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    Men's Hoops Notes As Las Vegas Invitational Awaits; Meets Arkansas Friday at 4 p.m. PT on ESPN3
    It marks second meeting with Razorbacks, the first was the 1991 NCAA Tournament in Atlanta.

    Nov. 21, 2012

    ASU Games Notes in Las Vegas Get Acrobat Reader

    SUN DEVILS OFF TO LAS VEGAS
    The Sun Devil men's hoops team (3-0) takes on Arkansas on Friday, Nov. 23 (4 p.m. PT/5 p.m. MT/ESPN3/860 AM/Sirius 128/XM 192) and then will meet either Wisconsin or Creighton on Nov. 24 at the Orleans Hotel in Las Vegas as part of the Contintental Tire Las Vegas Invitational. ASU started its season with a 79-64 win over vs. Central Arkansas on Nov. 10, led by a school-record nine blocks by Jordan Bachynski (one block short of the first triple-double in school history with 17 points and 12 boards). The blocks have not stopped as ASU has 11 in each of its first three games, 22 of them by Bachynski. ASU quietly has five players averaging double digits and is 3-0 for the first time since 2009-10, when it started 4-0 en route to a 22-11 record and a second-place finish in the Pac-10 behind the play of seniors Derek Glasser, Jerren Shipp and Eric Boateng. ASU and Arkansas have met just once, as the No. 1 seeded Razorbacks beat the Bill Frieder-coached Sun Devils on March 17, 1991 NCAA Tournament in Atlanta, 97-90. ASU has never faced Wisconsin and is 4-2 vs. Creighton.

    THE BASICS
    ASU has five returning lettermen, four returning starters and five newcomers led by seniors Carrick Felix (B.S. Communications, 2012), Chris Colvin and Ruslan Pateen in 2012-13 along with 2011-12 starters Bachynski and Jon Gilling. ASU welcomes three redshirts who practiced (Jahii Carson, Evan Gordon and Bo Barnes) but could not play, along with front line newcomers Kenny Martin and Eric Jacobsen, both Arizona High School products.

    A QUICK NUGGET ON EACH GUY TO GET YOU STARTED
    Here is one quick piece of Sun Devil data on each player...senior Carrick Felix (B.S. Communications, 2012) is a big key to the Sun Devils in 2012-13. Consider this: he averaged 14.4 points in Sun Devil wins last year and 8.8 losses. How important are those 5.6 points per game? ASU's scoring margin in 31 games last year was -5.3 points per game. He had a career-high 11 rebounds in the opening win over Central Arkansas, including seven on the offensive end...dating to last year senior Chris Colvin is averaging 9.2 points and 4.8 assists in his past 18 games...senior Ruslan Pateev has 69 career blocks in 82 games...dating to last season, junior Jordan Bachynski is averaging 10.6 points, 2.8 blocks and shooting .632 (60-of-95) from the field in the past 16 games...how much better was sophomore Jon Gilling from December to February and March of last year (his freshman season)? He averaged 8.8 minutes in the first eight games and 9.0 points in his final 22 games. He had a career-high 15 boards in the Nov. 20 win over Florida A&M. He has 27 rebounds on the year after having 54 all of last season...freshman Jahii Carson (say it Jaw-hee) sat last year but could practice and the 5-10 point guard from nearby Mesa, Ariz., a top-50 recruit from the class of 2011, is averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 dimes. He averaged 32.2 points in senior year and in his final high school game he dropped 58 in state semifinal playoff game...junior Evan Gordon led the Liberty Flames in scoring with 14.4 points per game (eighth in the Big South) in his sophomore year (2010-11) before transferring to ASU and has 859 career points...sophomore Bo Barnes hit 57 three-pointers at Hawaii in 2010-11, setting a freshman school record, and had five three-pointers four times...freshmen Eric Jacobsen (size 17 shoe) and Kenny Martin are both local products with solid upside on the low block. Jacobsen is averaging 11 minutes per game backing up both Jon Gilling and Jordan Bachynski.

    BACK TO THE BLOCKS
    A couple of notes on ASU's 33 blocked shots this year, 22 by Jordan Bachynski (AKA Jordan BLOCKhinyski)...that is one block by Jordan per every 8.63 opponent shots...Bachynski is averaging 7.3 blocks. The NCAA record is 6.5 held by Shawn James of Northeastern in 2006 (196/30 games)...ASU has had 11 blocks in each of its first three games, the most since it had 13 vs Washington on Jan. 9, 2003...ASU blocked 123 shots last year, the seventh-most by a Sun Devil squad in history, the most in the Coach Sendek-era and the most since the 2003 team swatted 139.

    VS. CORNELL (NOV. 20)
    The Sun Devils forced 23 Cornell turnovers, the fourth-most in the Coach Sendek era and the most since they forced 24 against San Diego State on Dec. 19, 2009...the win marked the 20th time in 101 victories under Herb Sendek at ASU the Sun Devils have come back from a half-time deficit. ASU trailed 25-22 but came back to win the second half 42-28...the .352 shooting percentage (19-of-52) marked the fourth-lowest by a Sun Devil team under Coach Sendek who still got a win. Both Cornell and ASU shot 19-of-54 from the field...Arizona State is now 6-0 against the Ivy League...Jordan Bachynski played a career-high 31 minutes...senior Carrick Felix had a career-best four steals. He had posted three steals in a game 10 times...ASU had 14 steals, the most since it had 14 vs. Oregon State on March 5, 2011.

    VS. FAMU (NOV. 18)
    ASU put five guys in double-digits in back-to-back games, the first time it has done that in consecutive games since Dec. 23 and Dec. 29, 2008)...sophomore Jonathan Gilling had a career-high 15 rebounds in the win, including 14 on the defensive end...ASU's 97 points vs. Florida A&M is the third-most in the Coach Sendek era, while the 45 first-half points is tied for the ninth-most in his seven seasons.

    MOST POINTS BY ASU IN COACH SENDEK ERA
    ASU 104, San Francisco 65 (Nov. 20, 2009)
    ASU 99, @California 90, 2 OT (Jan. 17, 2008)
    ASU 97, Florida A&M 70 (Nov. 18, 2012)

    VS. CAU (NOV. 10)
    ASU had 69 field goal attempts vs. Central Arkansas, its most since it had 70 in the first game of the Coach Sendek era on Nov. 13, 2006...junior Jordan Bachynski set Sun Devil record with nine blocks. His 12 rebounds was just one off his career-high of 13. It marked his second career double-double (11 points and 12 boards at Utah on Feb. 9, 2012)...senior Carrick Felix had a career-high rebounds with 11 (seven offensive)... ASU's 49 first-half points was the most since it led Stanford 54-22 on Feb. 2, 2010 and is tied for fifth-most under Coach Sendek.

    CENTURY MARK
    Coach Sendek became the fourth Sun Devil men's hoops coach to have 100 wins with the 97-70 win over Florida A&M on Nov. 18. Ned Wulk coached for 25 years from 1957-82 and had 406 wins. Bill Frieder was coach from 1989-97 (eight seasons) and had 132, while Rob Evans had 119 wins in his eight seasons (1998-2006).

    EARLY SEASON TOURNAMENTS
    ASU is 10-6 under Coach Sendek in regular season tournaments, including 8-6 in neutral site tilts. It was 1-2 in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando last year, 2-1 in the Great Alaska Shootout in November of 2010, 1-1 at Madison Square Garden in November of 2009 in NIT Season Tip-Off, 2-1 in the 76 Classic at Anaheim in November of 2008 and 2-1 in the 2007 Maui Invitational.

    TRANSFERS
    The Sun Devils have two players ready to play this year who have shown the ability to make three-pointers on the D-I level, but unfortunately both of them had to watch the game last year. Evan Gordon, a 6-1 guard, averaged 14.4 points as a sophomore at Liberty in 2010-11 and made 112 three-pointers in his two-year career. Bo Barnes, a 6-4 wing from Scottsdale Christian in Arizona, averaged 6.9 points 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 four times.

    STAT YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW
    In the past 13 seasons (1999-2000 to present), no program has had more Pac-12 Players of The Year than Arizona State. Eddie House won the award in 1999-2000, Ike Diogu took home the honor in 2004-05 and James Harden won the award in 2008-09. California also has had three, while UCLA has had two and five other schools have had one.

    NOTES ON JAHII
    The son of Vanae and Jonathan Carson, Jahii Carson is rumored to have dunked at 13 while being only 5-3 and it is hard to doubt that. He has big-time hops and energy in his 5-10 frame...already has two 20-point games and is 20-of-27 (.740) from the free throw line...ASU's top in-state recruit in decades as he was a 2011 Parade Magazine Second-Team All-American and Arizona Republic Big Schools Player of the Year...racked up Arizona first-team honors from all over...set NYC holiday tournament record with 36.3 ppg in three games in December of 2010...set Mesa High School season marks for points per game (32.2) and assists (6.6) after setting records in junior year (23.7/5.6)...team was 21-6 in senior season and advanced to Class 5A state semifinals...also averaged over two steals per game in senior season...led team to 25-5 mark in junior season...how about these numbers for Jahii in the 2011 Class 5A state tournament?...58-point effort in a semifinal loss to Phoenix Brophy Prep (25-of-38 from field)...37-point outing in first round win over Tucson...38 points, five assists, four boards and four steals in 72-66 quarterfinal win against Mountain Pointe.

    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 (2011-12, 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).

    JORDAN SETS SCHOOL BLOCKS RECORD
    Junior Jordan Bachynski set the school blocks record with nine vs. Central Arkansas on Nov. 10. He was just one block short of posting the first triple-double in ASU history, as he had 17 points and 12 boards.

    MOST BLOCKS IN SUN DEVIL HISTORY
    9, Jordan Bachynski vs. Central Arkansas, Nov. 10, 2012
    8, Jeff Pendergraph vs. Southern Illinois, Mar. 20, 2008
    8, Rodger Farrington vs. Jacksonville, Nov. 22, 1996
    8, Rodger Farrington vs. Houston Baptist, Dec. 10, 1996
    8, Rodger Farrington vs. Oklahoma State, Dec. 7, 1996
    8, Mario Bennett vs. Old Dominion, Jan. 7, 1995
    8, Alton Lister vs. Harvard, Dec. 28, 1978

    NBA STANDS FOR NEW BASKETBALL ASSISTANTS
    A three-time conference Coach of the Year entering his 20th season as a college head coach, 49-year old Coach Sendek went the NBA route to fill his staff this August, as he has named Eric Musselman and Larry Greer as assistant coaches, the first time since the spring of 2008 Coach Sendek had to hire an assistant coach. Greer spent the past five seasons working with Nate McMillan at the Portland Trail Blazers an assistant coach (2011-12) and advance scout (2007-2011). Musselman just recently finished earning league Coach of the Year honors with the Los Angeles D-Fenders of the NBA D-League. His squad had eight NBA call-ups and won the regular season title with a 38-12 record, including wins in 21 of the final 23 games. He also coached the Venezuela National Team in 2011 and 2012 at the Pre-Olympics in Argentina while his 2011 team averaged a tournament-best 94.8 points per game. His NBA experience includes leading the Sacramento Kings to a 101.3 points per game scoring mark in 2006-07, eighth-best in the league as the Kings sold out every home game. In 2002-03 he was second in NBA Coach of the Year voting as he led the Golden State Warriors to their two best seasons in ten years, including a 51-31 (.622) home record. The Warriors were the most improved team in the league with 17 more wins and the second-leading scoring team in the league at 102.4 points per game. He has served as an assistant coach under Mike Fratello (Memphis), Lon Kruger (Atlanta), Chuck Daley (Orlando) and Doc Rivers (Magic).

    TOUGH TO SCORE
    In his 609-game head coaching career, only three teams have scored 100 points against Herb Sendek. No team has posted triple digits against a Sendek-led team in the past 335 games. The last team to do it was top-ranked Duke on Feb. 14, 2002 (108-71 at Cameron).

    SOME NOTES ON HERB'S SCORING
    In Coach Sendek's final five seasons at NC State (2001-2006), his team's averaged 73.7 points per game (192 games) including 75.4 points per game in 2001-02. His final team at NC State averaged 74.5 points per game. How does that 74.5 points per game from 2005-06 compare to the current Pac-12? It would have been the third-highest scoring team in the Pac-12 last year in each of the past two seasons.

    HOW GOOD OF A PAC-12 SEASON DID JON HAVE?
    It is not a stretch to say that Jon Gilling was snubbed for the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team last year. When taking into account the 18 Pac-12 games only last year, here is where he ranked among freshman:

    PAC-12 FRESHMAN LEADERS (PAC-12 GAMES ONLY)
    MINUTES PER GAME: 1. Tony Wroten, WASH (32.1); 2. Jon Gilling, ASU (31.9)
    THREE-POINTERS MADE PER GAME: 1. Chasson Randle, Stanford (46); 2. Jon Gilling, ASU (42)
    THREE-POINT PERCENTAGE: 1. Chasson Randle, Stanford (.434); 2. Jon Gilling, ASU (.416)
    POINTS PER GAME: 1. Tony Wroten, Washington (16.0); 2. Chasson Randle, Stanford (14.0); 3. Spender Dinwiddie, CU (10.0); 4. Askia Booker, CU (10.0); 5. Jon Gilling, ASU (9.2)

     

     

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