The Arizona State Sun Devils (20-9; 8-9) -- who returned three players from last year's squad -- finish the Pac-12 schedule by hosting Stanford. Daron Sutton and Eddie House have the Pac-12 Network matinee (12:30 p.m. tip on Saturday, March 3), while Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the voice-only version 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 .786 of their free throws (1,046-of-1,331) and scored 4,485 points. ASU is averaging 83.5 ppg., its best mark since the 1997-98 team (84.5), and has scored at least 80 in 18 games.
QUICK STUFF
vASU has played 14 single-digit Pac-12 games, tied with Oregon in 2006-07 for most in past 22 seasons.
vASU has come from behind at the half to win seven times and is averaging 44.2 second-half points.
v ASU is averaging 10,522 fans per game this year, ahead of the 9,514 school record set in 1995-96.
WINS: As of March 1 NCAA RPI, No. 42 ASU has wins over No. 3 Xavier (26-4) in Las Vegas, at No. 4 KU (24-6), vs. 31 USC (21-9), at No. 54t Utah (18-10), vs. No. 54t UCLA (18-10), vs. No. 63 Kansas State in Las Vegas (20-10), vs. No. 79 Colorado (16-13) vs. No. 88 St. John's (14-15) in Los Angeles, and vs. No. 98 SDSU (18-10). ASU is 4-4 in Quad 1, 3-4 in Quad 2, 7-1 in Quad 3 and 5-0 in Quad 4.
KODI 1,000: Kodi Justice has 1,000 career points after 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 has scored fewer points in his freshman year and still reach 1,000. He became the 37th member of ASU's 1,000 point-club. Kurt Nimphis (1,006) is 36th, while Gary Jackson is 35th (1,017).
SUN DEVIL 1,000-POINT SCORERS/FEWEST POINTS AS FRESHMAN
Kurt Nimphius (1976-80)/1,006 (27/1.5)
Kodi Justice (2014-18)/1,000 (83/4.6)
Fat Lever (1978-82)/1,137 (104/3.6)
HALFTIME SPEECHES: ASU is averaging 44.2 points in the second half, a mark that is closing in on one of the best 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
44.4/Arizona, 1996-97
44.2/Arizona State, 2017-18
SHANNON MOVING ON UP: Shannon Evans II has notched 978 points in his two-year, 62-game Sun Devil career, which already is sixth 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
Shannon Evans II, 2016-18/978
CLOSE: ASU has had 14 Pac-12 games decided by single digits. 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 three league margins in double digits are wins over California (84-53), Colorado (80-66) and at Washington State (88-78).
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.
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 9.4 points, has 79 assists and is 64-of-85 (.753) from the free throw line in 23.8 minutes per game (and again, with zero starts). He has 18 double-figure scoring games (ASU is 12-6) including 13 of the past 18 tilts and in 11 Pac-12 games. 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.
BENCH PLAY: ASU notched 41 bench points 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)
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 34 games, he is averaging 12.8 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
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 5.1 boards in just over 23 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) Xavier (.556) and Oregon State on the road (.528) 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 .434 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 529-of-688 (.769) 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, 2014-2018/1,753
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: .412 / .852 / 18.6 / 4.3 / 61
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.
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
20: ASU has six players who have notched a 20-point game this year led by Tra Holder (15), Shannon Evans II (12), Kodi Justice (three) and Romello White (three), while Remy Martin and De'Quon Lake have done it once.
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 15-34 (.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
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
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 83-of-118 (.703) from the field with 43 dunks. He has 55 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 9-1 when he scores in double digits and 8-1 when he gets at least seven boards (at Oregon in loss he had 12).
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.
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 207 three pointers in 112 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: .452 / 67 / 12.5
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 (5 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 at Oregon (2/22/18)
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 watch live: Duke vs UNLV (March 30, 1991)
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
SUN DEVIL CAREER STARTS
120, Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09
119, Ty Abbott, 2007-11
117, Tra Holder, 2014-18
SUN DEVIL CAREER ASSISTS
551, Derek Glasser, 2007-10
454, Bobby Thompson, 1983-87
444, Fat Lever, 1978-82
441, Tra Holder, 2014-18
SUN DEVIL SINGLE-SEASON THREE-POINTERS
4. 93, Rihards Kuksiks (2008-09)
5. 84, Shannon Evans II (2016-18)
5. 84, Jon Gilling (2012-13)
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.
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.
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 Oct. 12 media poll announced, its top preseason ranking since picked fourth in the final year of the Pac-10 (2010-11). 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, STAN, ASU, UT, OSU, CU, UW, CAL and WSU.
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).
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 season.