LEAGUE PLAY BEGINS: The Arizona State Sun Devils (9-3) -- who advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 last year and just the fourth time in 24 seasons -- tip off Pac-12 play Thursday, Jan. 3, vs. Utah in a 6 p.m. tilt and then hosts Colorado on Saturday, Jan. 5, at 4 p.m. Both games are on Pac-12 Network with Daron Sutton and Eddie House on the call, while Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd on the Sun Devil Radio Network.
SOME NOTES AS PAC-12 STARTS: ASU starts the week with a NET ranking of 46 and three Quadrant 1 wins: Kansas (15), Mississippi State (19) and Utah State (34), with the road win at Georgia (8-4 and No. 80) close...ASU topped then No. 1 Kansas 80-76 on Dec. 22 in Bobby Hurley's 17th halftime-deficit win at ASU behind 15 off-the-bench points from getting healthier Rob Edwards (13 in the second half and now 963 career points). He became the fourth Sun Devil to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week this season...ASU nationally ranks 16th in offensive rebounds per game (14.0), fifth in rebounds per game (44.0), 13th in rebound margin (+9.3) and is second in the Pac-12 in scoring (79.7). Zylan Cheatham, the Dec. 3 Pac-12 Player of the Week, registered ASU's second triple double in the Dec. 1 win over Texas Southern, Nov. 23 Pac-12 POTW Luguentz Dort is the sixth-highest freshman scorer in the nation (18.1) and Remy Martin also took home a Pac-12 POTW (Dec. 17).
2018-19 SUN DEVIL PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Dec. 24: Rob Edwards
Dec. 17: Remy Martin
Dec. 3: Zylan Cheatham
Nov. 26: Luguentz Dort
SCHEDULE FLIP: ASU had started Pac-12 play with five of its first seven on the road six times in the previous 10 seasons (the only Pac-12 team to have that decade of awkwardness) including last year, but things flipped this year as ASU has four of first six at home. This year will mark only the fourth time in past 11 seasons ASU will open Pac-12 play at home.Also noteworthy maybe: ASUhad one-single digit game last year at this point. This year ASU has had seven and is 5-2. ASU also is 4-2 in two-posession games this year after going 4-7 last year.
PLAYING FOLKS: Bobby Hurley has made the attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts vs. NC State/Marquette in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by playing at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, ASU played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in NYC, at San Diego State and vs. No. 9 Creighton. Last year besides Kansas ASU played Xavier and hosted 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt. Kansas was the sixth top-10 non-conference opponent Coach Hurley played in his four years, ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
#6 Nevada 72, ASU 66 at STAPLES Center (Dec. 7, 2018)
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)
VS. UTAH/CU QUICK SERIES NOTES: ASU and Utah split games last year, with each team winning 80-77 as the visitor...since the league expansion in 2011-12, ASU is 4-8 vs. the Utes and 3-3 in Tempe...CU leads the series 7-6 since it joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12...CU got a sweep in 2011-12 and ASU got a sweep in 2012-13...ASU is 5-1 in Tempe vs. the Buffs.
SOLID FREE THROWS: ASU isn't at the top of the free throw shooting list in the Pac-12, but it has made some crucial ones late to seal wins…examples to follow…it made 6-of-8 in final five minutes against Kansas, including two by Rob Edwards with six seconds left to make it a two-possession game…made nine of final 11 in second half of Georgia win….10-14 in final 4:03 vs. Utah State, including six straight in two-minute stretch after Utah State buckets…Remy Martin made two with 10 seconds left to make it five-point lead over Mississippi State as ASU made all six free throws in second half...made 8-of-10 in second overtime against Cal State Fullerton.ASU is 4-2 in two-possession games this year, after going 12-16 previous three seasons.
REFRESH: ASU's top three scorers are gone and took with them many points and fun times, but the Sun Devil returned six lettermen, a pair of high-level transfers and notched 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. ASU averaged 10,603 fans, topping the 9,514 school record set in 1995-96.
WINGSPAN: ASU has six players with wingspan of at least 6-11: redshirting freshman 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).
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 ASU 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
24 vs. #6 Nevada, Dec. 7, 2018
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.
20: ASU won 20 straight regular season OOC games, the sixth-best Pac-12 streak in past 23 seasons, prior to its 72-66 Dec. 7 loss to Nevada.
REGULAR SEASON PAC-12 OOC 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
20, Arizona State, 12/17/16-12/7/18
WILD STAT: ASU started 7-0 for the second time in the past 38 seasons, but the for second year in a row. ASU had not been 7-0 since 1980-81 (Byron Scott and Fat Lever) but has done it in the past two seasons..
BEST STARTS IN ASU HISTORY
12-0/2017-18 (Bobby Hurley)
9-0/1974-75 (Ned Wulk)
7-0/2018-19 (Bobby Hurley)
7-0/1980-81 (Ned Wulk)
VS. RANKED TEAMS: ASU has defeated six ranked teams in Bobby Hurley's tenure, including five out of conference and three of them away from home. The Nov. 24, 2017, Xavier win was the highest ranked OOC team ASU had topped since it beat No. 7 Maryland in the 1994 Maui Invitational...until it won at #2 Kansas on Dec. 10. ASU followed that up with a Nov. 19 win over No. 15 Mississippi State this year and its second win over No. 1 in school history on Dec. 22.
ASU WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
#18 ASU 80, Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
ASU 72, #15 Mississippi State 67 (Nov. 19, 2018/Las Vegas)
#16 ASU 95, at #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86 (Nov. 24, 2017/Las Vegas)
ASU 74, #23 USC 67 (Feb. 12, 2016)
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)
KIMANI: Kimani Lawrence's freshman season 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 posted 16 points (previous best was nine) and minutes (36). He 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 in first seven games
v 18 threes this year/3-15 last year
v 40-48 (.833) from FT line in career
v 6-11 1/2 wingspan
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) and 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 injured his ankle on Oct. 10 and reinjured it on Nov. 21 vs. Utah State, as he missed the Omaha and Texas Southern games. Four of his top five career scoring games have been away from home.
REMY MARTIN TOP SCORING TILTS
21 at Georgia (12/15/18)
21 at #2 Kansas (12/10/17)
20 vs. Colorado at Las Vegas (3/7/18)
19 vs. Princeton (12/29/18)
16 vs. #15 Mississippi State at Las Vegas (11/19/18)
REMY PAC-12 POTW (DEC. 17): Remy Martin matched a career-high with 21 points, grabbed a career-best eight rebounds, and added five assists and three steals to spark the Sun Devils back from an 18-point deficit to a 76-74 road victory at Georgia on Dec. 15, leading to his Dec. 17 Pac-12 Player of the Week Award. The 21 points equaled Martin's career high from last December's upset at No. 2 Kansas. The 6-0 guard from Chatsworth, Calif., totaled 12 points, five boards, two assists and two steals in the second half, including back-to-back baskets inside the final 3:11 which gave ASU its first lead of the game at 71-70. It marked the second straight season and third time in program history (1999-00) the Sun Devils scored three weekly awards within a four-week span.
TALENT UPGRADE: From 2002-16, ASU signed six top-85 players according to 247Sports/Scout.com. At times ASU has had a five-man lineup on the floor this year alone with top-85 recruits in Remy Martin (77) Lugentz Dort (33) and Kimani Lawrence (58) in the backcourt 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
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 to win the 2018 MGM Resorts Main Event at T-Mobile Arena.
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 last year was better
8-22 in road OOC games prior to CBH / 5-2 under Bobby Hurley
12 wins trail at half previous 5 seasons / 16 under BH in 4 seasons
Averaged 80+ points twice in Pac-12 history / 82.7 last year led Pac-12
#DUNK-KWON: De'Quon Lake is 116-of-161 (.720) from the field with 50 dunks in his 44-game career. He has 82 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)
MOST POINTS BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN
35, Mario Bennett vs. #5 Arizona, Feb. 20, 1992
34, Jahii Carson vs. Stanford @Pac-12 Tournament (Las Vegas), Mar. 13, 2013
33, Luguentz Dort vs. Utah State @Las Vegas, Nov. 21, 2018
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.
HALF: ASU has 17 wins (seven on the road) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons. It did it seven times in 2017-18 and did it this year at Georgia and against No. 1 Kansas.
17 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-8) #1 Kansas 39, #18 ASU 31/Dec. 22, 2018/#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76
(-14) @Georgia 47, #20 ASU 33/Dec. 15, 2018/# 20 ASU 76, @Georgia 74
(-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, #16 ASU 37/Dec. 10, 2017/#16 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 6
SOME NOTES AS PAC-12 STARTS: ASU starts the week with a NET ranking of 46 and three Quadrant 1 wins: Kansas (15), Mississippi State (19) and Utah State (34), with the road win at Georgia (8-4 and No. 80) close...ASU topped then No. 1 Kansas 80-76 on Dec. 22 in Bobby Hurley's 17th halftime-deficit win at ASU behind 15 off-the-bench points from getting healthier Rob Edwards (13 in the second half and now 963 career points). He became the fourth Sun Devil to earn Pac-12 Player of the Week this season...ASU nationally ranks 16th in offensive rebounds per game (14.0), fifth in rebounds per game (44.0), 13th in rebound margin (+9.3) and is second in the Pac-12 in scoring (79.7). Zylan Cheatham, the Dec. 3 Pac-12 Player of the Week, registered ASU's second triple double in the Dec. 1 win over Texas Southern, Nov. 23 Pac-12 POTW Luguentz Dort is the sixth-highest freshman scorer in the nation (18.1) and Remy Martin also took home a Pac-12 POTW (Dec. 17).
2018-19 SUN DEVIL PAC-12 PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Dec. 24: Rob Edwards
Dec. 17: Remy Martin
Dec. 3: Zylan Cheatham
Nov. 26: Luguentz Dort
SCHEDULE FLIP: ASU had started Pac-12 play with five of its first seven on the road six times in the previous 10 seasons (the only Pac-12 team to have that decade of awkwardness) including last year, but things flipped this year as ASU has four of first six at home. This year will mark only the fourth time in past 11 seasons ASU will open Pac-12 play at home.Also noteworthy maybe: ASUhad one-single digit game last year at this point. This year ASU has had seven and is 5-2. ASU also is 4-2 in two-posession games this year after going 4-7 last year.
PLAYING FOLKS: Bobby Hurley has made the attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts vs. NC State/Marquette in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by playing at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, ASU played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in NYC, at San Diego State and vs. No. 9 Creighton. Last year besides Kansas ASU played Xavier and hosted 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt. Kansas was the sixth top-10 non-conference opponent Coach Hurley played in his four years, ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
#6 Nevada 72, ASU 66 at STAPLES Center (Dec. 7, 2018)
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)
VS. UTAH/CU QUICK SERIES NOTES: ASU and Utah split games last year, with each team winning 80-77 as the visitor...since the league expansion in 2011-12, ASU is 4-8 vs. the Utes and 3-3 in Tempe...CU leads the series 7-6 since it joined the Pac-12 in 2011-12...CU got a sweep in 2011-12 and ASU got a sweep in 2012-13...ASU is 5-1 in Tempe vs. the Buffs.
SOLID FREE THROWS: ASU isn't at the top of the free throw shooting list in the Pac-12, but it has made some crucial ones late to seal wins…examples to follow…it made 6-of-8 in final five minutes against Kansas, including two by Rob Edwards with six seconds left to make it a two-possession game…made nine of final 11 in second half of Georgia win….10-14 in final 4:03 vs. Utah State, including six straight in two-minute stretch after Utah State buckets…Remy Martin made two with 10 seconds left to make it five-point lead over Mississippi State as ASU made all six free throws in second half...made 8-of-10 in second overtime against Cal State Fullerton.ASU is 4-2 in two-possession games this year, after going 12-16 previous three seasons.
REFRESH: ASU's top three scorers are gone and took with them many points and fun times, but the Sun Devil returned six lettermen, a pair of high-level transfers and notched 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. ASU averaged 10,603 fans, topping the 9,514 school record set in 1995-96.
WINGSPAN: ASU has six players with wingspan of at least 6-11: redshirting freshman 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).
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 ASU 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
24 vs. #6 Nevada, Dec. 7, 2018
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.
20: ASU won 20 straight regular season OOC games, the sixth-best Pac-12 streak in past 23 seasons, prior to its 72-66 Dec. 7 loss to Nevada.
REGULAR SEASON PAC-12 OOC 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
20, Arizona State, 12/17/16-12/7/18
WILD STAT: ASU started 7-0 for the second time in the past 38 seasons, but the for second year in a row. ASU had not been 7-0 since 1980-81 (Byron Scott and Fat Lever) but has done it in the past two seasons..
BEST STARTS IN ASU HISTORY
12-0/2017-18 (Bobby Hurley)
9-0/1974-75 (Ned Wulk)
7-0/2018-19 (Bobby Hurley)
7-0/1980-81 (Ned Wulk)
VS. RANKED TEAMS: ASU has defeated six ranked teams in Bobby Hurley's tenure, including five out of conference and three of them away from home. The Nov. 24, 2017, Xavier win was the highest ranked OOC team ASU had topped since it beat No. 7 Maryland in the 1994 Maui Invitational...until it won at #2 Kansas on Dec. 10. ASU followed that up with a Nov. 19 win over No. 15 Mississippi State this year and its second win over No. 1 in school history on Dec. 22.
ASU WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY
#18 ASU 80, Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
ASU 72, #15 Mississippi State 67 (Nov. 19, 2018/Las Vegas)
#16 ASU 95, at #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86 (Nov. 24, 2017/Las Vegas)
ASU 74, #23 USC 67 (Feb. 12, 2016)
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)
KIMANI: Kimani Lawrence's freshman season 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 posted 16 points (previous best was nine) and minutes (36). He 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 in first seven games
v 18 threes this year/3-15 last year
v 40-48 (.833) from FT line in career
v 6-11 1/2 wingspan
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) and 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 injured his ankle on Oct. 10 and reinjured it on Nov. 21 vs. Utah State, as he missed the Omaha and Texas Southern games. Four of his top five career scoring games have been away from home.
REMY MARTIN TOP SCORING TILTS
21 at Georgia (12/15/18)
21 at #2 Kansas (12/10/17)
20 vs. Colorado at Las Vegas (3/7/18)
19 vs. Princeton (12/29/18)
16 vs. #15 Mississippi State at Las Vegas (11/19/18)
REMY PAC-12 POTW (DEC. 17): Remy Martin matched a career-high with 21 points, grabbed a career-best eight rebounds, and added five assists and three steals to spark the Sun Devils back from an 18-point deficit to a 76-74 road victory at Georgia on Dec. 15, leading to his Dec. 17 Pac-12 Player of the Week Award. The 21 points equaled Martin's career high from last December's upset at No. 2 Kansas. The 6-0 guard from Chatsworth, Calif., totaled 12 points, five boards, two assists and two steals in the second half, including back-to-back baskets inside the final 3:11 which gave ASU its first lead of the game at 71-70. It marked the second straight season and third time in program history (1999-00) the Sun Devils scored three weekly awards within a four-week span.
TALENT UPGRADE: From 2002-16, ASU signed six top-85 players according to 247Sports/Scout.com. At times ASU has had a five-man lineup on the floor this year alone with top-85 recruits in Remy Martin (77) Lugentz Dort (33) and Kimani Lawrence (58) in the backcourt 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
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 to win the 2018 MGM Resorts Main Event at T-Mobile Arena.
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 last year was better
8-22 in road OOC games prior to CBH / 5-2 under Bobby Hurley
12 wins trail at half previous 5 seasons / 16 under BH in 4 seasons
Averaged 80+ points twice in Pac-12 history / 82.7 last year led Pac-12
#DUNK-KWON: De'Quon Lake is 116-of-161 (.720) from the field with 50 dunks in his 44-game career. He has 82 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)
MOST POINTS BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN
35, Mario Bennett vs. #5 Arizona, Feb. 20, 1992
34, Jahii Carson vs. Stanford @Pac-12 Tournament (Las Vegas), Mar. 13, 2013
33, Luguentz Dort vs. Utah State @Las Vegas, Nov. 21, 2018
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.
HALF: ASU has 17 wins (seven on the road) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons. It did it seven times in 2017-18 and did it this year at Georgia and against No. 1 Kansas.
17 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-8) #1 Kansas 39, #18 ASU 31/Dec. 22, 2018/#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76
(-14) @Georgia 47, #20 ASU 33/Dec. 15, 2018/# 20 ASU 76, @Georgia 74
(-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, #16 ASU 37/Dec. 10, 2017/#16 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 6