The Arizona State Sun Devils (19-7; 7-7) -- who returned just three players from last year's squad and were picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason poll -- travel to Oregon for a Thursday FS1 8:30 p.m. tip as Rich Waltz and Doug Gottleib have the call and Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the voice-only verson on the Sun Devil Radio Network. 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 seniors Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice, who have made .782 of their free throws (1,013-of-1,295) and scored 4,373 points. ASU is 15th in the nation in scoring (84.4 ppg.) as of Feb. 20, its best mark since the 1997-98 team averaged 84.5, and has scored at least 80 in 17 games. Other random notes: ASU has come from behind at the half to win seven times (tied for third in nation behind BGSU and Bucknell with eight) and is averaging 44.7 second-half points (fifth-best in nation).
TRA: Tra Holder in eight true road games is averaging 18.6 ppg including 29 at #10 Kansas and 31 at #17 Arizona. In the 11 games away from home, he is averaging 20.7 ppg and is 58-of-68 (.853) from the foul line. He has posted four straight 20-point games, as he posted five straight 20-point games in his sophomore season (2015-16), the first Sun Devil to do that since James Harden in his freshman season of 2007-08. Also Tra's 3,984 career minutes is third in ASU history behind only Eddie House (4,164 from 1996-2000) and Ty Abott (4,019 from 2007-2011).
KODI APPROACHING 1,000: Kodi Justice has 972 career points despite scoring only 83 (4.6 pg) in his freshman season, when his season was cut short due to a foot injury after 16 games. Only one Sun Devil will have scored fewer points in his freshman year and still reach 1,000.
SUN DEVIL 1,000-POINT SCORERS/FEWEST POINTS AS FRESHMAN
Kurt Nimphius (1976-80)/1,006 (27/1.5)
Fat Lever (1978-82)/1,137 (104/3.6)
Arthur Thomas (1984-88)/1,268 (111/4.3)
Chad Prewitt (1998-2002)/1,177 (123/4.1)
WHAT THE HECK DOES HE SAY AT THE HALF?: ASU is averaging 44.7 points in the second half, fifth-best in the nation behind only Villanova, Portland State, Niagara and Louisiana. That 44.7 mark is currently the fourth-best average by a Pac-12 team in the past 22 seasons (1996-97) according to STATS and Pac-12 Network research.
BEST SECOND-HALF POINTS AVERAGE BY PAC-12 TEAM (1996-97 TO PRESENT)
48.5/Arizona, 1997-98
46.6/UCLA, 2016-17
45.2/Arizona, 2003-04
44.7/Arizona State, 2017-18
44.4/Arizona, 1996-97
WINS: As of Feb. 20 NCAA RPI, No. 28 ASU has wins over No. 3 Xavier (24-4) in Las Vegas, at No. 6 KU (22-6), vs. 42 USC (19-9), vs. No. 48 UCLA (19-8), at No. 50 Utah (17-9), vs. No. 56 Kansas State in Las Vegas (19-8), vs. No. 77 Colorado (15-12); vs. No. 70 St. John's (14-13) in Los Angeles and vs. No. 110 SDSU (15-10).
SHANNON MOVING ON UP: Shannon Evans II has notched 930 points in his two-year, 59-game Sun Devil career, which already is seventh on the Sun Devil two-year career list. He also will make a dent in the two-year record books for field goals made, free throws, free throw percentage and assists.
SUN DEVIL TWO-YEAR CAREER MOST POINTS
James Harden, 2007-09/1,309
Jahii Carson, 2012-14/1,261
Bobby Lazor, 1997-99/1,077
Paul Stovall, 1970-72/989
Freddie Lewis, 1964-66/983
Lionel Hollins, 1973-75/951
Shannon Evans II, 2016-18/930
CLOSE GAMES: ASU has had seven one-possession Pac-12 games. The Sun Devils have had played 13 Pac-12 games that were decided by 10 points or less. In its perfect (12-0) non-conference action, ASU played one single digit game (92-90 over Kansas State in Las Vegas). ASU's only two league margins in double digits are wins over Colorado (80-66) and at Washington State (88-78).
OREGON 76, #11 ASU 72 (JAN. 11, 2018): The Sun Devils (13-3, 1-3 Pac-12) dropped its first home game of the season as Kodi Justice had a game-high 21 points, while with Shannon Evans II had 19 and Tra Holder 11. ASU led by 13 with 6:02 left in the first half but UO tied it at 41 going into halftime. Oregon had 21 more field goal attempts than ASU, as it outscored ASU 38-16 in the paint and 22-8 in bench points, and also had 15 offensive rebounds.
SINGLE-DIGITS: ASU and Stanford did something this year that hasn't been done in a while and only one other team did it in the past 22 Pac-12 seasons. According to STATS, since 1996-97 only USC in 2002-03 had played nine of its first ten Pac-12 (then Pac-10) games with a single digit final as both Stanford and ASU did this year. Oregon has the most single-digit games in that era with 14 in 2006-07. ASU 12-of-14 single digit conference games is topped only by North Texas (all 14 CUSA games) and 9-of 10 Ivy League games by Brown. Texas State and Jackson State also have had 12-of-14 league games in single digits.
DID YOU KNOW?: The Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year officially returns for the first time in 30+ seasons in 2017-18. To be eligible, players must not exceed more than 1/3 (six) starts in league games. The previous Pac-10 Sixth Man of the Year was awarded from 1984-87. Remy Martin – with zero starts -- is averaging 9.6 points, has 66 assists and is 57-of-75 (.760) from the free throw line in 23.6 minutes per game (and again, with zero starts). He has 17 double-figure scoring games (ASU is 12-5) including 12 of the past 16 tilts. He had a season-best 21 at No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 10. Against Utah on Jan. 25, he had a personal second-half 10-0 run in 2:18 that gave ASU a three-point lead after being down seven. At WSU on Feb. 4, he had all 10 points in the final 6:20 and added two steals as ASU outscored WSU 19-9 in final seven minutes.
SHANNON: In the past ten games -- which included a 22-point second-half effort in the Oregon State Jan. 13 win -- Shannon Evans is shooting 44-of-51 (.863) from the free throw line. He has 11 20-point games on the year, including 20+ in three of the past four tilts (23 vs. UCLA, 21 vs. USC, 23 at WSU).
BENCH PLAY: After getting just eight bench points in the Jan. 11 Oregon loss, ASU got 27 in the Jan. 13 win vs. Oregon State and 41 at California on Jan. 20, the second-most in the Bobby Hurley era at ASU. ASU's four-man 41-point bench at California was 16-of-28 (.571) from the field and had four three-pointers, 21 rebounds and four blocks in 73 minutes.
MOST BENCH POINTS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
42 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
41 at California (1/20/18)
41 vs. Longwood (12/19/17)
38 at Stanford (12/30/16)
MICKEY: Mickey Mitchell, after starting in the first six Pac-12 games, came off the bench at Cal on Jan. 20 and led ASU in rebounding for the fifth time in his first 11 games. He missed the first eight games as a mid-year transfer, but is averaging six boards in just under 24 minutes per game. He has led or tied for ASU lead in rebounding in six games.
FG DEFENSE: Stanford shot (.508) from the field against ASU on Jan. 17, the first ASU opponent to shoot 50 percent in 12 games and just the third opponent on the year, as only Kansas State (.576) and Xavier (.556) have made half their shots. Fifteen teams shot 50 percent against ASU last year. The last time ASU held at least 11 straight opponents under 50 percent field goal shooting was the final 13 games of the 2012-13 season. ASU is holding opponents to .435 from the field this year after allowing .479 last year.
MORE TRA: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning his first Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? He averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in three ASU wins and 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 is 515-of-674 (.764) from the charity stripe, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history (Ike Diogu, 671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
2. Jeremy Veal, 1994-1998/1,984
3. Ike Diogu, 2002-2005/1,946
4. Ron Riley, 1992-1996/1,834
5. Tra Holder, 2014-2018/1,717
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG / RPG / 3P MADE
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0 / 2.2 / 12
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2 / 3.5 / 49
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2 / 3.7 / 46
2017-18: .422 / .839 / 19.3 / 4.5 / 57
KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including 22 in the Feb. 26 win over USC and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe. In his past 31 games, he is averaging 13.2 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
FREE THROWS: In some big wins, free throw shooting has been very good. ASU was 20-of-25 (.800) vs. SDSU, 23-of-25 (.920) vs. #15 Xavier, 23-of-27 (.852) vs. Saint John's, 15-of-20 (.750) at #2 Kansas, 20-of-23 (.870) at Utah, 16-of-22 (.727) vs. Colorado and 25-of-28 (.893) vs. UCLA.
20: ASU has six players who have notched a 20-point game this year led by Tra Holder (14), Shannon Evans II (11), Kodi Justice (three) and Romello White (three), while Remy Martin and De'Quon Lake have done it once.
PUMPED UP CROWDS: ASU has 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
DOWN AT HALF: ASU has come back from down at the half against USC, Oregon State, at Utah, at Kansas, vs. Xavier and Kansas State in Las Vegas and in Tempe vs. San Diego State. ASU is 15-32 (.326) when it trails at half under Coach Hurley, after going 12-64 (.158) the previous five seasons. In those seven wins in the second half Shannon Evans is averaging 19.1 minutes, 14.1 points and shooting 30-of-52 (.557) from the floor, 18-of-27 (.667) from three and 21-of-26 (.840) from the free throw line with 19 assists and just eight turnovers.
SPURTABILITY: ASU has come back from deficits of at least nine points in seven wins.
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
Jan. 13: -13 vs. Oregon State (11:32/second)/77-75; 33-18 final 11:30
Feb. 8: -9 vs. USC (11:04/second)/80-78; 31-19 final 10:51
DOUBLE NICKEL+: Six of the top 11 scoring halves in the past 15 seasons 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 vs. UC Irvine in the first half.
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.
KU WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest OOC ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher. Kansas also marked ASU's first road win over a ranked team since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
12-GAME 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
LENGTH: ASU has solid wing spans this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
SHANNON: The USBWA 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. He 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.
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 74-of-106 (.698) from the field with 39 dunks. He has 51 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 8-1 when he scores in double digits and 8-0 when he gets at least seven boards.
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 202 three pointers in 109 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 and missed the remainder of freshman 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.
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: .456 / 62 / 12.8
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS FOR THIS ONE: Since STATS 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.
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/Marquette 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)
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
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.
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 Marietta, 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 15-31 (.326) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
15 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-4) USC 37, ASU 33/Feb. 8, 2018/ASU 80, USC 77
(-1) Oregon State 34, ASU 33/Jan. 13, 2018/ASU 77, OSU 75
(-1) @Utah 36, ASU 35/Jan. 7, 2018/ASU 80, @Utah 77
(-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
SUN DEVIL CAREER STARTS
120, Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09
119, Ty Abbott, 2007-11
114, Tra Holder, 2014-18
114, Eddie House, 1996-2000
SUN DEVIL CAREER ASSISTS
551, Derek Glasser, 200-10
454, Bobby Thompson, 1983-87
444, Fat Lever, 1978-82
437, Tra Holder, 2014-18
437, Marcell Capers, 1992-95
SUN DEVIL SINGLE-SEASON THREE-POINTERS
6. 83, Alex Austin (1990-91)
7. 82, Jermaine Marshall (2013-14)
8. 81, Rihards Kuksiks (2009-10)
8. 81, Kevin Kruger (2005-06)
10. 80, Ron Riley (1994-95)
78, Shannon Evans II (2016-18)
TRA: Tra Holder in eight true road games is averaging 18.6 ppg including 29 at #10 Kansas and 31 at #17 Arizona. In the 11 games away from home, he is averaging 20.7 ppg and is 58-of-68 (.853) from the foul line. He has posted four straight 20-point games, as he posted five straight 20-point games in his sophomore season (2015-16), the first Sun Devil to do that since James Harden in his freshman season of 2007-08. Also Tra's 3,984 career minutes is third in ASU history behind only Eddie House (4,164 from 1996-2000) and Ty Abott (4,019 from 2007-2011).
KODI APPROACHING 1,000: Kodi Justice has 972 career points despite scoring only 83 (4.6 pg) in his freshman season, when his season was cut short due to a foot injury after 16 games. Only one Sun Devil will have scored fewer points in his freshman year and still reach 1,000.
SUN DEVIL 1,000-POINT SCORERS/FEWEST POINTS AS FRESHMAN
Kurt Nimphius (1976-80)/1,006 (27/1.5)
Fat Lever (1978-82)/1,137 (104/3.6)
Arthur Thomas (1984-88)/1,268 (111/4.3)
Chad Prewitt (1998-2002)/1,177 (123/4.1)
WHAT THE HECK DOES HE SAY AT THE HALF?: ASU is averaging 44.7 points in the second half, fifth-best in the nation behind only Villanova, Portland State, Niagara and Louisiana. That 44.7 mark is currently the fourth-best average by a Pac-12 team in the past 22 seasons (1996-97) according to STATS and Pac-12 Network research.
BEST SECOND-HALF POINTS AVERAGE BY PAC-12 TEAM (1996-97 TO PRESENT)
48.5/Arizona, 1997-98
46.6/UCLA, 2016-17
45.2/Arizona, 2003-04
44.7/Arizona State, 2017-18
44.4/Arizona, 1996-97
WINS: As of Feb. 20 NCAA RPI, No. 28 ASU has wins over No. 3 Xavier (24-4) in Las Vegas, at No. 6 KU (22-6), vs. 42 USC (19-9), vs. No. 48 UCLA (19-8), at No. 50 Utah (17-9), vs. No. 56 Kansas State in Las Vegas (19-8), vs. No. 77 Colorado (15-12); vs. No. 70 St. John's (14-13) in Los Angeles and vs. No. 110 SDSU (15-10).
SHANNON MOVING ON UP: Shannon Evans II has notched 930 points in his two-year, 59-game Sun Devil career, which already is seventh on the Sun Devil two-year career list. He also will make a dent in the two-year record books for field goals made, free throws, free throw percentage and assists.
SUN DEVIL TWO-YEAR CAREER MOST POINTS
James Harden, 2007-09/1,309
Jahii Carson, 2012-14/1,261
Bobby Lazor, 1997-99/1,077
Paul Stovall, 1970-72/989
Freddie Lewis, 1964-66/983
Lionel Hollins, 1973-75/951
Shannon Evans II, 2016-18/930
CLOSE GAMES: ASU has had seven one-possession Pac-12 games. The Sun Devils have had played 13 Pac-12 games that were decided by 10 points or less. In its perfect (12-0) non-conference action, ASU played one single digit game (92-90 over Kansas State in Las Vegas). ASU's only two league margins in double digits are wins over Colorado (80-66) and at Washington State (88-78).
OREGON 76, #11 ASU 72 (JAN. 11, 2018): The Sun Devils (13-3, 1-3 Pac-12) dropped its first home game of the season as Kodi Justice had a game-high 21 points, while with Shannon Evans II had 19 and Tra Holder 11. ASU led by 13 with 6:02 left in the first half but UO tied it at 41 going into halftime. Oregon had 21 more field goal attempts than ASU, as it outscored ASU 38-16 in the paint and 22-8 in bench points, and also had 15 offensive rebounds.
SINGLE-DIGITS: ASU and Stanford did something this year that hasn't been done in a while and only one other team did it in the past 22 Pac-12 seasons. According to STATS, since 1996-97 only USC in 2002-03 had played nine of its first ten Pac-12 (then Pac-10) games with a single digit final as both Stanford and ASU did this year. Oregon has the most single-digit games in that era with 14 in 2006-07. ASU 12-of-14 single digit conference games is topped only by North Texas (all 14 CUSA games) and 9-of 10 Ivy League games by Brown. Texas State and Jackson State also have had 12-of-14 league games in single digits.
DID YOU KNOW?: The Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year officially returns for the first time in 30+ seasons in 2017-18. To be eligible, players must not exceed more than 1/3 (six) starts in league games. The previous Pac-10 Sixth Man of the Year was awarded from 1984-87. Remy Martin – with zero starts -- is averaging 9.6 points, has 66 assists and is 57-of-75 (.760) from the free throw line in 23.6 minutes per game (and again, with zero starts). He has 17 double-figure scoring games (ASU is 12-5) including 12 of the past 16 tilts. He had a season-best 21 at No. 2 Kansas on Dec. 10. Against Utah on Jan. 25, he had a personal second-half 10-0 run in 2:18 that gave ASU a three-point lead after being down seven. At WSU on Feb. 4, he had all 10 points in the final 6:20 and added two steals as ASU outscored WSU 19-9 in final seven minutes.
SHANNON: In the past ten games -- which included a 22-point second-half effort in the Oregon State Jan. 13 win -- Shannon Evans is shooting 44-of-51 (.863) from the free throw line. He has 11 20-point games on the year, including 20+ in three of the past four tilts (23 vs. UCLA, 21 vs. USC, 23 at WSU).
BENCH PLAY: After getting just eight bench points in the Jan. 11 Oregon loss, ASU got 27 in the Jan. 13 win vs. Oregon State and 41 at California on Jan. 20, the second-most in the Bobby Hurley era at ASU. ASU's four-man 41-point bench at California was 16-of-28 (.571) from the field and had four three-pointers, 21 rebounds and four blocks in 73 minutes.
MOST BENCH POINTS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
42 vs. Kennesaw State (11/18/15)
41 at California (1/20/18)
41 vs. Longwood (12/19/17)
38 at Stanford (12/30/16)
MICKEY: Mickey Mitchell, after starting in the first six Pac-12 games, came off the bench at Cal on Jan. 20 and led ASU in rebounding for the fifth time in his first 11 games. He missed the first eight games as a mid-year transfer, but is averaging six boards in just under 24 minutes per game. He has led or tied for ASU lead in rebounding in six games.
FG DEFENSE: Stanford shot (.508) from the field against ASU on Jan. 17, the first ASU opponent to shoot 50 percent in 12 games and just the third opponent on the year, as only Kansas State (.576) and Xavier (.556) have made half their shots. Fifteen teams shot 50 percent against ASU last year. The last time ASU held at least 11 straight opponents under 50 percent field goal shooting was the final 13 games of the 2012-13 season. ASU is holding opponents to .435 from the field this year after allowing .479 last year.
MORE TRA: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning his first Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? He averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in three ASU wins and 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 is 515-of-674 (.764) from the charity stripe, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history (Ike Diogu, 671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
2. Jeremy Veal, 1994-1998/1,984
3. Ike Diogu, 2002-2005/1,946
4. Ron Riley, 1992-1996/1,834
5. Tra Holder, 2014-2018/1,717
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG / RPG / 3P MADE
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0 / 2.2 / 12
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2 / 3.5 / 49
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2 / 3.7 / 46
2017-18: .422 / .839 / 19.3 / 4.5 / 57
KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including 22 in the Feb. 26 win over USC and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe. In his past 31 games, he is averaging 13.2 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
FREE THROWS: In some big wins, free throw shooting has been very good. ASU was 20-of-25 (.800) vs. SDSU, 23-of-25 (.920) vs. #15 Xavier, 23-of-27 (.852) vs. Saint John's, 15-of-20 (.750) at #2 Kansas, 20-of-23 (.870) at Utah, 16-of-22 (.727) vs. Colorado and 25-of-28 (.893) vs. UCLA.
20: ASU has six players who have notched a 20-point game this year led by Tra Holder (14), Shannon Evans II (11), Kodi Justice (three) and Romello White (three), while Remy Martin and De'Quon Lake have done it once.
PUMPED UP CROWDS: ASU has 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
DOWN AT HALF: ASU has come back from down at the half against USC, Oregon State, at Utah, at Kansas, vs. Xavier and Kansas State in Las Vegas and in Tempe vs. San Diego State. ASU is 15-32 (.326) when it trails at half under Coach Hurley, after going 12-64 (.158) the previous five seasons. In those seven wins in the second half Shannon Evans is averaging 19.1 minutes, 14.1 points and shooting 30-of-52 (.557) from the floor, 18-of-27 (.667) from three and 21-of-26 (.840) from the free throw line with 19 assists and just eight turnovers.
SPURTABILITY: ASU has come back from deficits of at least nine points in seven wins.
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
Jan. 13: -13 vs. Oregon State (11:32/second)/77-75; 33-18 final 11:30
Feb. 8: -9 vs. USC (11:04/second)/80-78; 31-19 final 10:51
DOUBLE NICKEL+: Six of the top 11 scoring halves in the past 15 seasons 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 vs. UC Irvine in the first half.
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.
KU WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest OOC ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher. Kansas also marked ASU's first road win over a ranked team since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
12-GAME 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
LENGTH: ASU has solid wing spans this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
SHANNON: The USBWA 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. He 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.
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 74-of-106 (.698) from the field with 39 dunks. He has 51 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 8-1 when he scores in double digits and 8-0 when he gets at least seven boards.
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 202 three pointers in 109 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 and missed the remainder of freshman 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.
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: .456 / 62 / 12.8
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS FOR THIS ONE: Since STATS 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.
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/Marquette 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)
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
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.
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 Marietta, 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 15-31 (.326) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
15 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-4) USC 37, ASU 33/Feb. 8, 2018/ASU 80, USC 77
(-1) Oregon State 34, ASU 33/Jan. 13, 2018/ASU 77, OSU 75
(-1) @Utah 36, ASU 35/Jan. 7, 2018/ASU 80, @Utah 77
(-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
SUN DEVIL CAREER STARTS
120, Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09
119, Ty Abbott, 2007-11
114, Tra Holder, 2014-18
114, Eddie House, 1996-2000
SUN DEVIL CAREER ASSISTS
551, Derek Glasser, 200-10
454, Bobby Thompson, 1983-87
444, Fat Lever, 1978-82
437, Tra Holder, 2014-18
437, Marcell Capers, 1992-95
SUN DEVIL SINGLE-SEASON THREE-POINTERS
6. 83, Alex Austin (1990-91)
7. 82, Jermaine Marshall (2013-14)
8. 81, Rihards Kuksiks (2009-10)
8. 81, Kevin Kruger (2005-06)
10. 80, Ron Riley (1994-95)
78, Shannon Evans II (2016-18)