Below are some notes and numbers on the 2021-22 Sun Devil season with some 2022-23 items.
DEFENSE: ASU held opponents to .400 shooting in 2021-22, its best defensive effort since 1971-72 and third-best in school history. ASU held 18 opponents under 40 percent. The .400 percentage was third-best in the Pac-12, and ASU also finished third in field goal percentage defense (692-of-1736/.399), behind only Arizona (.382) and USC (.389).
ASU BEST FIELD GOAL PERCENTAGE DEFENSE
.391 -- 1962-63 (791-2024)
.399 -- 1971-72 (797-of-1997)
.400 -- 2021-22 (718-1797)
.401 -- 1967-68 (834-2078)
.402 -- 2009-10 (678-1687)
.410 -- 2012-13 (861-2098)
.410 -- 2007-08 (718-1752)
ABOUT FEB. 5, 2022: ASU topped No. 3 UCLA 87-84 in triple overtime on Feb. 5 and now has eight wins over AP top three teams in their history, four of them in the past 41 years (1981-92 to present). Two of them were by a Bobby-coached squad over Kansas and then the UCLA win. Random note: Bill Walton was the color commentator for all four of them in past 41 years.
ASU WINS OVER ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP-3 TEAMS/COACH
ASU 87, #3 UCLA 84 3 OT (Feb. 5, 2022)/Bobby Hurley
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)/Bobby Hurley
#16 ASU 95, at #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)/Bobby Hurley
ASU 69, #2 Arizona 66 (2 OT) (Feb. 14, 2014)/Herb Sendek
#5 ASU 87, #1 Oregon State 67 (Mar. 7, 1981)/Ned Wulk
ASU 95, #3 USC 78 (Dec. 1, 1971)/Ned Wulk
ASU 68, @#2 USC (Dec.12, 1970)/Ned Wulk
ASU 89, #3 Michigan 87 (Dec. 27, 1965 at Portland Far West Classic/Ned Wulk
BEST IN NEARLY TWO DECADES: ASU's 81-57 win over Oregon (Feb. 17) and 73-53 win over Oregon State (Feb. 19) marked its first back-to-back 20-point Pac-12 wins for the first time since January of 2003, when it beat Washington by 32 (Jan. 9) and Washington State by 41 (Jan. 11).
SOLID DUBS: Bobby Hurley has led ASU to a some notable non-conference wins while at ASU including NC State, at Creighton (twice), Texas A&M, UNLV (twice), Stephen F. Austin, Kansas State, Xavier, St. John's (twice plus NCAA Tournament win), San Diego State (twice), Kansas (twice home and away), Vanderbilt and Georgia (home and away).
ROAD: ASU has changed its attitude about non-conference road games in Bobby Hurley's seven years with some big wins. ASU is 9-3 in non-conference road games under Coach Hurley, as it was 8-22 in its previous 30 OOC road tilts.
SUN DEVILS IN OOC ROAD GAMES UNDER BOBBY HURLEY (9-3)
ASU 58, Creighton 57 (Dec. 14, 2021)
San Diego State 65, ASU 63 (Nov. 18, 2021)
ASU, 71, Grand Canyon 70 (Dec. 13, 2020)
ASU 71, San Francisco 67 (Dec. 3, 2019)
ASU 67, Princeton 65 (Nov. 26, 2019)
Vanderbilt 81, ASU 65 (Dec. 17, 2018)
#20 ASU 76, Georgia 74 (Dec. 15, 2018)
#16 ASU 95, #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
ASU 74, San Diego State 63 (Dec. 10, 2016)
ASU 66, UNLV 56 (Dec. 16, 2015)
#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 5, 2015)
ASU 79, Creighton 77 (Dec. 2, 2015)
LEGENDS CLASSIC IN 2022-23: ASU is slotted to play in the Legends Classic Nov. 16-17 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn in a field that includes Michigan, VCU and Pitt. Coach Hurley's Sun Devils have had some solid success in November. The program captured Las Vegas titles at the 2017 Continental Tire Invitational and at the 2018 MGM Resorts Main Event. It has posted wins vs. Rhode Island and St. John's in Connecticut, Utah State, Mississippi State, Xavier and Kansas State in Las Vegas, Tulane in Orlando and North Carolina State in Brooklyn. ASU defeated Nov. 15 Xavier -- who would go on to earn a NCAA No. 1 seed in the 2018 NCAA Tournament -- on Nov. 24, 2017 in the championship game of the Continental Tire Invitational, a day after beating eventual Elite Eight participant Kansas State. ASU's 2018 title at MGM Resorts Main Event included wins over two eventual NCAA Tournament teams in No. 15 Mississippi State and Utah State.
PAC-12 STATS: Here are some quick notes on how ASU finished in conference only game stats (20-game league schedule)…ASU finished third in field goal percentage defense (692-of-1736/.399), behind only Arizona (.382) and USC (.389)…ASU finished second in three-point defense (222-of-713/.311), behind only California (.310)…ASU was fourth in steals at 6.73 per game, turnover margin (+1.60) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.11)…ASU averaged 7,973 fans in its 10 conference home games, second in the league..Kimani Lawrence was fifth in the league in field goal percentage (.536), as was Marreon Jackson in assists per game (4.03)…Jackson was third in steals per game (1.73/52)...DJ Horne was third in three-pointers made per game (2.34).
FINAL SCHEDULE NOTES: ASU's out-of-conference strength of schedule was No. 12 in the final NET rankings on Selection Sunday and its SOS overall was No. 22...ASU played five 2022 NCAA Tournament teams in its non-conference schedule (at San Diego State, Baylor, Loyola, at Creighton and San Francisco).
DJ HORNE NUMBERS: DJ Horne averaged team-best 12.5 points per game in 2021-22, as he played in all but one game (ill at Utah) and started in 28...shot 73-of-203 (.360) from three and made 35-of-39 (.897) free throws...had three 20-point games...had 21 with five threes in Pac-12 Tournament game vs. Stanford...16 points and zero turnovers in over 28 minutes in big win over Oregon on Feb. 17...best game was a tilt ASU had to have, as he sent the Dec. 5 Oregon game into overtime with a three with under four seconds left and ended with season-high 23 points, six rebounds and three assists....had 20 points and made career-best six three-pointers in loss to defending NCAA champion Baylor in the Bahamas on Nov. 24...started his final 28 games...had three of ASU's six 20-point games...led team in minutes per game (29.56 average)...has played in 85 games in three-year career (started in 73) and has averaged 11.9 points per game...is .390 career three-point shooter (181-of-464) and .844 free throw shooter (92-of-109)...has 1,009 career points (11.9 ppg.)...best rebounding effort in career was eight vs. No. 3 UCLA in 87-84 Sun Devil triple overtime win on Feb. 5, 2022...averaged 15.1 ppg. in 2020-21 at Illinois State.
CAREER HIGHS FOR DJ HORNE
Points: 34 vs. Northern Iowa (2/27/21)
Rebounds: 8 vs. No. 3 UCLA (2/5/22)
Assists: 10 vs. Greenvile (12/2/20)
Steals: 5 (three times)
Field Goals Made: 13 vs. Northern Iowa (2/27/21)
Field Goals Attempted: 23 vs. Northern Iowa (2/27/21)
3-PT Field Goals Made: 6 vs. Baylor (11/24/21)
3-PT Field Goals Attempted: 12 at Arizona (1/29/22)
Free Throws Made: 8 at Evansville (2/29/20)
Free Throws Attempted: 8 at Evansville (2/29/20)
LUTHER MUHAMMAD NUMBERS: Luther Muhammad played his first year at ASU in 2021-22 and appeared in 30 games with 11 starts and averaged 5.2 points per game after playing at Ohio State for two seasons...shot 24-of-29 (.828) from the free throw line...had career-high eight rebounds in the win at Washington State on Feb. 12...has played in 94 games in career with 67 starts...started 46 of 54 career games at Ohio State from 2018-20...a career .804 free throw shooter (131-of-163)...career high points was with Ohio State when he dropped 24 at Nebraska on Jan. 26, 2019..
CAREER HIGHS FOR LUTHER MUHAMMAD
Points: 24 at Nebraska (1/26/19)
Rebounds: 8 at Washington State (2/12/22)
Assists: 6 vs. Syracuse (11/28/18)
Steals: 4 at Northwestern (1/26/20)
JAMIYA NEAL NUMBERS: Freshman Jamiya Neal played in 30 games and averaged 14.6 minutes...made 11-of-16 free throws (.688) and averaged 2.0 points and posted season-best seven points vs. North Florida and had six rebounds in win at Utah on Feb. 26...had five steals vs. Arizona on Feb. 7.
CAREER HIGHS FOR JAMIYA NEAL
Points: 7 vs. North Florida (11/15/21)
Rebounds: 6 at Utah (2/26/22)
Assists: 3 vs. Portland (11/9/21) and vs. Washington State (12/1/21)
Steals: 5 vs. Arizona (2/7/22)
Blocks: 2 vs. USC (2/3/22)
JAMIYA IS THAT GUY
No matter if you are believe in +/- or not as a basketball stat, a few numbers on Jamiya Neal and his energy off the bench are noteworthy from 2021-22. Against Oregon on Feb. 17, he played 20 minutes and had two points but was +8 as ASU completed a sweep of the Ducks. Against Utah on Jan. Jan. 17 in a 64-62 win he had zero points but was +6 in nine minutes. But here is the wild one…at Washington State in a solid 58-55 win on Feb. 12, he played 12 minutes and had three points…and was a team-best +16. Yes, +16 in a three-point game in 12 minutes. Crazy thing about that stat? No other Sun Devil was above +8 and three Sun Devil starters were -7. ASU's bench outscored WSU 33-14.
OREGON STATE STREAK STILL INTACT: ASU beat Oregon State in Tempe for the 13th straight time in 2021-22.
ASU'S 13-GAME WIN STREAK IN TEMPE OVER OREGON STATE
ASU 73, Oregon State 53/Feb. 19, 2022
ASU 75, Oregon State 73/Feb. 14, 2021
ASU 74, Oregon State 73/Feb. 22, 2020
ASU 70, Oregon State 67/Jan. 17, 2019
ASU 77, Oregon State 75/Jan. 13, 2018
ASU 86, Oregon State 68/Jan. 28, 2016
ASU 73, Oregon State 55/Jan. 28, 2015
ASU 86, Oregon State 82 (OT)/Feb. 6, 2014
ASU 76, Oregon State 66/Jan. 14, 2012
ASU 80, Oregon State 66/Mar. 5, 2011
ASU 56, Oregon State 46/Feb. 11, 2010
ASU 69, Oregon State 38/Jan. 8, 2009
ASU 72, Oregon State 53/Jan. 5, 2008
VS. CAL: The Sun Devils have won eight of the past nine versus the Bears and are 6-3 in their last nine trips to Berkeley...ASU has swept Cal 13 times, most recently in 2020-21...ASU has won 13 of the past 18 in the series after the split in 2021-22.
ASU-CAL PAST FIVE SEASONS (ASU 8-1)
ASU 71, California 44/Mar. 3, 2022
@California 74, ASU 50/Jan. 2, 2022
ASU 72, California 68/Jan. 28, 2021
ASU 70, @California 62/Dec. 3, 2020
ASU 80, @California 75/Feb. 16, 2020
ASU 69, California 59/Feb. 24, 2019
ASU 80, @California 66/Jan. 9, 2019
ASU 84, California 53/Mar. 1, 2018
ASU 81, @California 73/Jan. 20, 2018