sun Devils played at least 39 minutes in a regulation game and marked the first time any Pac-12 team had done it since Oregon State at Arizona State on March 5, 2011. It was so crazy and would probably never happen again...except it did vs. No. 5 UCLA on Feb. 23, when the ASU starters played 199 minutes a week later.
ONE FINAL MINUTES NOTE: Tra Holder led the Pac-12 in minutes per game in conference games last year at 37.9, but not far behind him were Sun Devils Shannon Evans II (36.7/second) and Torian Graham (36.6/third)
FREE THROWS: The Sun Devils made free throws at a rate that was third-best in school history (489-of-653/.749) last year. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best seasons. ASU's three seniors are all above .740 for their careers.
CAREER FT% NUMBERS
Shannon Evans II: 291-359/.811
Tra Holder: 384-517/.743
Kodi Justice: 77-104/.740
SPLASH GAMES: 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 made his first 20 free throws to start the season last year and is 291-of-359 (.811) in his 97-game career.
SHANNON EVANS II 25-POINT SCORING GAMES (4 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 vs. Idaho State (11/14/17)
25 vs. Washington (1/25/17)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
QUICK QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament
Happiest on the court: Winning the MAC championship
Past sporting event to go back and watch: 1991 Duke vs UNLV
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 142 three pointers in 85 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.
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)
HALF: ASU has won nine games despite trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
9 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-6) SDSU 40, ASU 34/Nov. 14, 2017/ASU 90, SDSU 68
(-1) USC 48, ASU 47/Feb. 26, 2017/ASU 83, USC 82
(-2) @Washington 41, ASU 39/Feb. 16, 2017/ASU 83, @Washington 81
(-1) Stanford 33, ASU 32/Feb. 11, 2017/ASU 75, Stanford 69
(-7) @SDSU 32, ASU 25/Dec. 10, 2016/ASU 74, @SDSU 63
(-3) #23 USC 30, ASU 27/Feb. 12, 2016/ASU 74, USC 67
(-12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25/Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(-8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33/Dec. 2, 2015/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(-2) UCSB 29, ASU 27/Nov. 29, 2015/ASU 70, UCSB 68