March 15, 2005
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ASU PLAYS IN NIT: The Arizona State University men's basketball team (18-13; 7-11 in the Pac-10 Conference) plays at UNLV in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament on Thursday, March 17 at 9 p.m. PT/10 p.m. MST on ESPN2. A win would give ASU its sixth 19-win campaign in the past 22 seasons (and third under Rob Evans) while two more wins will mark 20 wins for just the fourth time in 20 years (second time under Evans). The Sun Devils, who tied Washington State for sixth in the Pac-10 at 7-11, are on a four-game skid (including two losses to a NCAA No. 1 seed, Washington), but two of those losses were decided by game-winning shots in the closing seconds (57-55 at Washington State on Feb. 26 and 70-68 vs. #11 Arizona on March 5), another was a three-point game at the 1:00 mark at #13 Washington (a 90-82 loss on Feb. 24) and final one was a 95-90 overtime loss in the Pac-10 Tournament to #14 Washington on March 10. All-American Ike Diogu is averaging 25.0 points, 8.7 rebounds and 39.1 minutes in the past 10 games and became the second Sun Devil to earn Pac-10 Player of the Year (Eddie House in 1999-2000 was the other) and also earned All-Pac-10 honors for the third time in his career. The winner of the ASU/UNLV game will play the winner of the Miami (Fla.)/South Carolina game, with the date and site TBD. The matchup also has ASU sophomore guard Kevin Kruger playing against his father Lon, the first-year UNLV coach. The Sun Devils ended the season 4-8 against NCAA Tournament teams, including a sweep of Stanford, and its final RPI was 68 and schedule strength was 36 according to collegeRPI.com.
VS. UNLV: ASU leads the series 2-1, but UNLV won the last meeting, a 96-91 shootout in Las Vegas on March 12, 2002, in the first round of the NIT. Jason Braxton is the only current Sun Devil to play in that game, as he had a career-high 17 points. ASU beat UNLV 79-70 on Dec. 5, 1998, at America West Arena in Phoenix in Rob Evans first season at ASU and also won 84-81 on March 20, 1975, in the NCAA Tournament in Portland.
NIT: ASU will make its ninth appearance in the postseason NIT and has a 3-8 (.273) markŠASU's last appearance was at UNLV on March 12, 2002, when it fell 96-91...its other NIT appearance under Rob Evans was in 1999-2000, when it beat New Mexico State 83-77 on March 15 in Tempe but lost at North Carolina State 60-57 on March 21Šoverall, ASU is 21-29 (.420) in postseason.
Year NIT Score(s) Site 2001-2002 UNLV 96, ASU 91 Las Vegas 1999-2000 NC State 60, ASU 57 (second round) Raleigh 1999-2000 ASU 83, New Mexico State 77 (first round) Tempe 1997-98 Hawaii 90, ASU 73 Honolulu 1993-94 BYU 74, ASU 67 Provo 1992-93 Georgetown 78, ASU 68 Tempe 1991-92 Utah 60, ASU 58 (second round) Tempe 1991-92 ASU 71, Cal-Santa Barbara 58 (first round) Santa Barbara 1989-90 Long Bearch State 86, ASU 71 Tempe 1982-83 Texas Christian 78, ASU 76 (second round) Tempe 1982-83 ASU 87, Cal State Fullerton 83 (first round) Tempe
CAREER MARKS: With 663 made free throws in his career, Ike Diogu trails only UCLA's Don MacLean (711 from 1988-92) in the Pac-10 record book. His 843 attempts is second only to Stanford's Adam Keefe (886 from 1988-92).
USBWA ALL-AMERICAN: Junior Ike Diogu earned second-team All-American honors by the United States Basketball Writers Association. First-team honors went to Andrew Bogut (Soph., Utah), Dee Brown (Jr., Illinois), Chris Paul (Soph., Wake Forest), J.J. Redick (Jr., Duke) and Wayne Simien (Sr., Kansas). Joining Diogu on the second-team are Luther Head (Jr., Illinois), Sean May (Jr., North Carolina), Salim Stoudamire (Sr., Arizona) and Hakim Warrick (Sr., Syracuse).
NABC ALL-AMERICAN: Junior Ike Diogu also earned second-team All-American honors by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). First-team honors went to Andrew Bogut (Soph., Utah), Chris Paul (Soph., Wake Forest), J.J. Redick (Jr., Duke), Wayne Simien (Sr., Kansas) and Hakim Warrick (Sr., Syracuse). Joining Diogu on the second team were Dee Brown (Jr., Illinois), Deron Williams (Illinois), Luther Head (Jr., Illinois) and Francisco Garcia (Louisville).
IN AND OUT: Ike Diogu's career numbers have been solid both in the Pac-10 and out. In his 90 games career, Diogu is averaging 21.3 points and 8.8 rebounds. He is averaging 21.1 points and 8.8 rebounds in 54 regular season Pac-10 games and 21.6 points and 8.8 boards in the 35 non-conference games.
Ike Diogu PAC-10 NOTES: Ike Diogu leads the Pac-10 in both scoring (22.4 ppg.) and rebounding (9.7 rpg.). Only A.C. Green of Oregon State (1984-85) and Mark McNamara of California (1981-82) have led the Pac-10 in both categories. Diogu also leads the league in blocks at 2.32 per game. Since blocks became an official statistic in 1977-78, no player has led the league in all three categories. He also leads the Pac-10 in field goal percentage (.573), offensive boards (3.65) and minutes per game (36.45). Diogu led the league in league games-only stats in points (22.3), offensive rebounds (4.06) and minutes (37.78) per game and was second in rebounding with 9.2 boards per game. He has played 13 40-minute games this year, including four of the past five contests. Diogu also has made 240 free throws this year, just three short of his own Pac-10 record of 243 set last season.
IKE'S NUMBERS: Ike Diogu's play this year has been among the best in the nation, as he is tied for seventh nationally in points per game at 22.4 (as of March 13) and tied for 15th at 9.7 rebounds per contest. He has posted a Pac-10 leading 14 double-doubles and leads the nation in free throws made (240) and attempted (300). His 240 made free throws is more than all but eight players have attempted, while the next closest player to his 240 makes is Juan Mendez of Niagara with 215. His national-best consecutive games in double-figures scoring streak is up to 90 games (every game of his career). He has 11 30-point games (six this year), 49 20-point games (20 this year), 29 double-doubles (14 this year) and 15 other games with nine rebounds.
THREE-DOT DATA: ASU is shooting 249-of-336 (.741) from the free throw line in the past 15 games...in the past eight games, Steve Moore is averaging 16.1 points per game. He came off the bench in six of those games for the first time this year but has started the past two games...Kevin Kruger has 17 double-digit scoring games on the year and was 66-of-74 (.892) from the foul line in Pac-10 games, second in the league...Jason Braxton made his 101st career start vs. Washington on March 10. Only Eddie House (114) and Ron Riley (109) have started more games as Sun Devils. Braxton has posted double-digit points in seven games and has 113 assists and just 46 turnovers on the year, a league-leading 2.46 ratio. His 166 steals is fifth on the ASU career charts and his 382 assists is seventh. He posted a season-high 11 points in the Feb. 17 75-73 win over Oregon State and had a career-high nine boards vs. Arizona on March 5...Allen Morill is averaging 19.2 minutes and 4.8 rebounds in the past six games.
ACTION JACKSON: Tyrone Jackson is averaging 16.5 minutes in the past 12 games and has 36 assists and just 13 turnovers in that time, including a career-high six on Feb. 5 vs. California. He posted nine points at Washington State on Feb. 26 and had eight points at Oregon (Jan. 22) and vs. Stanford (Feb. 3). A high school teammate of Stanford's Chris Hernandez, he is 21-of-29 (.724) from the free throw line in the past 12 games to go along with 11 steals.
NEED MOORE OF THIS: Senior Steve Moore gave ASU a huge second-half lift in the Feb. 19 66-56 win over Oregon, as he posted 17 second-half points (7-of-10 from the field) en route to a 22-point game, his fourth 20-point game of the season. He posted 50 points on the Los Angeles road trip Feb. 10-12, including a 31-point outing at UCLA when he hit eight three-pointers, the most by a Sun Devil since Stevin Smith tied his own school record with 10 vs. Oregon on Jan. 27, 1994. Moore had 19 vs. USC on Feb. 12, as he was 16-of-29 (.551) from the field and 12-of-18 (.667) from the three-point stripe in those two games. Moore is averaging 16.1 points, second on the team, in the past eight games and Moore is averaging 12.4 points in 58 career games and has made 109 three-pointers, the most by a two-year player in ASU history.
Kevin Kruger: Sophomore Kevin Kruger is one of three Sun Devils who averaged double-digit scoring in ASU's Pac-10 contests (11.8 ppg.) and has 17 double-digit scoring games overall. He is averaging 12.6 points in the past 12 games, has made 131-of-160 (.819) free throws in his 58-game career and was 66-of-74 (.892) from the foul line in Pac-10 games this year, second in the loop. Kruger provided a spark in the final nine games last year, averaging 29.0 minutes, 12.4 points (the team's second-leading scorer) and shooting 27-of-59 (.448) from the three-point stripe. He matched a career-high with 22 points vs. #14 Washington this year at the Pac-10 Tournament on March 10.
NO EASY OPENERS: With Arizona winning the 2005 Pac-10 title, this year marks the fourth time in the past six years that ASU opened the season with an eventual Pac-10 champion, as ASU faced the eventual Pac-10 champion three straight years in its Pac-10 opener from 2000-2002, facing Stanford in 1999-2000 and 2000-2001 and then opening with Oregon in 2001-2002. It is scheduled to open at Pac-10 Tournament champion Washington next year on Dec. 29, 2005. This year also marked the fifth time in his seven years Rob Evans opened Pac-10 play on the road, and the two home games were against top-five teams. ASU lost to second-ranked Stanford on Jan. 4, 2000, in Tempe, and to fourth-ranked Arizona 93-74 on Jan. 3, 2003.
ANOTHER KRUEGER: Sophomore newcomer Bryson Krueger, who played for assistant coach Brooks Thompson at Yavapai C.C. last year, is 32-of-66 (.485) from the three-point stripe in his past 24 games and 24-of-50 (.480) in the past 17 contests. He has 10 double-digit scoring games on the year and posted his Pac-10 high with 21 points against Oregon State on Feb. 17, including five three-pointers. He ranks third in the Pac-10 in three-point percentage at 45.5 percent (40-of-88).
MORE DIOGU: Ike Diogu's national-best double figure scoring streak of 90 games still has a ways to go until it reaches Pac-10 and NCAA-record levels. The NCAA record is 115 set by La Salle's Lionel Simmons from 1987-90, while Sean Elliott of Arizona (1985-89) scored in double digits in the final 108 games of his career. Diogu's lowest point total in his career was 10 against Morehead State the first game of his career on Nov. 22, 2003, and then he hit two free throws with 21 seconds left to reach 10 points at Oregon on Jan. 22, 2005. Two Pac-10 notables never reached 70 games, as Lew Alcindor posted double digits in 69 straight games while Don MacLean, the Pac-10's career scoring leader, had his streak stopped at 68.
Rob Evans: Rob Evans (194-183/.515) is in his seventh season at Arizona State (13th overall) after being hired on April 7, 1998. The 1997 SEC Coach of the Year spent six seasons at Ole Miss, compiling an 86-81 (.515) record. He led the Rebels to a 42-16 record in his final two seasons after going 44-65 (.403) in his first four, winning two SEC West titles, and led Ole Miss to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1937-38. The 58-year old Evans is a 1968 graduate of New Mexico State, where he captained two NCAA Tournament teams and is a 1989 inductee of the Athletic Hall of Fame. He is 108-102 (.514) at ASU and has led the Sun Devils to four postseason appearances, including a 2003 NCAA appearance that was the school's first since 1995. He is 151-114 (.570) in the past nine seasons. He reached his 100th win at ASU against Long Island on Dec. 28, becoming just the third coach in ASU history to top the century mark, joining Ned Wulk (406-272 from 1957-82) and Bill Frieder (132-108 from 1989-97).