The Arizona State Sun Devils (20-12 in 2017-18 and 6-0 in 2018-19) -- who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 last year -- match up with 2018 NCAA Tournament participant Texas Southern on Saturday (Dec. 1), who already has won at Baylor and at Oregon. The Sun Devils have won 19 straight regular season out of conference games, the sixth-best such streak in the Pac-12 in the past 23 seasons. ASU enters the weekend one of 18 undefeated teams remaining and ranked second in rebounds per game (45.7).
LONGEST REGULAR SEASON PAC-12 OUT OF CONFERENCE WIN STREAKS (1996-PRESENT)
39, Arizona, 12/20/11-12/19/14
26, Stanford, 11/11/99-11/24/01
24, Washington, 12/5/04-12/4/06
23, USC, 12/3/15-11/22/17
21, Washington State, 12/5/06-11/29/08
19, Arizona State, 12/17/16-present
ONE DUB FROM A WILD STAT: ASU is one win away from starting 7-0 for just the second time in the past 38 seasons...but the for second year in a row. Yup, you read that right. ASU had not been 7-0 since the 1980-81 team that was led by Byron Scott, Fat Lever and and Alton Lister, but last year ASU started 12-0.
BEST STARTS IN ASU HISTORY
12-0/2017-18 (Bobby Hurley)
9-0/1974-75 (Ned Wulk)
7-0/1980-81 (Ned Wulk)
6-0/2018-19 (Bobby Hurley)
6-0/2013-14 (Herb Sendek)
GAME #6: ASU 89, OMAHA 71/NOV. 28, 2018: Omaha led 25-17 with under 10 minutes remaining in the first half but ASU closed the half on a 33-15 run and then hit three three-pointers in the first three minutes to put the Mavericks away. Luguentz Dort and Taeshon Cherry each had 19 while Kimani Lawrence added 18, including four three-pointers. Zylan Cheatham posted 13 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists as ASU shot .516 (.33-of-64) from the floor and outrebounded Omaha 41-27. ASU posted nine steals.
KIMANI IS BACK: Kimani Lawrence's freshman season stats gets an asterisk. Last year he started in all three exhibition games and had 15 points and nine boards vs. Northern State and 18 points and five boards vs. Arizona Christian. The night before the season opener he suffered a stress fracture in left foot that kept him out until Pac-12 play. In the opener vs. Cal State Fullerton he matched his three-point total from last season (three) and posted 16 points (previous best was nine) and minutes (36 previous best was 25). He has been in double figures every game and had 22 points including the game-winning three pointer in the Nov. 19 win over No. 15 Mississippi State.
KIMANI LAWRENCE QUICK NOTES
v Double-figures all six games this year
v 14-29 (.483) from 3 this year/3-15 last year
v 28-32 (.875) from FT line in career
v 6-11 1/2 wingspan
SWEET LU: One of the most impressive newcomers in all of college basketball is Luguentz Dort, who earned Nov. 26 Pac-12 Player of the Week and Andy Katz's National Player of the Week after averaging 25 points and eight rebounds as ASU won the MGM Resorts Main Event in Las Vegas (Nov. 19-21). Dort is the first sun freshman to garner the league's weekly award since James Harden in January of 2008.
TOP SCORING GAMES FOR LUGUENTZ DORT
33 vs. Utah State @Las Vegas, Nov. 21, 2018
28 vs. Cal State Fullerton, Nov. 6, 2018
25 vs. McNeese State, Nov. 9, 2018
SAME CITY/TIME/RESULT AS LAST YEAR: Thanksgiving week in Las Vegas has been really good to ASU. ASU won the 2017 Continental Tire Invitational at Orleans Arena on Nov. 23-24 with wins over 2018 Elite Eight member Kansas State (92-90) and then dropped 102 on No. 15 Xavier for a 16-point win. Those wins vaulted ASU into the rankings for the first time since James Harden was in uniform (2008-09), gave it a 6-0 start for just the second time in 32 seasons and was its first exempt tournament title since Bill Frieder's gang won the 1994 Maui Invitational. ASU then beat No. 15 Mississippi State on Nov. 19 and Utah State on Nov. 21 this season to win the MGM Resorts Main Event.
WINGSPAN: ASU has six players with wingspan of at least 6-11: Uros Pavsic (7-2.5), De'Quon Lake (7-2), Zylan Cheatham (7-0.5), Romello White (7-0.25), Vitaliy Shibel (6-11.75) and Kimani Lawrence (6-11.5).
RUN AND JUMP: Best approach vertical on the team is Zylan Cheatham at 41.5 inches, with Remy Martin not far behind at 40 inches.
REFRESH: ASU's top three scorers are gone and took with them many games, points and fun times, but the Sun Devil have six lettermen, a pair of high-level transfers and a top-20 recruiting class. Last year then third-year head coach Bobby Hurley (two-time NCAA champion, 1992 Final Four MOP and NCAA career assist leader) and the Sun Devils were the final undefeated team (12-0), beat No. 1 seeds Xavier and Kansas and went 5-2 against NCAA Tournament teams (Kansas State, UCLA and San Diego State). ASU averaged 10,603 fans, topping the 9,514 school record set in 1995-96.
REMY!!!: The Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year officially returned in 30+ seasons in 2017-18 and freshman Remy Martin shared the award with CU's Devon Collier. The previous Pac-10 Sixth Man of the Year was awarded from 1984-87. Martin – with zero starts -- averaged 9.6 points, had 94 assists and was 71-of-94 (.755) from the free throw line in 23.8 minutes per game. He had 20 double-figure scoring games (15 of final 21). 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 as ASU outscored WSU 19-9 in final seven minutes. He had 20 in the Pac-12 Tournament loss to Colorado.
JUMP: Best standing verticals on the team: De'Quon Lake and Luguentz Dort both did 34 inches, while Zylan Cheatham is at 33.5 inches.
TALENT UPGRADE: From 2002-16, ASU signed six top-85 players according to 247Sports/Scout.com. It is very possible ASU could have a five-man lineup on the floor this year alone with top-85 recruits in Remy Martin (77) at the point, Lugentz Dort (33) and Kimani Lawrence (58) on the wings and Taeshon Cherry (29) and Romello White (81) underneath.
TOP-85 247SPORTS/SCOUT.COM ASU SIGNEES (2002-2018)
23. James Harden, 2007
29. Taeshon Cherry, 2018
33. Luguentz Dort, 2018
34. Jahii Carson, 2011
41, Sam Cunliffe, 2016
55. Ike Diogu, 2002
58. Kimani Lawrence, 2017
77. Remy Martin, 2017
79. Keala King, 2010
81. Romello White, 2016
WHAT HAS CHANGED: The 2017-18 season saw a lot of upgrades for Sun Devil basketball beyond the NCAA Tournament appearance as attendance records were busted and it won a dozen straight for just the second time in school history. Below is a list of what was truth last year at this time and what ASU can flash the fork about now.
LAST YEAR AT THIS TIME / #FORKSUP NOW
5,807 attendance in BH first year/10,603 in third year (school record)
11-game win streak in 1980-81 was awesome/12-0 start
8-22 in road OOC games prior to CBH/4-1 under Bobby Hurley
12 wins trail at half previous 5 seasons/15 under BH in 3 seasons
Averaged 80+ points twice in Pac-12 history/82.7 last year led Pac-12
#DUNK-KWON: De'Quon Lake is 109-of-152 (.717) from the field with 49 dunks in his 38-game career. He has 74 offensive rebounds and posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State in December of 2017. He also had seven blocks vs. Pacific. ASU is 10-2 when he scores in double digits and 8-2 when he gets at least seven boards.
DORTING: Luguentz Dort's 53 points in first two games (28 vs. CSF and 25 vs. McNeese State) were the third-most by a Pac-12 freshman in his first two career games since 1996-97. Only Washington's Markelle Fulz (65 in 2016-17) and Oregon's Tajuan Porter (55 in 2006-07) had better point production in their first two games than Dort in the past 23 seasons.
FWIW LUGUENTZ DORT PHYSICAL STUFF
HT: 6-4
WT: 215
WINGSPAN: 6-8.75
BORN: April of 1999
STANDING VERTICAL: 34" (tied for best on team with De'Quon Lake)
APPROACH VERTICAL: 39" (third on team behind Zylan at 41.5 and Remy at 40)
ONE BAD ONE: Villanova was the only team to have zero double-digit defeats in 2017-18, but ASU came close as it was one of just eight teams with one double-digit loss. The others were Cincinnati, Clemson, Duke, Nevada, Purdue, Virginia and Wichita State.
SUN DEVIL LEADERS (INCLUDES SHARED AND THEN CAREER)
SCORING: Dort (4), Martin (1/2), Lawrence (1), Cherry (1)
REBOUNDING: Dort (4), White (0/12), Lake (1/8), Mitchell (6), Cheatham (4)
ASSISTS: Mitchell (0/5), Martin (3/9), White (0/2), Cheatham (4)
DE'QUON LAKE DOUBLE FIGURE SCORING GAMES (10-2)
24 vs. Idaho State (11/10/17)
17 vs. Northern Arizona (11/17/17)
16 vs. Longwood (12/17/17)
15 vs. San Diego State (11/14/17)
12 vs. Colorado/P12 Tournament (3/7/18)
12 vs. Pacific (12/22/17)
11 vs. Oregon State (1/13/18)
11 vs. Kansas State (11/23/17)
10 vs. Long Beach State (11/12/18)
10 vs. California (3/1/18)
10 vs. Colorado (1/27/18)
10 vs. Utah (1/25/18)
DE'QUON LAKE DOUBLE-DOUBLES (2)
11/12 vs. Kansas State (11/23/17)
17/10 vs. Northern Arizona (11/17/17)