The fourth-ranked Arizona State Sun Devil men's hoops team (12-1) that returned three senior starters from last year's squad plays at Colorado on Thursday, Jan. 4, at 6:30 p.m. on Pac-12 Network with Ted Robinson and Eddie House on the call. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Radio Network, as ASU will try and bounce back from its only loss of the season, an 84-78 great tilt at No. 17 Arizona on Dec. 30. Under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley (two-time NCAA champion, 1992 Final Four MOP and NCAA career assist leader) the Sun Devils are led by senior guards Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice. ASU ranks fifth in the nation in scoring (90.7 ppg.) and is in the top five in free throws made (261) and attempted (359).
TRA NOTES: Tra Holder leads the Pac-12 in scoring (22.0 ppg.) and is the only player in the league with three 30-point games. Also worth noting on Holder: In the two true road games this year, he posted 29 at Kansas and 31 at Arizona. In the five games away from home, he is averaging 23.6 points and is 40-of-48 (.833) from the foul line in those games and 14-of-30 (.467) from the three-point stripe.
CURRENT TOP 10: The AP top-10 entered this week a combined 123-12. ASU is the only team with two wins against that group. ASU beat then No. 15 and now No. 5 Xavier (14-1) to win the Continental Tire Invitational Championship in Las Vegas Nov. 24 and then won at then No. 2 and now No. 10 Kansas 95-85 on Dec. 10.Legit not sure I have seen a player improve as much from his senior year in high school to his senior year in college as much as Tra Holder.
— Jason Scheer (@JasonScheer) December 31, 2017
THANKS TO STATS LLC FOR THIS ONE: ASU and 2000-01 Stanford are the only Pac-12 teams to start 12-0 with 11 wins by double digits since 1996-97 (past 22 seasons). ASU's only single-digit game in its 12-0 start -- the best in school history -- was a 92-90 win over Kansas State on Nov. 23 in Las Vegas.
ABOUT THOSE WINS: As of the Jan. 1 NCAA RPI, No. 6 ASU had wins over No. 2 Xavier (14-1) in Las Vegas, at No. 13 Kansas (11-2), vs. No. 35 St. John's (10-4) in Los Angeles and vs. No. 57 San Diego State (9-4).
PAC-12 PLAYER OF WEEK FIRST TIME: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? In three wins where ASU averaged 95.3 points, he averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He shot .548 (23-of-42) from the field, .571 (12-of-21) from three and .813 (13-of-16) from the free throw line. He put the exclamation point on it on Nov. 19 with 35 points on 13-of-15 shooting in the win over UC Irvine. He is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club and also gets to the free throw line as he is 458-of-605 (.757) from the charity stripe in his 110 games/101 starts, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history behind only Ike Diogu (671-of-854).In Arizona State's offense, no detail goes unnoticed.
— Fabian Ardaya (@FabianArdaya) December 30, 2017
How @SunDevilHoops has created one of the nation's most efficient and prolific attacks, and how they're trying to get even better:https://t.co/R9VYJhlOga
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
10. Joe Caldwell, 1961-64/1,515
11. Tra Holder, 2014-present/1,501
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
2017-18: .466 / .848 / 22.0
VS. COLORADO: ASU and CU have split 10 games since the Buffaloes joined the Pac-12...CU got a sweep in 2011-12 and ASU got a sweep in 2012-13...ASU has won five of the past eight after CU swept the original Pac-12 series.
VS. CU IN PAC-12 ERA (5-5/4-1 IN TEMPE/1-4 IN BOULDER)
ASU 78, CU 77/Jan. 5, 2017
@CU 79, ASU 69/Feb. 26, 2016
@CU 87, ASU 81/Mar. 1, 2015
ASU 78, CU 72/Jan. 17, 2015
@CU 61, ASU 52/Feb. 19, 2014
ASU 72, CU 51/Jan. 25, 2014
ASU 63, @CU 62 OT/Feb. 16, 2013
ASU 65, CU 56/Jan. 6, 2013
CU 63, ASU 49/Feb. 11, 2012
@CU 69, ASU 54/Jan. 19, 2012
LAST TIME VS. CU (JAN. 5, 2017): In the only meeting last season, ASU topped Colorado 78-77 in Tempe behind five players in double figures and Tra Holder's two free throws with just one second left, as he was fouled on a put-back attempt. There were 14 lead changes in the final 10:47, as no one led by more than four in that span. Colorado led 64-62, 66-64, 68-67, 73-71, 75-74 and 77-76 before Holder's free throws. Shannon Evans led ASU with 18 points.
— Sun Devil MBB (@SunDevilHoops) December 29, 2017
ABOUT THE RANKINGS: ASU reached No. 3 in the Associated Press poll on Dec. 18, matching the highest ranking for the program also set in 1980-81 and 1962-63. Its No. 20 ranking on Nov. 27 was its first since it was ranked all of 2008-09.
THE 12-GAME WINNING STREAK: Much has been made about the best start in school history that not much was said about the win streak as it stood alone. The Dec. 22 win over Pacific gave ASU the second-best winning streak in ASU history. Only four ASU teams have posted 11-game winning streaks.
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18: 1961-62
12: 2017-18
11: 1980-81 and 1962-63
PUMPED UP CROWDS: As a top-five team ASU will face its share of fired up crowds, but a good thing for ASU is they have done well under Coach Hurley in places that were large and loud outside of the Pac-12. In addition to this year's win over No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 10 in front of 16,300, ASU in the Coach Hurley era has won at Creighton (16,282), UNLV (13,014) and San Diego State (12,414) and hung tough with Kentucky (23,665) in his first season as it was a 32-31 Kentucky lead at the half and a four-point game with 13 minutes to play. Prior to Bobby Hurley, ASU was 8-22 in its previous 30 non-conference road games. It is 4-1 under Coach Hurley with wins at San Diego State, UNLV, Creighton and Kansas.
ASU OOC ROAD GAMES UNDER COACH HURLEY/CROWDS
#16 ASU 95, #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)/16,300
ASU 74, San Diego State 63 (Dec. 10, 2016)/12,414
ASU 66, UNLV 56 (Dec. 16, 2015)/13,014
#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 5, 2015)/23,665
ASU 79, Creighton 77 (Dec. 2, 2015)/16,282
SPURTABILITY: ASU has only played one single-digit game, but yet has come back from deficits of at least nine points in five games. A look at games where ASU has flipped the score and changed deficits.
DEFICIT (TIME/HALF)/FINAL SCORE
Nov. 14: -9 vs. San Diego State (19:22/2nd)/90-68, +31 final 19 minutes
Nov. 23: -9 vs. Kansas State (18:16/2nd)/92-90, +11 final 18 minutes
Nov. 24: -15 vs. #15 Xavier (3:16/first)/102-86, 73 points final 23 minutes
Dec. 10: -13 at #2 Kansas (16:39/first)/95-85, +23 after 15-2 deficit
Dec. 17: -13 vs. Vanderbilt (15:03/first)/76-64 ; +25 after 13-0 deficit
@#17 ARIZONA 84, ASU 78 (DEC. 30, 2017): Tra Holder had 31 points (15-of-16 from the free throw line) but ASU shot 25-of-66 (.379) and made just eight three pointers in the intense game in Tucson. UA led 62-50 with 10:55 remaining, but Tra Holder scored 10 straight points as ASU cut the lead to 64-63 in just three minutes. UA again led 76-64 with 4:11 left, but ASU cut the lead to 78-76 with 1:19 left.
THAT KANSAS WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest non-conference ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher on the rankings scale. That game also marked ASU's first win over a ranked team on the road since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS INC. FOR THIS ONE: Since Stats Inc. started tracking this stuff in 1996-97, they unearthed that ASU was the first Pac-12 team to score 90 points in six straight games in more than two decades. Wait, what? Yup Not Lonzo's UCLA crew last year, not Luke and Luke and Freddie in Duck Land, not Arenas and Gardner and Walton, not Collison, Westbrook and Love. Tra, Kodi, Shannon.
TRA NOTES: Tra's 40 points on Nov. 24 vs. Nov. 15 Xavier was the fourth 40-point effort in the NCAA this season and was the first 40-point performance by a Pac-12 player against a non-conference opponent since Sun Devil Jahii Carson dropped 40 on UNLV on Nov. 19, 2013. It is the most points scored by a Sun Devil against a ranked team.
MORE THAN A DOUBLE NICKEL: There have been 922 halves of Sun Devil basketball played in the past 15 seasons, and six of the top 11 scoring ones have taken place this year. Prior to dropping 60 vs. Longwood in the second half on Dec. 19, ASU dropped 58 at No. 2 Kansas and 58 on No. 15 Xavier in Las Vegas. On Dec. 22 it had 57 in the second half vs. Pacific. It also had 56 against San Diego State in the second half and had 56 vs. UC Irvine in the first half. ASU is 48.2 points in the second half this year.
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. Pacific (Dec. 22, 2017)*
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
LAST TIME: ASU's 2017 Continental Tire Invitational title was its first exempt tournament title since Bill Frieder's gang won the 1994 Maui Invitational, which started the run to the Sweet Sixteen and a 24-9 record. ASU jumped into the polls at No. 12 after beating Texas A&M, No. 13 Michigan and No. 7 Maryland at No. 12 that year, never fell lower than No. 18 and finished No. 16 as it beat Ball State and Manhattan in Memphis in the 1995 NCAA Tournament before falling to second-ranked Kentucky in Birmingham.
DON'T SLEEP ON KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including a career-high 22 in the Feb. 26 win over NCAA Tournament-bound USC. He was was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe and perfect in nine free throw attempts in those final five games. In his past 18 games, he is averaging 13.8 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 40-of-54 (.741) from the field. He has 28 offensive rebounds and 20 dunks and his efforts have resulted in 24 second-chance points. He posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific.
GONNA' PLAY SOME FOLKS: Bobby Hurley is going to make an attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts against NC State in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and against eventual No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by agreeing to play at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, the squad played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in New York City, at San Diego State, in Orlando for three games, and finished a series with No. 9 Creighton. Kansas will return the trip to Wells Fargo next year after ASU's win on Dec. 10, and ASU already played No. 15 Xavier and hosted 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt Dec. 20. Coach Hurley has played four top-10 non-conference opponents in his three years, after ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS (SINCE JOINING PAC-10)
ASU 95 @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
#9 Creighton 96, ASU 85 (Dec. 20, 2016)
#1 Kentucky 115, ASU 69 (Nov. 28, 2016 at Bahamas)
@#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 12, 2015)
#7 Duke 64, ASU 53 (Nov. 25, 2009 at MSG)
#2 Kansas 90, ASU 88, OT (Nov. 26, 1997 at MSG)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (November 23, 1994 at Maui)
@#8 Oklahoma St. 87, ASU 69 (December 2, 1993)
@#9 Kentucky 94, ASU 68 (December 14, 1991)
@#2 Kansas 90, ASU 67 (December 22, 1989)
#10 North Carolina 85, ASU 66 (December 23, 1984 at Tokyo)
#6 Missouri 48, ASU 47 (December 27, 1982 at Honolulu)
BIG WEEK FOR SHANNON: The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Shannon Evans II as its Dec. 10 Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week. As the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, Evans was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors. The 6-1 guard had 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 82-70 win over St. John's in Los Angeles on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, the Suffolk, Va. native hit five 3-pointers en route to 22 points along with five assists and no turnovers as ASU won at No. 2 Kansas. He averaged 20.0 points on 52 percent field goal shooting (13-25), including 53 percent behind the arc (8-15), and 5.5 assists with an 11-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
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. He made his first 20 free throws to start last season. Also, he had 50 points in an exhibition win this year against Arizona Christian.
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: Duke vs UNLV (March 30, 1991)
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 172 three pointers in 95 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.
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'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
(SEASON: FG% / 3PM / PPG)
2014-15: .424 / 17 / 4.6
2015-16: .394 / 60 / 7.9
2016-17: .421 / 63 / 9.2
2017-18: .470 / 32 / 13.6
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.
DOWN GOES RANKED TEAM: ASU has now defeated four ranked teams in Bobby Hurley's Sun Devil tenure, as besides the win at #2 Kansas, it beat No. 15 Xavier 102-86 on Nov. 24, 2017 in Las Vegas, No. 23 USC 74-57 on Feb. 12, 2016 and No. 18 Texas A&M 67-54 on Dec. 5, 2015. The Nov. 24 Xavier win was the highest ranked non-conference team ASU had topped since it beat No. 7 Maryland in the 1994 Maui Invitational...until it won at #2 Kansas on Dec. 10.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS OOC WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS PAC-10/12 ERA
#16 ASU 95, @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86 (Nov. 24, 2017 at Las Vegas)
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)
ASU 79, #25 Marquette 77 (Nov. 25, 2013)
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55 (Dec. 15, 2007)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (Nov. 23, 1994 at Maui Invitational)
ASU 79, #13 Michigan 62 (Nov. 22, 1994 at Maui Invitational)
#14 ASU 71, #7 Ohio State 58 (Dec. 20, 1980)
ASU 96, #12 Iowa 88 (Dec. 6, 1980)
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.
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
DIGITS FROM LAST YEAR: 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).
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 final year of 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), and seventh (2013-14) in six previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.
MEET THE SIX: ASU has six newcomers filling 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 became eligible on Dec. 10, 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 ranked No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and was No. 82 in the rankings.
HALF: ASU is 12-28 (.300) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
12 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-3) @#2 Kansas 40, ASU 37/Dec. 10, 2017/ASU 95, @KU 85
(-2) #15 Xavier 46, ASU 44/Nov. 24, 2017/ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86
(-2) Kansas State 44, ASU 42/Nov. 23, 2017/ASU 92, KSU 90
(-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) @UW 41, ASU 39/Feb. 16, 2017/ASU 83, @UW 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
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
DIGITS: ASU's backcourt has two 1,400-point career scorers as Tra Holder has 1,470 points in 109 Sun Devil games (13.5 ppg.), while Shannon Evans II has 1,462 career points, with 754 of them coming at Buffalo from 2013-15. Combined the duo has made 902 total field goals, 347 three-pointers, 781 free throws and has dropped 2,932 collegiate points in 216 career games.
MOST COMBINED POINTS BY DUO ENTERING 2017-18
2,707/St. Bonaventure: Jaylen Adams (1,377)/Matt Mobley (1,330)
2,701/Rhode Island: E.C. Matthews (1,519)/Jared Terrell (1,182)
2,639/Xavier: Trevon Bluiett (1,585)/J.P. Macura (1,054)
2,463/Arizona State: Shannon Evans II (1,248)/Tra Holder (1,215)