The third-ranked Arizona State Sun Devil men's hoops team (10-0) that returned three senior starters from last year's squad and welcomed six newcomers tries to continue rolling with the best start in school history (10-0). ASU will try and win 11 straight for the first time since 1980-81 when it takes on Longwood on Tuesday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m. on the Pac-12 Network. After winning the Continental Tire Invitational championship in Las Vegas Nov. 23-24 and beating San Francisco 75-57 on Dec. 2, ASU topped St. John's 82-70 Friday evening at STAPLES Center and then topped No. 2 Kansas at Phog Allen Fieldhouse 95-85 less than 48 hours later. It then topped Vanderbilt 76-64 on Sunday. ASU is ranked No. 3 in the Associated Press poll, as its No. 20 ranking on Nov. 27 was its first since it was ranked all of 2008-09. Under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley (two-time NCAA champion, 1992 Final Four MOP and NCAA career assist leader) the Sun Devils are led by senior guards Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Radio Network, while Daron Sutton and Don MacLean have the Pac-12 Network call.
AP RANKINGS: ASU climbed to No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 release (Dec. 18), matching the highest ranking for the program, matched only by 1980-81 and 1962-63.
THAT KANSAS WIN: The Dec. 10 win over No. 2 Kansas marked the highest non-conference ranked opponent the Sun Devils have defeated. Only the win over top-ranked and undefeated Oregon State on March 7, 1981, was higher on the rankings scale. That game also marked ASU's first win over a ranked team on the road since James Harden led ASU to a win at Pauley Pavilion on Jan. 17, 2009.
THE 10-GAME WINNING STREAK: So much has been made about the best start since 1974-75 that not much has been said about the win streak as it stands alone. The win Sunday matched the second-best winning streak in ASU history. Below are ASU's top winning streaks:
ASU TOP WINNING STREAKS
18, 1961-62
11 (2)x, 1980-81 and 1962-63
10 (4x), 2017-18, 2007-08, 1962-63 and 1960-61
ASU 76, VANDERBILT 64 (DEC. 17, 2017): ASU fell behind 13-0 but never let up and took a one-point lead at the half and eventually pushed the lead to 20 in the second half vs. Vanderbilt. Tra Holder led the way with 25 points, including 11-of-11 from the free throw line, while Shannon Evans II added 15 points. Romello White added 12 points and nine boards while Mickey Mitchell had 13 rebounds, including 10 in the first half. ASU held Vanderbilt to just 23-of-68 (.338) from the field and just 4-of-31 from the three-point stripe.
#16 ASU 95, @#2 KANSAS 85 (DEC. 10, 2017): Arizona State found itself down 15-2 before the first media timeout, but used a 15-0 second-half run to earn a 95-85 win at No. 2 Kansas (7-2). ASU's 58 second-half points is the most scored vs. KU in half since Texas Tech scored 60 in the second half on Feb. 13, 1999 and the 95 points is the most by Allen Fieldhouse visitor in regulation game since Kentucky's 95 on Dec. 9, 1989. Tra Holder led ASU with 29 points (8-for-16), adding seven assists, while Shannon Evans II and Remy Martin added 22 and 21. Martin was 8-of-11 from the floor, made both his three-point shots and all three free throws and added five steals. Kodi Justice added a career high nine rebounds. KU entered the game 225-10 under Coach Self at Phog, but ASU was 19-of-33 (.576) from the field in the second half and 14-of-28 (.500) from the three-point stripe for the game.
GIVE CREDIT TO FOLKS AT STATS INC. FOR THIS ONE: Since Stats Inc. started tracking this stuff in 1996-97, they unearthed that ASU was the first Pac-12 team to score 90 points in six straight games in more than two decades. Wait, what? Yup Not Lonzo's UCLA crew last year, not Luke and Luke and Freddie in Duck Land, not Arenas and Gardner and Walton, not Collison, Westbrook and Love. Tra, Kodi and Shannon.
TRA NOTES: Tra's 40 points on Nov. 24 vs. Nov. 15 Xavier was just the fourth 40-point effort in the NCAA this season and it was the first 40-point performance by a Pac-12 player against a non-conference opponent since Sun Devil Jahii Carson dropped 40 on UNLV on Nov. 19, 2013. It is the most points scored by a Sun Devil against a ranked team.
DON'T SLEEP ON KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi Justice averaged 15.6 points including a career-high 22 in the Feb. 26 win over NCAA Tournament-bound USC. He was was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe and perfect in nine free throw attempts in those final five games. In his past 15 games, he is averaging 14.3 points, in the first 78 games of his career he averaged 7.2.
LAST TIME: ASU's 2017 Continental Tire Invitational title was its first exempt tournament title since Bill Frieder's gang won the 1994 Maui Invitational, which started the run to the Sweet Sixteen and a 24-9 record. ASU jumped into the polls at No. 12 after beating Texas A&M, No. 13 Michigan and No. 7 Maryland at No. 12 that year, never fell lower than No. 18 and finished No. 16 as it beat Ball State and Manhattan in Memphis in the 1995 NCAA Tournament before falling to second-ranked Kentucky in Birmingham.
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake is 31-of-40 (.775) from the field. He has 22 offensive rebounds to start to the season and 16 dunks and his efforts have resulted in 18 second-chance points. He posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State.
MORE THAN A DOUBLE NICKEL: There have been 916 halves of Sun Devil basketball played in the past 15 seasons, and four of the top nine scoring ones have taken place already this year. ASU dropped 58 at No. 2 Kansas, 58 on No. 15 Xavier in Las Vegas and 56 against San Diego State in the second half and had 56 vs. UC Irvine in the first half.
MOST POINTS IN HALF/2003-04 TO PRESENT
58 at #2 Kansas (Dec. 10, 2017)*
72 vs. Citadel (Nov. 23, 2016)*
58 vs. #15 Xavier (Nov. 24, 2017)*
58 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
58 vs. Oregon (Feb. 11, 2006)*
57 vs. Cal Poly (Nov. 13, 2016)*
56 vs. UC Irvine (Nov. 19, 2017)
56 vs. San Diego State (Nov. 14, 2017)*
56 vs. Kennesaw State (Nov. 18, 2015)
*notes second-half points
NO DEPTH LAST YEAR: Tra Holder led the Pac-12 in minutes per game in conference games last year at 37.9, but not far behind him were Sun Devils Shannon Evans II (36.7/second) and Torian Graham (36.6/third).
GONNA' PLAY SOME FOLKS: Bobby Hurley is going to make an attempt to play some folks. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts against NC State in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and against eventual No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to make it even better by agreeing to play at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, the squad played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in New York City, at San Diego State, in Orlando for three games, and finished a series with No. 9 Creighton. Kansas will return the trip to Wells Fargo next year after ASU's win on Dec. 10, and ASU already played No. 15 Xavier and will host 2017 NCAA Tournament product Vanderbilt Dec. 20. Coach Hurley has schedule four top-10 non-conference opponents in his three years, after ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.
BIG WEEK FOR SHANNON: The U.S. Basketball Writers Association selected Shannon Evans II as its Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week for games ending the week of Dec. 10. As the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week, Evans was chosen by a representative of the USBWA board of directors. The 6-1 guard opened his week with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists in 82-70 win over St. John's in Los Angeles on Friday night. Less than 48 hours later, the Suffolk, Va. native hit five 3-pointers en route to 22 points along with five assists and no turnovers as ASU won at No. 2 Kansas. He averaged 20.0 points on 52 percent field goal shooting (13-25), including 53 percent behind the arc (8-15), and 5.5 assists with an 11-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
PAC-12 PLAYER OF WEEK FIRST TIME: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? In three wins where ASU averaged 95.3 points, he averaged 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He shot .548 (23-of-42) from the field, .571 (12-of-21) from three and .813 (13-of-16) from the free throw line. He put the exclamation point on it on Nov. 19 with 35 points on 13-of-15 shooting in the win over UC Irvine. He is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club and also gets to the free throw line as he is 435-of-577 (.754) from the charity stripe in his 107 games/98 starts, as both free throw marks are second in ASU history behind only Ike Diogu (671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
11. Paul Williams, 1979-83/1,455
12. Tra Holder, 2014-present/1,431
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2
2017-18: .457 / .859 / 21.6
DOWN GOES RANKED TEAM: ASU has now defeated four ranked teams in Bobby Hurley's Sun Devil tenure, as besides the win at #2 Kansas, it beat No. 15 Xavier 102-86 on Nov. 24, 2017 in Las Vegas, No. 23 USC 74-57 on Feb. 12, 2016 and No. 18 Texas A&M 67-54 on Dec. 5, 2015. The Nov. 24 Xavier win was the highest ranked non-conference team ASU had topped since it beat No. 7 Maryland in the 1994 Maui Invitational...until it won at #2 Kansas on Dec. 10.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS OOC WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS PAC-10/12 ERA
#16 ASU 95, @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86 (Nov. 24, 2017 at Las Vegas)
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)
ASU 79, #25 Marquette 77 (Nov. 25, 2013)
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55 (Dec. 15, 2007)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (Nov. 23, 1994 at Maui Invitational)
ASU 79, #13 Michigan 62 (Nov. 22, 1994 at Maui Invitational)
#14 ASU 71, #7 Ohio State 58 (Dec. 20, 1980)
ASU 96, #12 Iowa 88 (Dec. 6, 1980)
LENGTH: ASU has some solid wing spans and length this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Freshman Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
TOP SCORERS: ASU has two of the top five scorers in the Pac-12 returning, as Tra Holder (16.2 ppg) and Shannon Evans II (15.0) averaged more than 31 points.
PAC-12 TOP RETURNING SCORERS IN 2017-18
17.4-Reid Travis, Stanford
17.2-Allonzo Trier, Arizona
16.3-Stephen Thompson, Oregon State
16.2-Tra Holder, Arizona State
15.0-Shannon Evans II, Arizona State
DIGITS FROM LAST YEAR: ASU's 78.6 points per game last year was its best since the 1997-98 squad averaged 84.5...ASU ranked third in the Pac-12 in free throw shooting (.749) and averaged just 10.4 turnovers (first in the league and T-11th in the nation) and 9.9 three-pointers made (second in Pac-12)...Tra Holder led the league in free throws made and attempted (152-of-197/.772)...ASU likes to shoot the three as its 328 made last year was third-most in league history behind only UCLA (354 in 2016-17) and Oregon (350 in 2006-07).
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll announced on Oct. 12, its top preseason ranking since being picked fourth in the Pac-10 prior to the 2010-11 season. ASU has been picked 11th (2016-17 and 2012-13), eighth (2015-16), ninth (2014-15 and 2011-12), seventh (2013-14) in seven previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.
MEET THE SIX: ASU has six newcomers filling oles in 2017-18, led by three who were in the program last year. Romello White is a 6-8 forward from Suwanee, Ga. who practiced last season as an academic redshirt and was a top-100 player (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Texan Mickey Mitchell is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16, came to ASU in December of 2016 and became eligible on Dec. 10, while 6-9 redshirt freshman Vitaliy Shibel has a great southpaw shooting stroke but missed last year with an ACL injury. Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake has a 6-10 frame and a 7-2 wing span. ESPN 2017 top-100 players Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI), a 6-7 swingman with 6-11 wingspan is No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and is No. 82 in the rankings.
DIGITS: ASU's backcourt has two 1,400-point career scorers as Tra Holder has 1,431 points in 107 Sun Devil games (13.7 ppg.), while Shannon Evans II has 1,434 career points, with 754 of them coming at Buffalo from 2013-15. Combined the duo has made 882 total field goals, 335 three-pointers, 766 free throws and has dropped 2,865 collegiate points in 212 career games.
MOST COMBINED CAREER POINTS BY TWO TEAMMATES ENTERING 2017-18
2,707/St. Bonaventure: Jaylen Adams (1,377) and Matt Mobley (1,330)
2,701/Rhode Island: E.C. Matthews (1,519) and Jared Terrell (1,182)
2,639/Xavier: Trevon Bluiett (1,585) and J.P. Macura (1,054)
2,463/Arizona State: Shannon Evans II (1,248) and Tra Holder (1,215)
FREE THROWS: The Sun Devils made free throws at a rate that was third-best in school history (489-of-653/.749) last year. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best seasons.
SPLASH GAMES: Shannon Evans II arrived at ASU after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo. As a sophomore in 2014-15 he averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists and led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. He made his first 20 free throws to start last season. Also, he had 50 points in an exhibition win this year against Arizona Christian.
SHANNON EVANS II 25-POINT SCORING GAMES (4 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 vs. Idaho State (11/14/17)
25 vs. Washington (1/25/17)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
QUICK QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament
Happiest on the court: Winning the MAC championship
Past sporting event to go back and watch: 1991 Duke vs UNLV
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 165 three pointers in 93 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 (freshman year) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove, and then adapted to a new coaching staff in the summer of 2015 while getting healthy.
FOUR QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it? John Wooden
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? Rumble in the Jungle
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman
Biggest challenge in my life: Being dyslexic
KODI'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
(SEASON: FG% / 3PM / PPG)
2014-15: .424 / 17 / 4.6
2015-16: .394 / 60 / 7.9
2016-17: .421 / 63 / 9.2
2017-18: .484 / 25 / 13.4