By Evan Millstein, SDA Student Assistant
The third-ranked Arizona State men's basketball team continued their best start in program history with a 95-61 victory over Longwood Tuesday night.
The Sun Devils trailed early two times in the contest but led the duration of the game after Shannon Evans II drilled a three-pointer to put ASU on top of the Lancers 10-8 with 14:46 left in the first half.
Arizona State went into the halftime leading 35-30 behind Tra Holder's 10 points heading into the break. Mickey Mitchell had his presence felt from tip-off as he slammed home a dunk, notched two steals and drew a charge in a span of three minutes.
Things began to click for the Sun Devils in the second half behind a press defense that Hurley's squad came out of the break with. Kodi Justice drilled a three that followed by a Romello White bucket that gave the Sun Devils, at the time, their largest lead of the game with a 14-point advantage with 16:04 remaining in the game.
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18, 1961-62
11, 1980-81
11, 1962-63
11, 2017-18
10, 2007-08
10, 1962-63
10, 1960-61
Mitchell saved some athleticism for the second half, scoring two of his 12 points with a breakaway reverse slam that got Wells Fargo Arena on their feet.
Mickey added five rebounds and an assist to compliment his production.
The No. 3 team in the country never looked back as they went up 22 after Holder put up a layup at the 11:50 mark. It kept piling on as the lead grew to 35 after a jump shot from freshman Remy Martin. Martin continued his impressive freshman resume notching 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds against the Lancers. A few runs in the second half (10-0 and 17-3) bolstered Arizona State to their second highest scoring half in program history.
MOST POINTS IN HALF/2003-04 TO PRESENT
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
60 vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)*
58 at #2 Kansas (Dec. 10, 2017)*
58 vs. #15 Xavier (Nov. 24, 2017)*
58 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
58 vs. Oregon (Feb. 11, 2006)*
57 vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)*
56 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 19, 2017)
56 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)*
56 vs. Kennesaw State (Nov. 18, 2015)
*notes second-half points
The Sun Devils had four players in double digits with Holder leading the team in scoring with 20 points. The senior guard added six assists and five rebounds in Tuesday's victory. De'Quon Lake recorded a team high in rebounds (nine) and scored 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
MOST POINTS IN A HALF SINCE 1996-97
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
67 vs. Delaware State (Dec. 1, 1997)*
65 vs. Houston Baptist (Dec. 10, 1996)*
63 vs. Wagner (Nov. 19, 1997)*
63 vs. Jacksonville (Nov. 22, 1996)*
61 vs. La Salle (Dec. 27, 1997)
60 vs. Longwood(Dec. 19, 2017)* *notes second-half points
COACH HURLEY OPENING STATEMENT
"Very pleased with the win and the response and how we played. The entire second half was outstanding. Mickey, I thought, throughout the whole game, his energy was great. A lot of hustle plays and rebounding and defense. I thought Kodi, the way he started the second half got us rolling and just the defensive mindset picked up more. We struggled though not doing what we've done a lot this year, in terms of making shots and a lot of them were open. We have to clean it up. It's mainly on me. I didn't create enough of an edge to start this game and I have to do better at getting us ready to play. We'll focus on figuring out ways to maybe start a little better. We can't just play that second half in these games the way we've been doing it. Especially with the schedule and how things are going to become a lot more difficult here moving forward."
ON SPEEDING UP THE GAME AND STARTING MICKEY MITCHELL IN THE SECOND HALF
"I thought in the first half they were going deep in the shot clocks and it was just becoming a half court game and that's not who we are. We think selectively moving forward we can sprinkle this in to create tempo were looking for…we've got to work on it more. Mickey earned the start of the second half, bottom line…he played the best of anybody in the first half, not just necessarily scoring points but just how hard he was playing and competing."
ON ADJUSTMENTS FOR THE ZONE DEFENSE
"We wanted to at half time talk about getting into gaps more, and not just passing the ball around, to dribble and draw help and kick out and not to forget about the backline. We incorporated getting the ball to Romello and De'Quon on the lobs in the second half and not solely depend on the three-point shots. We will make shots at a much better clip moving forward and we have most of the season, tonight just wasn't our night with the three-point line."
ON REMY'S ASSISTS AND TURNOVERS
"He is just so electric…again pushing the tempo. People get behind Remy, it's hard to not like watching him play."
ON THE PLAY WITH REMY AT THE END
"When the ball is in his hands, you don't really know what he's going to do, and it's usually very good...and it's always very interesting."
ON REMY IN HIGH SCHOOL COMPARED TO NOW
"I'm very critical, especially in that position. I evaluate that one very well and so he's my type of guy and just the energy he plays with, the creativity and the play making he does, both ends of the floor."
ON BRING MICKEY EARLY TO THE GAME
"I had a hunch they would play more zone. The one time they did play us man, we got a wide open shot…we might see that from some teams moving forward, we've got to attack it a little better. We're not a real zone team, so we don't practice against the zone as much. Mickey for us in the high post in the second half was a better move than in the first half because he can pass well and he can drive to the hoop from that position."
ON PLAYING TEAMS WITHOUT WINNING RECORDS LEADING UP TO ARIZONA
"There's got to be a balance there, so they didn't make it easy in the first half. We're going to get after it tomorrow and Thursday and make sure were ready to play Friday."
ON STARTING MICKEY THE NEXT GAME
"That's going to be determined on the practice floor the next two days."
ON GRANT HILL BEING AT THE GAME
"He's one of my all-time friends...I never would be coaching Arizona State if it wasn't for the opportunity I had to play with Grant Hill and the special times we had at Duke and what that meant to my playing career."
The third-ranked Arizona State men's basketball team continued their best start in program history with a 95-61 victory over Longwood Tuesday night.
The Sun Devils trailed early two times in the contest but led the duration of the game after Shannon Evans II drilled a three-pointer to put ASU on top of the Lancers 10-8 with 14:46 left in the first half.
Arizona State went into the halftime leading 35-30 behind Tra Holder's 10 points heading into the break. Mickey Mitchell had his presence felt from tip-off as he slammed home a dunk, notched two steals and drew a charge in a span of three minutes.
Things began to click for the Sun Devils in the second half behind a press defense that Hurley's squad came out of the break with. Kodi Justice drilled a three that followed by a Romello White bucket that gave the Sun Devils, at the time, their largest lead of the game with a 14-point advantage with 16:04 remaining in the game.
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18, 1961-62
11, 1980-81
11, 1962-63
11, 2017-18
10, 2007-08
10, 1962-63
10, 1960-61
Mitchell saved some athleticism for the second half, scoring two of his 12 points with a breakaway reverse slam that got Wells Fargo Arena on their feet.
Mickey added five rebounds and an assist to compliment his production.
The No. 3 team in the country never looked back as they went up 22 after Holder put up a layup at the 11:50 mark. It kept piling on as the lead grew to 35 after a jump shot from freshman Remy Martin. Martin continued his impressive freshman resume notching 13 points, nine assists and seven rebounds against the Lancers. A few runs in the second half (10-0 and 17-3) bolstered Arizona State to their second highest scoring half in program history.
MOST POINTS IN HALF/2003-04 TO PRESENT
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
60 vs. Longwood (Dec. 19, 2017)*
58 at #2 Kansas (Dec. 10, 2017)*
58 vs. #15 Xavier (Nov. 24, 2017)*
58 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
58 vs. Oregon (Feb. 11, 2006)*
57 vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)*
56 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 19, 2017)
56 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)*
56 vs. Kennesaw State (Nov. 18, 2015)
*notes second-half points
The Sun Devils had four players in double digits with Holder leading the team in scoring with 20 points. The senior guard added six assists and five rebounds in Tuesday's victory. De'Quon Lake recorded a team high in rebounds (nine) and scored 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field.
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
11. Paul Williams, 1979-83/1,455
12. Tra Holder, 2014-present/1,451
In the victory, ASU scored 26 points off turnovers and got 41 points off the bench. The Sun Devils moved the ball well, notching 22 assists which is the second highest team assisted game this season.
MOST POINTS IN A HALF SINCE 1996-97
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
67 vs. Delaware State (Dec. 1, 1997)*
65 vs. Houston Baptist (Dec. 10, 1996)*
63 vs. Wagner (Nov. 19, 1997)*
63 vs. Jacksonville (Nov. 22, 1996)*
61 vs. La Salle (Dec. 27, 1997)
60 vs. Longwood(Dec. 19, 2017)* *notes second-half points
COACH HURLEY OPENING STATEMENT
"Very pleased with the win and the response and how we played. The entire second half was outstanding. Mickey, I thought, throughout the whole game, his energy was great. A lot of hustle plays and rebounding and defense. I thought Kodi, the way he started the second half got us rolling and just the defensive mindset picked up more. We struggled though not doing what we've done a lot this year, in terms of making shots and a lot of them were open. We have to clean it up. It's mainly on me. I didn't create enough of an edge to start this game and I have to do better at getting us ready to play. We'll focus on figuring out ways to maybe start a little better. We can't just play that second half in these games the way we've been doing it. Especially with the schedule and how things are going to become a lot more difficult here moving forward."
ON SPEEDING UP THE GAME AND STARTING MICKEY MITCHELL IN THE SECOND HALF
"I thought in the first half they were going deep in the shot clocks and it was just becoming a half court game and that's not who we are. We think selectively moving forward we can sprinkle this in to create tempo were looking for…we've got to work on it more. Mickey earned the start of the second half, bottom line…he played the best of anybody in the first half, not just necessarily scoring points but just how hard he was playing and competing."
ON ADJUSTMENTS FOR THE ZONE DEFENSE
"We wanted to at half time talk about getting into gaps more, and not just passing the ball around, to dribble and draw help and kick out and not to forget about the backline. We incorporated getting the ball to Romello and De'Quon on the lobs in the second half and not solely depend on the three-point shots. We will make shots at a much better clip moving forward and we have most of the season, tonight just wasn't our night with the three-point line."
ON REMY'S ASSISTS AND TURNOVERS
"He is just so electric…again pushing the tempo. People get behind Remy, it's hard to not like watching him play."
ON THE PLAY WITH REMY AT THE END
"When the ball is in his hands, you don't really know what he's going to do, and it's usually very good...and it's always very interesting."
ON REMY IN HIGH SCHOOL COMPARED TO NOW
"I'm very critical, especially in that position. I evaluate that one very well and so he's my type of guy and just the energy he plays with, the creativity and the play making he does, both ends of the floor."
ON BRING MICKEY EARLY TO THE GAME
"I had a hunch they would play more zone. The one time they did play us man, we got a wide open shot…we might see that from some teams moving forward, we've got to attack it a little better. We're not a real zone team, so we don't practice against the zone as much. Mickey for us in the high post in the second half was a better move than in the first half because he can pass well and he can drive to the hoop from that position."
ON PLAYING TEAMS WITHOUT WINNING RECORDS LEADING UP TO ARIZONA
"There's got to be a balance there, so they didn't make it easy in the first half. We're going to get after it tomorrow and Thursday and make sure were ready to play Friday."
ON STARTING MICKEY THE NEXT GAME
"That's going to be determined on the practice floor the next two days."
ON GRANT HILL BEING AT THE GAME
"He's one of my all-time friends...I never would be coaching Arizona State if it wasn't for the opportunity I had to play with Grant Hill and the special times we had at Duke and what that meant to my playing career."
Longwood University Head Coach Jayson Gee
On what his defense did in the first half to limit Arizona State:
"I thought that we dictated the tempo in the first half because the zone that we played. One of the things that challenge our guys is we have to play a tough 2-3 zone. I felt like that was going to be the defense that we needed to employ to get the tempo in our favor. You couldn't play this team, as we saw in the second half, at that tempo. I mean they are just too explosive. I thought in that first half we got the game in our favor by playing that zone and really contesting shots hard. The other thing we did is we rebounded the ball well."
On what the message was in the locker room at halftime:
"Well, they were telling themselves that it was just a half and I think it gave them some confidence that if you stick with the game plan, good things can happen. They were excited to be in this environment, a great environment playing on the road against the Pac-12 on Pac-12 T.V. Jahleem Montague I thought was a monster and it was disappointing we lost him in the second half. At the end of the day, I thought our guys really competed hard and Coach Hurley after the game said our kids played really hard. As I told our team just now, I think that is the greatest compliment you get from the opposing coach. When he shakes your hand and says 'Your kids played hard', I have to give them a lot of credit for that."