Men's hoops updated notes vs. Oregon

ASU Updated Statistics in PDF Format (ASU-Oregon State box score included)

SUN DEVILS HOST DUCKS ON SHORT TURNAROUND: The No. 20/16 (AP/ESPN Coaches' Poll) Arizona State's men's hoops team, 21-13 and 9-9 in the Pac-10 last year and 13-2/2-1 this season under third-year head coach Herb Sendek, hosts the Oregon Ducks on Saturday, Jan. 10 (noon MT) on Fox Sports Net with Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini calling the action. ASU cruised to a 69-38 win over Oregon State on Thursday, the fewest points allowed by the Sun Devils in its 543 Pac-10 games (31st season). ASU has won nine of 10, with both Pac-10 wins by at least 30 points (ASU won at Stanford, the league's top scoring team, 90-60 on Jan. 2). The OSU game Thursday tipped at 8:37 p.m., meaning 38 hours later ASU hosts the Ducks. QUICK RECAP VS. OSU: ASU shot 16-of-18 (.889) from the field in the second half (65.1 percent for the game) against Oregon State and had just nine turnovers for the second straight game. ASU held the Beavers to just 16-of-44 (.364) from the floor and just 6-of-21 (.286) in the first half as it allowed just 15 first-half points, the fewest allowed by ASU in a Pac-10 game since it led Oregon State 33-13 on Feb. 25, 1995. James Harden led ASU with 22 points on 10-of-11 shooting and added seven assists.

ASU OPPONENT'S LOWEST SCORES (1950-51 TO PRESENT)
1. Arizona State 52, Colgate 36--Dec. 19, 2006
T2. Arizona State 69, Oregon State 38--Jan. 8, 2009
T2. Arizona State 77, Delaware State 38--Dec. 5, 2007
4. Arizona State 61, Pepperdine 40--Nov. 23, 2008
T5. Arizona State 75, Cal Poly 41--Nov. 26, 2007
T5. Arizona State 42, @California 41--Mar. 3, 2007
T5. Arizona State 53, Washington 41--Jan. 31, 1991
T5. Arizona State 67, Washington State 41--Feb. 11, 1984
T5. Arizona State 106, Northern Arizona 41--Feb. 19, 1962

NATIONAL STATISTIC NOTES (UPDATED THROUGH THURSDAY): Jeff Pendergraph is tied for sixth in field goal percentage at 66.1 percent...sophomore Rihards Kuksiks is one of just three players of the 60 listed for three-pointers made (he is tied for 45th with 42) to hit above 50 percent. Brent Benson of Texas State-San Marcos (53-104/.510) and Booker Woodfox of Creighton (47-92/.519) are the others...ASU is second in the nation in field goal percentage (.518), tied for 16th in free throw percentage (.754) and tied for 18th in three-point percentage (.398). It is the only team in the nation to shoot 50 percent FG, 75 percent free throws and 39 percent from three...James Harden is 10th in scoring and tied for 66th in field goals attempted.

DOUBLE DIGITS: Three Sun Devils are in double digits with a fourth close behind. James Harden (23.3, which leads the Pac-1)), Jeff Pendergraph (13.8) and Rihards Kuksiks (10.8) lead the way with Ty Abbott (9.8), close behind. Kuksiks is 15-of-24 (.625) from the three-point stripe in the past five games.

THE START: ASU had its eight-game winning streak (third-best ASU streak in past 28 seasons) snapped at Cal last Sunday (81-71). It defeated 10-0 Stanford in Palo Alto 90-60 on Jan. 2 to tip league play, its second win over a 10-0 team this year (ASU defeated 10-0 BYU on Dec. 20 in Glendale, Ariz.)...ASU started 12-1 for first time in 34 seasons (1974-75 Sun Devil squad started 15-1).

HITTING FREEBIES: ASU shot .739 from the free throw line last year, the fifth-best mark in ASU history and second-best in past 21 seasons, and is shooting at just below the school-record percent pace (75.6) this year at 75.4. In his 10 seasons at NC State, Coach Sendek's teams led the ACC four times in FT percentage (including three straight seasons, 2002-04). In 2004 NC State led the nation and set the ACC record by shooting .799 from the charity stripe. While at NC State, his squads shot 71.3 percent. One good note on his 2003-04 NC State team is in the past nine seasons, that squad's .799 FT percentage is tied for the best in the NCAA with St. Joseph in 2005-06. ASU's starting five is shooting 77.8 percent from the free throw line (189-of-243).

SHOOTING IT: ASU is averaging 9.5 three-pointers made in the past nine games (95-of-226/.420). It leads the Pac-10 in three-pointer made per game at 8.7...ASU had five players in double digits in back-to-back games (Dec. 23/Idaho State and Dec. 29/Central Connecticut State) for first time since February of 2004...ASU shot 65.3 percent from the field in its Dec. 29 win over Central Connecticut State, including 14-of-14 from inside the three-point arc in the first half...ASU hit a school-record 17 three-pointers in its 90-55 Dec. 23 win over Idaho State.

VARIOUS NOTES: James Harden has four 30-point games on the year, the most by a Sun Devil since Ike Diogu had six in 2004-2005. ASU is now 21-5 when Harden scores at least 20 (8-2 this year). After starting the season 2-of-14 (.143) from the three-point stripe in the first four games, he is 26-of-51 (.510) in the past 11 games...ASU is 10-6 in the past two seasons in 10 points or less games after going 4-17 in Herb Sendek's first year...after going 10-29 in Herb Sendek's first two seasons when trailing at the half, ASU is 3-0 this year...ASU has now won five straight overtime games under Herb Sendek after its 59-58 overtime win over IUPUI on Dec. 14. Last year ASU was 4-0 in overtime, beating LSU in Maui 87-84 (Nov. 21), topping Arizona at home 64-59 (Jan. 9), winning at Cal in double overtime 99-90 (Jan. 17) and beating seventh-ranked Stanford 72-68 in Tempe (Feb. 14)...the Sun Devils are giving up 61.2 points per game in Coach Sendek's 79 games.

STEADY JEFF: Jeff Pendergraph, who earned his B.S. in Economics in December in just three and a half years and has 100 career starts (tied for fourth-most in Sun Devil history), is shooting .767 from the free throw line in his career (300-of-391) and is 47-of-57 (.825) on the year. He has 1,286 points in 105 career games (12.1 points per game) and 762 career rebounds (7.2 per game). He has 22 career double-doubles (four this year). Pendergraph entered this week sixth in the nation shooting at 66.4 percent. He has attempted 126 field goals (made 80) and 57 free throws (made 47) and has missed just 48 shots (127-178).

SHOOT IT KUKSIKS: In ASU's past nine games, Rihards Kuksiks is averaging 12.9 points and 5.0 boards, including 30-of-55 (.545) from the three-point stripe. He has 266 points and 16 double-figure scoring games in his past 27 contests (9.8 ppg.) dating to last year after scoring 42 points in the first 22 games last season.

AT HOME: ASU is 22-5 (.814) at home in the past two seasons (7-0 this year), as it won 15 home games for first time in the 32-year history of Wells Fargo Arena last year. It was15-5 with wins over NCAA Tournament teams Arizona, Xavier, Stanford, USC, Oregon and Coppin State.

BIG ROAD WIN: ASU's 30-point win (90-60) at Stanford on Jan. 2 is the third-largest Pac-10 road win in ASU's 31 Pac-10 seasons (273 road games) and largest since a 33-point win at Wazzu (87-54) on Feb. 6, 2003.

ASU VS. OREGON NOTES: ASU held the Pac-10's highest scoring team Oregon to 54 points on Jan. 3, 2008, UO's fewest points in a 61-game span...ASU trailed at the half 30-26 but forced 16 Duck turnovers and held Oregon to just 9-of-24 (.375) in the second half from the floor, including 1-of-9 (.111) from the three-point stripe, as James Harden led the way with 20 points in his Pac-10 opener and Jeff Pendergraph added 17...ASU is 35-31 against the Ducks all-time...James Harden averaged 21 points and 6.5 boards against the Ducks last year...last year Oregon led the league in scoring at 76.6 points per game and in three-point percentage (.392), but ASU held the Ducks to 60.5 points per game and 12-of-40 (.300) from the three-point stripe...ASU held Oregon to 57.5 points per game the prior year (2006-07, when ASU was 2-16 in the league), 41.6 percent from the field (37-of-89) and 12-of-40 (.300) from the three-point stripe (same number as prior year)...so in ASU's past four games against Oregon, the Ducks have averaged 59 points and shot 24-of-80 (.300) from beyond the arc.

AT THE POINT: Derek Glasser is 117-of-144 (.813) from the free throw line and has played 15 turnover free games in his 79-game career, averaging 27.7 minutes per game. He matched a career-high with nine assists (one turnover) vs. Idaho State in 29 minutes. He has 74 assists and just 32 turnovers on the year (2.31-to-1 ratio). He also has 305 career assists (3.85 per game), on pace to break the ASU career record of 454 set by Bobby Thompson from 1983-87.

BIG GAME JAMES: James Harden, the most heralded Sun Devil southpaw since Phil Mickelson is first player to earn Pac-10 Player of the Week in back-to-back weeks (Nov. 24 and Dec. 1) since Washington's Brandon Roy notched the feat in February of 2006 in three straight weeks...first Sun Devil to score 40 points (against UTEP on Nov. 30) since Eddie House had 40 vs. UCLA on Feb. 17, 2000, and just the third Sun Devil to notch 40 points (six occasions). Through 49 career games, Harden has led ASU in scoring 37 times, rebounding 16 times and led it in assists in 20 games...11-of-11 from the foul line vs. Charlotte and is 93-of-120 (.775) from the free throw line on the year and 262-of-344 (.761) in his career...the 19-year old Harden (born August of 1989) was the youngest player in the Pac-10 in 2007-08 and he led the Pac-10 with 73 steals...led ASU to 5-4 Pac-10 home mark last year. In the previous four years, ASU was 9-27 in Pac-10 home games.

RALLY CAPS: ASU has fallen behind three times this year but rallied to win. On Dec. 20 against previously undefeated BYU in Glendale, ASU was down 66-56 at the 9:31 mark before outscoring BYU 20-9 for a 76-75 victory...against IUPUI on Dec. 14, ASU was down 18 early and 34-18 at the half but came back to win 59-58 in overtime. ASU outscored the Jaguars 15-3 in the final 8:27 to tie the game, as it matched the largest halftime deficit overcome in 15 years as ASU came back from 45-29 against New Mexico State in Tempe (NIT) on March 15, 2000...ASU also trailed at San Diego State 15-2 at the 12:46 mark but outscored the Aztecs 57-37.

THE HEAD COACH: Herb Sendek is in his 16th season as a head coach and has averaged 18.7 wins per season. He led the NC State Wolfpack to five straight NCAA appearances from 2002-06 and is now 296-195 (.602) in 16 seasons and was 191-132 (.591) at NC State. The 45-year-old (born Feb. 22, 1963) Pittsburgh, Pa., native is the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10.