Oct. 21, 2012

Sun Devil men's hoops tickets for the non-conference schedule go on sale Oct. 22 as the Sun Devils host 10 games prior to its Pac-12 slate, starting with a Saturday, Nov. 10, game vs. Central Arkansas at 5:30 p.m., matching the earliest starting date in school history. ASU lost to Tulsa 69-67 in Raleigh on Nov. 10, 2000, and has opened on Nov. 11 once (last season) and on Nov. 13 three times.

How much has college hoops scheduling timeline changed in the past two decades? In Coach Sendek's first season (1993-94) at Miami of Ohio, his season opener was on Nov. 27.

EARLIEST SEASON OPENERS IN SUN DEVIL HISTORY
Nov. 10, 2012--Central Arkansas at Arizona State
Nov. 10, 2000--Tulsa 69, ASU 67 (Raleigh, N.C.)
Nov. 11, 2011-- ASU 78, Montana State 72

--Click here for the 2012-13 Sun Devil Men's Basketball Schedule

A Big East team will visit Wells Fargo Arena for the first time since the 1993-94 season, as DePaul will play in Tempe on Wednesday, Dec. 12. ASU beat Villanova 73-62 in overtime on Dec. 29, 1993, the last time a Big East team came to Wells Fargo Arena. ASU will return the trip to Chicago in 2013-14. In the past decade, only four Pac-12 teams have hosted a Big East team in regular season play.

The Sun Devils will host Florida A&M (Nov. 18) and Cornell (Nov. 20) in the first two games of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational before meeting Arkansas on Friday, Nov. 23, at 4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Arkansas game will be broadcast on ESPN3, and the teams will play either Wisconsin or Creighton the next day. The winning teams will meet on Saturday at 8 p.m. PT on ESPN2, the losers at 5 p.m. PT on ESPN3. Arkansas and the Sun Devils have met just once, as the No. 1 seeded Razorbacks beat the Bill Frieder-coached Sun Devils in the 1991 NCAA Tournament in Atlanta, 97-90. Tickets can be purchased at the Sun Devil ticket office or by clicking right here.

--Want to go to the Las Vegas Invitational? Click right here!

--ASU basketball putting its faith in Bachynski (by Craig Morgan, FOXSportsArizona.com/July 19, 2012)
--Carson's wait about to end in good way (by Paola Boivin/Arizona Republic/June 16, 2012)
--'Old soul' Gordon expected to bring scoring to Sun Devils (by Doug Haller, AZCentral.com/July 18, 2012)
--Check out No. 4 on the Rothstein Files: 10 Underrated Transfers For The 2012-13 College Basketball Season (by Jon Rothstein, CBSSports.com/June 8, 2012)

Arizona State will play 19 home games for just the second time in school history (other was in 2009-10), and will travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech for the first time since the 1988-89 season. The Red Raiders and Sun Devils will play on Dec. 22. ASU last visited Lubbock on Dec. 8, 1988 with ASU winning 81-75. Texas Tech will return the trip in 2013-14 to Tempe.

--The Sun Devils will open the Pac-12 season at home for the first time since the 2007-08 season. ASU will host Utah on Wednesday, Jan. 2, the first Pac-12 game of the season as the rest of the league opens on Thursday. The previous four seasons ASU has opened on the road against Arizona, Oregon State, UCLA and Stanford. ASU is opening on Wednesday to avoid a conflict with the Fiesta Bowl played on Thursday, Jan. 3.

OTHER NOTES ON THE SCHEDULE
--For just the second time in past six seasons ASU will have five of its first seven Pac-12 games at home, including the Territorial Cup matchup on Saturday, Jan. 19.

--After hosting Utah on Jan. 2, ASU will host Pac-12 Tournament champion Colorado on Sunday, Jan. 6, travel north to face Oregon State (Thursday, Jan. 10) and then Oregon on Sunday, Jan. 13. ASU will visit Oregon's new arena for the first time since it opened in January of 2011, as last year the Sun Devils missed the Oregon road trip and the year prior ASU played in the final game of McArthur Court.

--After the Jan. 19 Territorial Cup matchup with Arizona, ASU resumes Pac-12 play with another home series, as it hosts USC on Jan. 24 and then UCLA on Jan. 26.

--In addition to the Utah game on Jan. 2, the Sun Devils will play three Wednesday Pac-12 games. ASU will play at Utah on Feb. 13 prior to its tilt at Colorado on Feb. 16, host Washington State on Feb. 20 prior to hosting Washington on Saturday, Feb. 23, and then play at UCLA on Feb. 27 prior to its Saturday, Mar. 2 game at USC.

--ASU concludes its season on Saturday, March 9, in Tucson. ASU is 3-3 at Arizona under Herb Sendekafter winning once in Tucson in the previous 23 tries (win was in 1994-95, from 1983-84 through 2006-07 period).

--ASU will miss the Bay Area road trip, but Cal (Feb. 7) and Stanford (Feb. 9) come to town, while the Sun Devils don't host the Oregon schools.