Game notes for State Farm Territorial Cup men's hoops tilt
STATE FARM GAME
The Arizona State's men's hoops team (9-14; 1-10 in the Pac-10), the only Pac-10 team to post 20 wins in each of the past three seasons, plays the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday, Feb. 13, at 7 p.m. MT on FOX Sports Net to begin a three-game homestand...Herb Sendek is 6-4 vs. the Wildcats, including a 2-2 mark in Tempe...ASU and USC are taking care of the ball best in the Pac-10 at just 11.9 giveaways per game, as ASU is averaging 9.8 turnovers in past eight games...Coach Sendek is 7-1 on FOX Sports Net Sunday games...UA game is one of eight scheduled FOX Sports Net Sun Devil games this year. ASU has 11 wins in the past three years on FSN, including three victories over Arizona, a 2009 Pac-10 Tournament win over No. 13 Washington and another victory over Jimmer-led and NCAA Tournament-bound BYU Cougars in December of 2008...welcome to the world of media relations: UA says it has won 26 of the past 33, ASU says it has won six of the past eight...sophomore Trent Lockett is averaging 16.4 points in the past five games.
ASU ON FSN SUNDAY GAMES UNDER COACH SENDEK (7-1)
Feb. 18, 2007--ASU 68, #22 USC 58
Feb. 25, 2007--UA 61, ASU 58
Feb. 10, 2008--ASU 59, @UA 54
Dec. 7, 2008--ASU 64, Nebraska 44
Feb. 15, 2009--ASU 65, USC 53
Feb. 22, 2009--ASU 70, UA 68
Jan. 10, 2010--ASU 71, WSU 46
Feb. 21, 2010--ASU 73, @UA 69
RECAP
The Sun Devils are in their fifth season under 2009-10 Pac-10 Coach of the Year Herb Sendek. Last year's second-place Pac-10 team was 22-11, the first time ASU had posted three straight 20-win seasons since JFK was President. ASU finished second in the Pac-10 (12-6) for the first time since 1980-81 after being picked for seventh in the preseason media poll and tenth by Sporting News. After posting just three 20-win seasons in the previous 25 seasons, ASU has posted three straight under Herb Sendek in his four years.
JMAC
Jamelle McMillan has played through a nagging groin injury since December that caused him to miss three games but is averaging 14.7 points in the past three games and is 10-of-14 (.714) from three in those tilts...he has posted three of the top scoring games in his career in the past three games with a career-high 17 at Stanford (Feb. 5), 14 at Cal (Feb. 3) and 13 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29)... ASU is 50-30 (.625) with Jamelle and 6-5 (.545) without. In the past two seasons those numbers go to 28-21 (.571) and 3-4 (.429)...289 career assists and 139 turnovers...six steals vs. Long Beach on Dec. 21, most by a Sun Devil since James Harden had seven vs. USC on March 13, 2008, in the Pac-10 Tournament...leads the Pac-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.9 (78 assists/27 turnovers).
JAMELLE'S TOP SCORING GAMES
17 at Stanford (Feb. 5, 2011)
16 vs. Weber State @Alaska (Nov. 26, 2010)
16 vs. UCSB (Dec. 21, 2009)
15 vs. USC Upstate (Dec. 23, 2009)
14 at California (Feb. 3, 2011)
14 at Oregon State (Feb. 7, 2009)
13 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29, 2011)
THE SERIES
ASU has won six of the past eight against UA...ASU swept UA in the regular season for the second straight time in 2008-09 and then topped the Wildcats in the Pac-10 Tournament for a five-game win streak against the state rival for the first time since a nine-game streak from 1979-83 prior to the 77-58 loss in Tempe on Jan. 23, 2010...prior to the five-game Sun Devil streak, UA had won 24 of 25 over the Sun Devils, with two 12-game Wildcat win streaks sandwiched around a Jan. 23, 2002, Sun Devil win in Tempe...ASU has held the Wildcats to just 64.2 ppg. in 10 games under Herb Sendek and is 6-4, while in the 39 games prior (1987-88 season through 2005-06) UA had averaged 86.6 points and went 34-5...in its six recent wins over UA ASU has trailed at the half in four of the games...another way to put it...ASU had won three straight in Tucson prior to this year's 80-69 defeat on Jan. 15, ASU won four games over Arizona in Tempe in a 21-year period (4-17 from 1986-87 through 2006-07).
WINNING ROUGH IS BETTER THAN LOSING PRETTY
Two of ASU's wins over Arizona in the past three years have come while the Sun Devils have shot under 40 percent. ASU shot just 16-of-56 (.286) in its 53-47 win at Arizona on Jan. 21, 2009, the lowest shooting percentage in a win under Coach Sendek. However, it also held Arizona to just 14-of-47 (.298). On Jan. 9, 2008, ASU shot just 21-of-53 (.396) in a 64-59 overtime win over Arizona, but held the Wildcats to 21-of-54 (.389).
SECOND-TIME AROUND
Entering this season ASU was 14-22 (.389) in the first half of Pac-10 play under Coach Sendek but 20-16 (.556) in the second half. In the past three seasons prior to this year ASU is 14-13 in the first half of Pac-10 play (.519) but 18-9 (.667) in the second half.
5 FULL DAYS BEFORE GAMEDAY
The Sun Devils are 14-4 (.778) in the past four years when Herb Sendek and his staff have at least five full days in between games, with seven of the wins coming against teams that would make the NCAA Tournament in that same season. Included in the wins in 2009-10 were wins over MWC Tournament champion San Diego State (on a five-game win streak at the time last December), a home win over Pac-10 Tournament champion and then No. 24 Washington and a road win at Arizona. In 2008-09 the five-day layoff wins included ASU's first NCAA Tournament win since 2003 (over Temple), a win over Arizona who entered the game on a seven-game win streak and a neutral site win over a 10-0 BYU team that had a guy named Jimmer as a sophomore. In 2007-08, the wins included ASU's first win in Tucson in 13 seasons, an overtime win at California in which ASU was playing as a ranked team for the first time in 13 seasons and a 22-point win over #17 Xavier in December of 2007 that is the school's largest victory margin over a ranked opponent in ASU history.
INFO TO KNOW
ASU has had some poorly-timed injury/illness items since the opening of the Pac-10, as it lost at Oregon State 80-58 (Dec. 30) and won at Oregon 60-55 (Jan. 1) to close Mac Court, without leading scorer Trent Lockett (14.7 ppg.), who missed both games with a sprained left big toe. Then senior point guard Jamelle McMillan missed both games of the Bay Area home series (Jan. 6-8) and the Jan. 12 Tulsa win due to a groin injury. The Washington trip the scrambling continued as Carrick Felix and Brandon Dunson couldn't travel for the first game as both were ill. The main bummer? Felix was averaging 13.6 points (tied for team lead), 3.6 boards, 31.2 minutes and was 14-of-18 (.778) from the free throw line in the previous five games.
TY NOTES
Returning first-team All-Pac-10 performer Ty Abbott had some back and knee issues last weekend, as he missed all but four minutes of the game at Stanford on Feb. 5...has 10 20-point games in his career, including three this year...he is averaging 33.2 minutes per game this year. Only James Harden in each of his two seasons (35.8 in 2008-09 and 34.4 in 2007-08) has averaged more than 34 minutes per game in Herb Sendek's first four seasons at ASU...now has 1,260 career points which is 20th on the Sun Devil career list. Arthur Thomas ranks 19th at 1,268...also has 112 starts, third on the ASU career chart, just two behind Eddie House. Jeff Pendergraph has the ASU record with 120 starts...Abbott missed the Nov. 25 Houston Baptist game due to a knee bruise.
PAC-10 CAREER THREE-POINTERS
1. Tajuan Porter/UO, 07-10, 345
5. Jason Kapono/UCLA, 99-03, 317
6. Orlando Williams/UO, 92-95, 282
7. Damon Stoudamire/UA, 92-95, 272
8. Rihards Kuksiks/ASU, 08-11, 265
9. Ron Riley/ASU, 93-96, 263
10. Ty Abbott/ASU, 08-11, 258
ASU CAREER POINTS
16. Al Nealy, 1957-60, 1,304
17. Art Becker, 1961-64, 1,284
18. Tony Zeno, 1975-79, 1,282
19. Arthur Thomas, 1984-88, 1,268
20. Ty Abbott, 2007-present, 1,260
22. Chad Prewitt, 1998-02, 1,177
23. Fat Lever, 1978-82, 1,137
24. Tommy Smith, 1999-2003, 1,123
25. Rihards Kuksiks, 2007-present, 1,121
ASU CAREER GAMES
1. Derek Glasser, 2006-10, 131
2. Jerren Shipp, 2006-10, 129
3. Jeff Pendergraph, 2005-09, 126
4. Eddie House, 1996-2000, 124
5. Ty Abbott, 2007-present, 123
T6. Four players, 122
10. Jason Braxton, 2001-05, 120
Rihards Kuksiks, 2007-present, 117
TY'S 10 20-POINT GAMES
30 vs. California (Feb. 18, 2008)
29 vs. Stanford (Jan. 30, 2010)
28 at Arizona (Feb. 21, 2010)
25 vs. Tulsa (Jan. 12, 2011)
25 at California, 2OT (Jan. 17, 2008)
22 vs. St. Johns (Nov. 27, 2010)
21 at Oregon St. (Jan. 16, 2010)
20 at #20 Washington (Jan. 22, 2011)
20 vs. California (Jan. 28, 2010)
20 vs. #13 Syracuse/NCAA @Miami (Mar. 22, 2009)
THIS IS ABNORMAL
If something hasn't happened in 17 years, it is probably safe to say that it is an an anomaly. Consider a team struggling at the free throw line under Coach Sendek just that (.642). Only his first team at Miami of Ohio back in 1993-94 shot free throws at a pace lower than this year's Sun Devil squad. Consider the following when talking about Coach Sendek's teams his 18 season as a head coach: NC State led the nation and set an ACC record for free throw shooting (.799) in 2003-04. That mark is tied for the best in the nation in the past 12 seasons with St. Joseph's in 2005-06 (Jameer Nelson and Delonte West) and is tied for seventh-best in NCAA history...has coached four teams at ASU and two of them rank fifth (.739 in 2007-08) and sixth (.737 in 2008-09) on the ASU charts for best free throw seasons...last year's team shot .713 in Pac-10 games, third-best in the loop. In overall statistics, ASU has been a top-five Pac-10 free throw shooting team in each of the past three seasons...in his 10 seasons NC State led the ACC in FT percentage four times, including three straight seasons from (2001-02 to 2003-04).
VS. RANKED TEAMS
Coach Sendek has 36 career wins against ranked foes...from 1995-1996 until 2005-2006 (11 seasons), ASU went 5-66 against ranked foes. Under Herb Sendek ASU has seven wins against ranked teams...he notched his first at ASU on Feb. 18, 2007, as ASU topped No. 22 USC 68-58 and won his first attempt in 2007-08 with a 77-55 over No. 17 Xavier on Dec. 15 (largest win over a ranked team in ASU history)...the Jan. 17, 2009, win at ninth-ranked UCLA was ASU's first top-10 road win since its 90-87 OT win at No. 4 Stanford on Jan. 31, 1998...against seventh-ranked Stanford on Feb. 14, 2008, ASU earned its first win over a top-10 team since Jan. 23, 2002 (88-72 over No. 10 Arizona).
COACH SENDEK WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS AT ASU
ASU 68, #24 Washington 51, Jan. 8, 2010
#23 ASU 75, #13 Washington 65/P10 Tourney, Mar. 13, 2009
#18 ASU 74, #11 UCLA 67 Feb. 12, 2009
#16 ASU 61, @#9 UCLA 58 (OT), Jan. 17, 2009
ASU 72, #7 Stanford 68 (OT), Feb. 14, 2008
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55, Dec. 15, 2007 (largest win over ranked team in ASU history)
ASU 68, #22 USC 58, Feb. 18, 2007
STATEMENT WINS
ASU notched a double-digit win over a ranked team in each of Herb Sendek's first four seasons. ASU's 17-point win over No. 24 Washington on Jan. 8, 2010, (68-51) is tied for the fifth-biggest victory margin over a ranked team in school history and is tied for the second-largest in the past 29 seasons. In the prior 16 seasons, the Sun Devils had posted three double-digit wins over ranked teams.
ASU LARGEST MARGINS OVER A RANKED TEAM/COACH
(22)--ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55 (Dec. 15, 2007)/Herb Sendek
(20)--#5 ASU 87, @#1 Oregon State 67 (March 7, 1981)/Ned Wulk
(19)--ASU 89, #5 San Francisco 70 (Dec. 3, 1977)/Ned Wulk
(18)--ASU 71, #6 Colorado 53 (Dec. 21, 1962)/Ned Wulk
(17)--ASU 68, #24 Washington 51 (Jan. 8, 2010)/Herb Sendek
(17)--ASU 79, #13 Michigan 62 (Nov. 22, 1994)/Bill Frieder
(17)--ASU 95, #3 USC 78 (Dec. 1, 1971)/Ned Wulk
CLUTCH THROWS ON ROAD
ASU has won 17 road games in the past four seasons, and a big reason why is the clutch free throw shooting of seniors Rihards Kuksiks and Ty Abbott. Kuksiks is now 30-of-36 (.833) from the charity stripe in road games, while Abbott is 52-of-69 (.754).
CLOSE STATISTIC
Arizona State has done a solid job of winning the close ones. In games of five points or less in the four years of its current senior class, ASU is 17-13 (.567), the third-best mark in the Pac-10.
TOP PAC-10 TEAMS IN GAMES OF FIVE POINTS OR LESS (2007-08 THROUGH 2010-11)
UCLA 21-12 (.636)
Oregon 13-9 (.591)
Arizona State 17-13 (.567)
Washington State 16-14 (.533)
WITH TRENT OUT
When Trent Lockett was not in the lineup the opening Pac-10 weekend ASU had to replace a player who in the Pac-10 ranked at the time 11th in scoring (14.7) and rebounding (6.5) and fifth in field goal percentage (.571) and in minutes per game (33.5).
NON-CONFERENCE
ASU topped Tulsa 69-59 Jan. 12 behind 25 points and nine boards from Ty Abbott. Carrick Felix added 21 points as ASU was 13-of-16 (.813) from the foul line and made seven three-pointers in the first half. Tulsa, which finished 23-12 last year and had a final RPI of 68 and has posted four straight 20-win seasons, is one of seven teams ASU had on its non-conference schedule who won at least 20 games last year and one of eight that was in the top 100 of the RPI. New Mexico (30-5/RPI of 10), UAB (25-9/45), Weber State (20-11/85), Baylor (28-8/9), Richmond (26-9/25) and Nevada (21-13/73) all won 20, while St. John's finished with a RPI of 82.
KEEP IT CLOSE
ASU is 21-15 (.583) in games games decided by six points or less/OT in the past four seasons. ASU is 3-2 this year in games of three points or less.
GAMES OF SIX POINTS OR LESS OR OVERTIME (2007-08 TO PRESENT/PAST FOUR SEASONS)
UCLA (23-12/.657)
Arizona State (21-15/.583)
Oregon (14-10/.583)
Washington State (19-14/.576)
Washington (13-16/.448)
Oregon State (17-21/.447)
USC (19-23/.452)
California (18-20/.474)
Stanford (14-17/.452)
Arizona (18-23/.439)
ASU WINS IN GAMES OF SIX POINTS OR LESS IN 2010-11
ASU 69, UAB 66 (Nov. 20, 2010)
ASU 59, Weber State 58 (Nov. 26, 2010)
ASU 78, @Nevada 75 (Dec. 17, 2010)
ASU 56, North Carolina A&T 50 (Dec. 23, 2010)
ASU 60, @Oregon 55 (Jan. 1, 2011)
PAC-10 COACH OF YEAR
Herb Sendek became the second Sun Devil to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year in ASU's 32 Pac-10 seasons in 2009-10 (Ned Wulk/1978-79). What is even more eye opening is the 30 years between Sun Devil winners. That is nothing new as his 2003-04 ACC honor was NC State's first in 15 seasons (Jim Valvano/1988-89).
HERB PAC-10 NOTE
Last season's second -place Pac-10 finish matched ASU's best in its 32 seasons of Pac-10 play and its 12 wins were the most since 1994-95. ASU has notched at least 11 Pac-10 wins eight times, Herb Sendek has done it in each of the past two seasons.
MOST SUN DEVIL WINS IN PAC-10 PLAY
1980-81, 16-2/2nd/Ned Wulk
1979-80, 15-3/2nd/Ned Wulk
2009-10, 12-6/2nd/Herb Sendek
1994-95, 12-6/3rd/Bill Frieder
1982-83, 12-6/T-3rd/Bob Weinhauer
2008-09, 11-7/T-3rd/Herb Sendek
2002-03, 11-7/4th/Rob Evans
1992-93, 11-7/T-3rd/Bill Frieder
RIHARDS
Senior Rihards Kuksiks is 47-of-110 (.427) from the three-point stripe in the past 17 games after starting the year 8-of-30 in the first four games. Kuksiks posted his ninth 20-point game of his career with 22 points vs. USC on Jan. 27, and ASU is 6-3 in those games. He now has 265 career three-pointers in his career, second spot on the ASU career list and eighth on the Pac-10 list. He became the 34th member of ASU's 1,000-point club against Long Beach State, as he now has 1,121. The senior is 28-of-55 (.509) from the three-point stripe in his past nine games against ranked opponents. He has been clutch in close games the past two years, as ASU has played eight games of two points or less (4-4), and he is 29-of-59 (.491) from three. He matched career-highs in points (27) and rebounds (nine) in the Jan. 8 win over No. 24 Washington last season. He had six 20-point games in 2009-10 with ASU going 5-1 in those games.
TOP SCORING GAMES FOR RIHARDS
27 vs. #24 Washington (Jan. 8, 2010)
27 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
25 at Oregon (Jan. 14, 2010)
24 vs. USC (Mar. 4, 2010)
24 vs. UCSB (Dec. 21, 2009)
22 vs. USC (Jan. 27, 2011)
21 vs. Jacksonville (Mar. 16, 2010/NIT)
20 at Nevada (Dec. 17, 2010)
20 vs. Syracuse (Mar. 22, 2009 @Miami/NCAA)
BIG-TIME POINT GUARD
Arizona State inked Mesa, Ariz., senior Jahii Carson in the November signing period. The 5-11 energizer is a consensus top-50 pick by anyone who follows the recruiting world, and Clark Francis' Hoop Scoop rankings in Basketball Times he is the second-highest Pac-10 recruit at No. 24, behind only Washington's Tony Wroten (No. 22).
HOOP SCOOP CLASS OF 2011 RANKINGS (BASKETBALL TIMES/NOVEMBER 2010)
Pac-10 Conference Top-50 Signings
22. Tony Wroten (Washington)
24. Jahii Carson (Arizona State)
34. Norman Powell (UCLA)
40. Josiah Turner (Arizona)
44. Jabari Brown (Oregon)
47. Nick Johnson (Arizona)
HEAD COACH
Herb Sendek, 85-70 (.548) at ASU, is in his 18th season as a head coach in 2010-2011 and has averaged 19.4 wins per season. He led the NC State Wolfpack to five straight NCAA appearances from 2002-06 and is now 339-228 (.598) and was 191-132 (.591) at NC State. The 47-year-old (born Feb. 22, 1963) Pittsburgh, Pa., native remains the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10. Only Duke posted more ACC wins (regular season and ACC Tournament) than NC State's 53 from 2002-2006. An overlooked note is his 10-year stay at NC State. To compare it to the Pac-10, since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1978-79, only five coaches have coached at their schools for at least 10 years: Lute Olson (24/Arizona), Ralph Miller (19/Oregon State), Mike Montgomery (18/Stanford), Ernie Kent (13/Oregon) and Ben Braun (12/California).
CURRENT LONGEVITY AMONG PAC-10 COACHES (YEARS AT SCHOOL)
Lorenzo Romar, Washington-9th
Ben Howland, UCLA-7th
Herb Sendek, ASU-5th
Johnny Dawkins, Stanford; Mike Montgomery, Cal; Craig Robinson, OSU-3rd
Ken Bone, Washington State; Kevin O'Neill, USC; Sean Miller, UA-2nd
Dana Altman, Oregon-First Year
TRENT
Sophomore Trent Lockett had a then career-high 22 points in the season opener at New Mexico (Nov. 16) where two of his dunks placed him No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10...had a career-high 24 points vs. Weber State on Nov. 26 in Alaska...native of Golden Valley, Minn., and a student in Barrett, the Honors College...comes from one of the top high school programs in the country (Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minn.)...earned a spot on the five-man Pac-10 All-Freshman Team in 2009-10...has 26 double-figure scoring games, including a 17-point, six-rebound and eight assist effort against Stanford on Jan. 30, 2010. He posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 boards vs. Richmond on Dec. 5...missed both games of the Oregon road trip on Dec. 30-Jan. 1 with a sprained big left toe...averaging 16.4 points per game in the past five contests...in past three games he is averaging 16.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists.
TRENT'S TOP SCORING GAMES
24 vs. Weber State (Nov. 26, 2010)
22 at New Mexico (Nov. 16, 2010)
20 at #20 Washington (Jan. 22, 2011)
19 vs. UAB (Nov. 20, 2010)
19 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
18 at Cal (Feb. 3, 2011)
18 vs. Houston Baptist (Nov. 25, 2010)
17 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29, 2011)
17 at Arizona (Jan. 15, 2011)
17 vs. Stanford (Jan. 30, 2010)
17 vs. Texas State (Nov. 16, 2009)
BEST TREE IN THE LAND
Herb Sendek has eight former assistants who are D-I coaches, the best mark of any coach in the nation in 2010-2011. Twelve-year sidekick Mark Phelps earned the Drake spot in the spring of 2008 after serving for 10 years on the staff at NC State and for two years at ASU. Former NC State sidekick John Groce also earned the Ohio University position in the spring of 2008. The others are Jim Christian at TCU (Miami assistant in 1995-96), Charlie Coles at Miami of Ohio (Miami assistant from 1994-96), Larry Hunter at Western Carolina (NC State assistant from 2001-05), Ron Hunter of IUPUI (Miami assistant from 1993-94), Ohio State's Thad Matta (Miami assistant in 1994-95) and Arizona's Sean Miller (assistant at both Miami from 1993-95 and at NC State from 1996-2000).
OT
ASU's Jan. 29, 2011, 73-72 loss to UCLA was its first overtime game since it lost back-to-back overtime games on Feb. 26-28, 2009. In that season, ASU went to the Apple State 10-4 and with a chance to win the Pac-10 title but fell 73-70 to Washington and then 51-49 to Washington State on Feb. 28 (on a Taylor Rochestie three-pointer at the buzzer from just inside halfcourt). ASU is now 6-4 in overtime under Coach Sendek, and that includes a 4-0 mark in 2007-08.
100
In his 567-game head coaching career, only three teams have scored 100 points against Herb Sendek. No team has posted triple digits against a Coach Sendek-led squad in the past 293 games. The last team to do it was No. 1 Duke in a 108-71 at Cameron on Feb. 14, 2002.