Men's hoops off to Tulsa

Sun Devil Game Notes vs. Tulsa in PDF

--ASU basketball's King hopes to make strides in second season (by Paola Boivin, Arizona Republic/Oct. 13, 2011)
--Click here for 2011-12 ASU Men's Basketball Roster
--Sun Devils sign three Arizona prep student-athletes in fall signing period
--Coach Sendek still the nation's leader in former assistants now D-I coaches with nine
--For ASU updated stats in HTML format click here

SUN DEVILS AT TULSA:  Sixth-year Sun Devil coach Herb Sendek and Arizona State (2-4) travels to the midwest to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 3 p.m. CT/2 p.m. MT. CBS College has the visuals (Roger Twibell/Steve Lappas) while KTAR 620 AM and the Sun Devil Network (Jeff Munn/former ASU point guard Kyle Dodd) provide the audio. After posting just three 20-win seasons in the previous 25 seasons, ASU posted three 20-win seasons under Herb Sendek in his first five years. ASU was 8-22 in Coach Sendek's first year (2006-2007), but is 82-57 (.590) in past five and giving up just 61.9 ppg. in his 169 games as Sun Devil head coach. Seven lettermen return including 2010-11 All-Pac-10 second-team and first-team Pac-10 All-Academic performer Trent Lockett. ASU is off to a 2-4 start with four games decided by less than six points.

NO SENIOR CITIZENS: Of the 338 schools playing Division I men's hoops, Arizona State is one of just nine without a senior according to NCAA stats czar Gary Johnson. The other eight are Albany (N.Y.), Binghamton, UC Irvine, Illinois St., St. John's (NY), St. Joseph's, Savannah State and Toledo.

OLD SPICE RECAP/THREE-DOT DATA: ASU fell to MAAC favorite Fairfield 55-44 in the first round of the Old Spice Classic on Thanksgiving, bounced back to beat Wake Forest 84-56 in the second round and then lost a close tilt to DePaul 68-64 in the final game...junior Trent Lockett averaged 18.0 points and 9.7 boards in the three games, while Keala King had a career-high 25 vs. Wake Forest and then backed that up with 22 vs. DePaul...last season, Kyle Cain was 11-of-25 (.440) from the free throw line. He has made all eight attempts this season...Coach Sendek has won a game in 25 of the 50 states. Oklahoma is not one of them...as the Sun Devils hit the road again, probably worth mentioning that Lockett in the past two seasons is averaging 15.7 points in the 17 games away from Tempe and 12.7 in home games.

WINGS OFF TO GOOD START: Junior wings Carrick Felix and Trent Lockett have jumped out of the gates with good starts through six games. Felix, a junior college transfer last year as a sophomore, had 20 points, seven boards and was 7-of-8 from the free throw line in a career-high matching 39 minutes vs. New Mexico on Nov. 18. He also has nine steals on the year (14 all of last year) and is 21-of-25 (.840) from the free throw line. Felix saw action in 30 games last year and showed great flashes but was sidelined by illness in the middle of year that basically cut his season in half. Lockett is taking his game to the next level, averaging 17.5 points, 8.7 rebounds and shoting .565 from the floor. He also added a career-high four steals vs. Montana State (Nov. 16) and career-high 12 rebounds vs. DePaul (Nov. 27) and has 36 double-figure scoring games, including all six this year. He has led ASU in scoring 16 times in his career. The Golden Valley, Minn. native averaged 13.4 points and 5.3 boards in 30.7 minutes last year (36.3 minutes, 17.5 ppg. and 8.7 this year).

5 FULL DAYS BEFORE GAME: The Sun Devils are 14-6 (.700) in the past five years when Herb Sendek and his staff have at least five full days in between games (like they do for the Tulsa tilt), with seven of the wins coming against teams that would make the NCAA Tournament in that season. Wins in 2009-10 included MWC Tournament champion San Diego State (five-game win streak at the time), home win over Pac-10 Tournament champ and No. 24 Washington and a 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 that 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 ASU's largest victory margin over a ranked opponent in history.

ABOUT TULSA: Tulsa has posted four straight 20-win seasons prior to last year's 19-13 finish, including 23-12 in 2009-10. ASU topped Tulsa 69-59 on Jan. 12, 2010, behind 45 points in the first half and 25 points and nine boards from Ty Abbott. Carrick Felix added a season-high 21 points as ASU had just seven turnovers, including just three in the first half. Tulsa's shot 4-of-21 (.090) three-point land. ASU is 1-2 vs. Tulsa, with the only other modern-day meeting at Chapel Hill, N.C., in the season opener on Nov. 10, 2000, as Tulsa won 69-67. ASU also lost a road game at Tulsa 79-71 on Dec. 6, 1958.

BEST HOOPS S/A IN PAC-12?: Take it all into consideration...Barrett Honors College, second-team All-Pac-10, first-team Pac-10 All-Academic pick, two solid seasons....it is hard to not say Trent Lockett is the best men's hoops student-athlete in the Pac-12. He is only first-team Pac-10 All-Academic pick from last year who earned All-Pac-10 honors.

THIS ISN'T NORMAL: ASU is averaging 18.7 turnovers per game, and that is unusual for a Coach Sendek team. ASU finished tied for second in the Pac-10 in fewest turnovers per game at 12.2 last year (USC was best at 11.4) and averaged 11.6 turnovers in final 15 games. It averaged 11.9 in 2009-10 (first in the league).

SUN DEVIL TO'S PER GAME UNDER COACH SENDEK
2011-12: 18.7
2010-11: 12.2 (t2nd for fewest in Pac-10)
2009-10: 11.9 (1st in Pac-10)
2008-09: 11.5 (2nd in Pac-10/15th in nation)
2007-08: 12.6 (t3rd in Pac-10)
2006-07: 14.5 (7th in Pac-10)

KING PROGRESS: Sophomore Keala King has shown solid progress in the first six games. In his freshman season he was 1-of-18 on the year from three-land, already he is 7-of-18 (.389) this year. He averaged 13.8 minutes and 6.8 points in the final six games and was 14-of-17 (.824) from the free throw stripe after starting last season 16-of-38 (.421) from the charity stripe. This year all his numbers are up. He is shooting .510 from the floor (26-of-51) and averaging 13.5 points (3.7 last year).

KEALA'S TOP CAREER SCORING GAMES
25 vs. Wake Forest (Nov. 25, 2011)
22 vs. DePaul (Nov. 27, 2011)
16 vs. Montana State (Nov. 16, 2011)

OTHER QUICK SUN DEVIL PLAYER NOTES: Junior Ruslan Pateev, who entered the season 23-of-42 (.548) from the free throw line, has made all six of his free throw attempts and has six blocks...newcomer Chris Colvin is averaging 7.2 points and 25.0 minutes...Iowan Chanse Creekmur led ASU to its 73-72 Feb. 19 win over Wazzu last season with 18 points (five three-pointers). Creekmur averaged 17.8 minutes and 5.3 points in final nine games and made 13-of-33 (.394) three-pointers in final eight...7-2 sophomore Jordan Bachynski has added about 15 pounds and is 9-of-11 from the floor on the year. He has 29 career blocks.

COACH OF YEAR: The Pac-12 has five current coaches who have earned Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Herb Sendek earned it in 2009-10, while Sean Miller (2010-11), Lorenzo Romar (2008-09 and 2004-05) and Ben Howland (2005-06) earned kudos at their school. Mike Montgomery did it four times at Stanford (2003-04, 2002-03, 1999-2000 and 1998-99).

MORE TRENT: Trent Lockett averaged 13.4 points last year en route to All-Pac-10 second-team honors, and that makes him the fifth-leading returning scorer. He ranked 12th, but top eight scorers departed. His return also means he is one of five All-Pac-10 players returning from the 15-man 2010-11 squad. Others are Jorge Gutierrez (Cal/14.6), Reeves Nelson (UCLA/13.9), Jared Cunningham (Oregon State/14.2) and Harper Kamp (Cal/14.2).

LAST TIME ASU HAD TO REPLACE A BUNCH OF SCORING: ASU lost 47 percent of its scoring from last season. One thing to remember...after the 2008-09 season the team lost 49 percent of its scoring and two NBA draft picks and then went out and won 22 games in 2009-10 and finished second in the Pac-10 at 12-6. ASU was winners of 20 games (22-11) in three straight seasons for the first time since JFK was President that season, made its third straight postseason appearance for the first time since the mid-1990s and finished second in the Pac-10 (12-6) for the first time since 1980-81.

HAVE TO REPLACE THESE THREE: Last season saw the careers of seniors Ty Abbott (B.S., Sociology), Rihards Kuksiks (B.I.S., Communication/Sociology) and Jamelle McMillan (B.S., Communication) come to a close as the trio produced 80 wins, the most by any seniors in ASU history. The Sun Devils were 21-13 (2007-08), 25-10 (2008-09), and 22-11 (2009-10) in their first three seasons. Prior to their arrival, ASU won 37 games in the previous four seasons. ASU's best four-year span of total wins was 88 from 1959-60 to 1962-63 and also from 1960-61 to 1963-64, but that was before freshman were eligible. The 80 wins by each of the seniors is the best by any four-year player. One thing that has to be accounted for is the three-point shooting of Kuksiks and Abbott, as they combined for 553 career three-pointers. Kuksiks is seventh in Pac-10 history with 280 while Abbott ended eighth with 273.

THIS WAS ABNORMAL: If something hasn't happened in 18 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 (.628 last season, his worst in 18 years). The ship seems to have been steered back to normalcy as ASU is 97-of-133 (.729) for this year. Consider the following when talking about Coach Sendek's teams his 18 seasons 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...he has coached five 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...in his 10 seasons NC State led the ACC in FT percentage four times, including three straight seasons from (2001-02 to 2003-04).

ASU BEST FREE THROW PERCENTAGE

1. 1977-78/Ned Wulk (13-14/6-8 in WAC)--75.6

2. 1954-55/Bill Kajikawa (10-14/8-4 in Border)--75.4

3. 1997-98/Don Newman (18-14/8-10 in Pac-10)--74.6

3. 1986-87/Steve Patterson (11-17/6-12 in Pac-10)--74.6

5. 2007-08/Herb Sendek (21-13/9-9 in Pac-10)--73.9

6. 2008-09/Herb Sendek (25-10/11-7 in Pac-10)--73.7

SOLID NOTE FROM ACC DAYS: From the 2001-2002 season through 2005-2006 (Herb Sendek's final five seasons) NC State won 53 total ACC games (regular season and ACC tournament). Only Duke was better (76) in that time frame. Maryland also had 53.

50: ASU is 43-6 when it shoots .500 or better under Coach Sendek, including 12-0 in 2007-2008 and 17-1 in 2008-2009. It was 10-0 in 2009-10. However, ASU was 1-4 in 2010-11 and is 1-0 this season.

ALL-PAC-10 SECOND-TEAM: Trent Lockett (Golden Valley, Minn.) earned 2010-11 second-team All-Pac-10 honors from the league's coaches in his sophomore season. It marked the second Pac-10 honor for the Hopkins High School product, as he earned All-Pac-10 Freshman Team honors in 2009-10. The league selects a 10-man first team and a five-man second team. Lockett became the fourth Sun Devil to earn All-Pac-10 honors under Coach Sendek in his five seasons, joining Ty Abbott (first-team in 2009-10), James Harden (first-team in 2007-08 and 2008-09) and Jeff Pendergraph (2007-08 third-team and 2008-09 first-team). Lockett is the first player from Minnesota to earn All-Pac-10 honors. He also earned first-team Pac-10 All-Academic honors and was the only first-team Pac-10 All-Academic honoree to earn All-Pac-10 honors.

MORE Trent: Trent had 19 points and career-high 12 rebounds vs. DePaul on Nov. 27 in Orlando...had 20 points and 10 boards vs. Wake Forest on Nov. 25...posted a double-double vs. Montana State (17 and 10) and 23 points and nine boards vs. Pepperdine on Nov. 15...finished last season with 22 points in the Pac-10 Tournament as he made his first 10 shots vs. Oregon on March 9...had a then career-high 22 points in last year's season opener at New Mexico (Nov. 16) and two of his dunks placed him No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10 that night...earned 2010-11 second-team All-Pac-10 honors...had a career-high 24 points vs. Weber State on Nov. 26, 2010, in Alaska...also had 20 points at Washington on Jan. 22 and then had 20 in 71-69 Washington State win on Feb. 19...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 36 double-figure scoring games...missed both games of the Oregon road trip on Dec. 30-Jan. 1 with a sprained big left toe...15-of-35 (.429) from the three-point stripe in past 17 games after starting last season 2-of-13...led team in scoring in each of the first two games averaging 20.0 points and has led ASU 16 times in his career...led team in rebounding a team-best 13 times in 2010-11 and 19 times in career...shared team lead or led team in assists nine times...also earned first-team Pac-10 All-Academic honors.

TRENT'S 20-POINT SCORING GAMES

24 vs. Weber State (Nov. 26, 2010) 23 vs. Pepperdine (Nov. 15, 2011) 22 vs. Oregon @Pac-10 Tournament (Mar. 9, 2011) 22 at New Mexico (Nov. 16, 2010) 20 vs. Wake Forest @Orlando (Nov. 25, 2011) 20 vs. Washington State (Feb. 19, 2011) 20 at #20 Washington (Jan. 22, 2011) CAIN QUICK NOTES: Kyle Cain finished 2010-11 averaging 5.4 rebounds per game, the sixth-best mark by a freshman in ASU history and third-best by Sun Devil freshman in past 19 seasons. He had 17 rebounds vs. Houston Baptist on Nov. 25, the most by a Sun Devil since Jeff Pendergraph had 19 at Oregon on Feb. 8, 2007. The 17 boards is tied for second-most by a freshman in ASU history with Mario Bennett, who had 17 vs. Oregon on Feb. 1, 1992. Cain then posted 16 boards vs. Long Beach State in 26 minutes on Dec. 21 and had 14 boards in just 23 minutes vs. North Carolina A&T on Dec. 23. He also shot .545 from the field (78-of-143), fifth-best by a freshman in ASU history. Kyle also led the Sun Devils in rebounding 11 times.

CAIN TOP REBOUNDING GAMES

17 vs. Houston Baptist @Great Alaska Shootout (Nov. 25, 2010)

16 vs. Long Beach State (Dec. 21, 2010)

15 vs. DePaul (Nov. 27, 2011)

14 vs. North Carolina A&T (Dec. 23, 2010)

11 vs. Gardner-Webb (Dec. 11, 2010)

YOUNG AND BEEN COACHING LONG: Herb Sendek earned the Miami of Ohio job in the spring of 1993 at age 30. Three years later he took over the NC State program at age 33. Some 19 years later he ranks near the top of the youngest coaches with at least 300 career Division I wins, as he will turn 49 on Feb. 22, 2012. Joining the list soon will be Thad Matta at Ohio State (292 entering this season and born July 11, 1962), Greg Marshall at Wichita State (276 wins and born Feb. 27, 1963) and Ron Hunter at Georgia State (274 wins and born on March 7, 1964).

YOUNGEST COACHES WITH 300 DIVISION I WINS (NUMBERS ENTERING 2011-12 SEASON)

Billy Donovan, Florida, 395 (May 30, 1965)

Greg McDermott, Creighton, 303 (Nov. 25, 1964)

Steve Alford, New Mexico, 328 (Nov. 23, 1964)

Herb Sendek, Arizona State, 342 (Feb. 22, 1963)

Bill Self, Kansas, 444 (Dec. 27, 1962)

Mark Few, Gonzaga, 316 (Dec. 27, 1962)

Jay Wright, Villanova, 346 (Dec. 24, 1961)

Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt, 359 (Oct. 1, 1960)

Jeff Jones, American, 327 (June 29, 1960)

PAC-10 COACH OF YEAR: Herb Sendek became the second Sun Devil to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year in ASU's first 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).

BEST SHOOTING NIGHTS BY ASU UNDER COACH SENDEK: The 32-of-54 (.593) shooting vs. Wake Forest this year was the eighth-best in the Herb Sendek six-year tenure at ASU and the best since the team shot .613 vs. San Francisco on Nov. 20, 2009 (best in previous 64 games). The 84 points is tied for the ninth-most in the Herb Sendek era and most since an Arizona State State 88-70 win over Stanford on Jan. 30, 2010.

TOP SUN DEVIL SHOOTING GAMES UNDER COACH SENDEK
.721/31-43 vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) (Dec. 29, 2007)
.653/32-49 vs. Central Connecticut State (Dec. 29, 2008)
.652/30-46 vs. Delaware State (Dec. 5, 2007)
.651/28-43 vs. Oregon State (Jan. 8, 2009)
.613/38-62 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
.610/25-41 vs. LSU @New York City/NIT (Nov. 27, 2009)
.595/25-42 vs. #17 Xavier (Dec. 15, 2007)
.593/32-54 vs. Wake Forest (Nov. 25, 2011)

GOOD SHOOTERS, BUT CAN'T SHOW IT THIS YEAR: The Sun Devils have two players who have shown the ability to make three-pointers on the Division I level, but unfortunately both of them have to watch the game in a polo shirt this year. Evan Gordon, a 6-3 combo guard, averaged 14.4 points per game as a sophomore at Liberty last year and made 112 three-pointers in his two-year Flames career. Bo Barnes, a 6-4 wing from Scottsdale Christian in Arizona, averaged 6.9 points per game at Hawaii in 2010-11 and was one of only two players to appear in all 32 games. He made more three-point field goals (57) than any freshman in school history and buried at least five three pointers in a game on four separate occasions. Both will be ready to go in 2012-13.