Dec. 6, 2012

Sun Devils vs. CSN Game Notes/Stats

SUN DEVILS TAKE ON CSN
The Sun Devil men's hoops team (7-1) takes on Cal State Northridge (7-2) on Saturday (Dec. 8) at noon and then hosts Big East member DePaul on Wednesday (Dec. 12) at 7 p.m. in a pair of tilts broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. The 71-63 win over Hartford on Dec. 5, in which ASU shot a season-best .563 from the floor (27-of-48) and had season-lows in turnovers and fouls (just 10 each), gave the Sun Devils their fifth 7-1 start in the past 35 seasons (1978-79 to present). ASU will try to go 8-1 for just the fourth time in 38 seasons Saturday against Cal State Northridge. Only the 2008-09 (12-1), 2004-05 (11-1) and 1990-91 (9-1) teams went at least 8-1 since ASU started 15-1 in 1974-75, when current Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins was on his way to averaging 16.7 points per game and ASU was trending towards a 25-4 record.

SOME NOTES ON HERB'S SCORING
ASU is averaging 78 points per game this season. 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 in each of the past two seasons.

CARRICK UPDATE
Some quick notes on the recent play of senior Carrick Felix (B.S. Communications, 2012), who was named Pac-12 Player of the Week for his efforts from Nov. 26-Dec. 2...after not having a double-double in the first 65 games of his career he has posted them in back-to-back games, getting 11 points and 11 boards vs. Hartford (Dec. 5) and 21 points and career-high 12 boards vs. Sacramento State (Dec. 1)...nine field goals and five assists vs. Sacramento State also were career-bests...has eight 20-point games in career and three this year (24 vs. Arkansas, 21 vs. Sacramento State and 21 vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff)...in the past five games, he is shooting 36-of-55 (.654) from the floor and 10-of-20 (.500) from the three-point stripe and is averaging 18.8 points and 9.5 boards...how big of a key is he to Sun Devil success 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.

ASU will try to go 8-1 for just the fourth time in 38 seasons Saturday against Cal State Northridge (tip time at Noon). Here are ASU's 8-1 starts since it started 15-1 in 1974-75: 2008-09 (12-1) 2004-05 (11-1) 1990-91 (9-1)

JACOBSEN UPDATE
A freshmen from a local East Valley high school is looking great recently...and his name isn't Jahii. Hamilton High School's Eric Jacobsen had 16 points vs. Hartford on Dec. 5, the most by a Sun Devil freshmen off the bench since Trent Lockett had 17 vs. Texas State on Nov. 16, 2009...Eric is the team's youngest player (born in June of 1994)...in past two games he is averaging 11 points and 7.5 boards in 36 minutes...entered Sacramento State Dec. 1 game with 10 rebounds on the year and three offensive rebounds and then used his size 17 shoes to post six offensive boards and nine total rebounds in 16 minutes.

MOST POINTS OFF THE BENCH BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMEN IN COACH SENDEK ERA
18, Christian Polk vs. Arizona (Feb. 25, 2007)
18, Christian Polk vs. Washington (Feb. 1, 2007)
17, Trent Lockett vs. Texas State (Nov. 16, 2009)
16, Eric Jacobsen vs. Hartford (Dec. 5, 2012)
16, Derek Glasser vs. North Carolina A&T (Dec. 21, 2006)

Jah-HEE
As of dawn on Thursday (Dec. 4), Jahii (say it Jah-hEE) Carson is the fourth-top freshman scorer in the nation at 18.3 points per game...vs. Creighton he became just the fourth Sun Devil freshman to score 30 in a game...his 45 free throws made entering Thursday games is tops among freshman in the nation...has four 20-point games (20 vs. Florida A&M, 21 vs. Cornell, 30 vs. No. 14 Creighton, 20 vs. Hartford)...with 43 assists and 45 field goals made, he has played a part in 42 percent of the team's 212 buckets this year....his 30 points vs. Creighton is tied for the sixth-most points scored by a Sun Devil in the Coach Sendek era...his four 20-point games is already tied for fifth-best among ASU freshmen.

MOST POINTS BY A SUN DEVIL FRESHMAN
35, Mario Bennett vs. #5 Arizona, Feb. 20, 1992
31, Byron Scott vs. #18 Arizona, Feb. 23, 1980
30, Jahii Carson vs. #14 Creighton @Las Vegas, Nov. 24, 2012
30, Ty Abbott vs. California, Feb. 16, 2008

SUN DEVIL FRESHMEN 20-POINT GAMES (1972-73 to present)
James Harden, 2007-08, 16
Ike Diogu, 2002-03, 12
Jamal Faulkner, 1990-91, 7
Steve Beck, 1983-84, 5
Jahii Carson, 2012-13, 4
Christian Polk, 2006-07, 4

Great @slamonline story on Gerald Green and how much of an impact @ericpmusselman had on him slamonline.com/online/the-mag... @doughaller @paulcoro

— ASU Men's Basketball (@SunDevilHoops) December 7, 2012

DEPAUL VISIT ON DEC. 12
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 (7 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network). 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.

BLOCKS
ASU had 11 blocks in each of its first three games, the most since it had 13 vs Washington on Jan. 9, 2003...in the first 197 games of Coach Sendek's ASU tenure, ASU had nine blocks in a game four times. It has had at least nine blocks four times this season.

QUICKLY
Jordan Bachynski (say it ba-CHIN-ski) with his next block will become just the seventh Sun Devil with 100 career blocks. Sixth on the list is Jeff Pendergraph with 131 from 2005-09...Jonathan Gilling has 63 rebounds (7.9 per game) on the year after notching 54 in 728 minutes last season...ASU has yet to allow an opponent shoot 50 percent...ASU is 4-0 vs. Cal State Northridge with the last meeting a 67-66 game on Dec. 4, 2004...dating to last year senior Chris Colvin is averaging 8.4 points and 4.4 assists in his past 23 games...how much better was sophomore Jon Gilling from December to February and March of last year ? He averaged 8.8 minutes in the first eight games and 9.0 points in his final 22 games... senior Ruslan Pateev has 69 career blocks in 84 games.

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

Evan Gordon UPDATE
The 29-point effort by Evan Gordon vs. Sacramento State on Dec. 1 was his career high. He entered the game 7-of-34 (.206) from the three-point stripe but was 5-of-9, and it was his ninth game of 20+ points going back to his two years at Liberty. He averaged 14.4 points as a sophomore at Liberty in 2010-11 and made 112 three-pointers in his two-year career. Evan led Liberty in scoring with 14.4 points per game (eighth in Big South) in his sophomore year (2010-11) before transferring to ASU and has 918 career points.

MOST POINTS BY A SUN DEVIL UNDER COACH SENDEK
40, James Harden vs. UTEP @Anaheim (Nov. 30, 2008)
36, James Harden at Oregon (Feb. 5, 2009)
33, James Harden vs. Pepperdine (Nov. 23, 2008)
32, James Harden vs. Baylor @Anaheim (Nov. 28, 2008)
31, Jeff Pendergraph at Stanford (Jan. 2, 2009)
30, Jahii Carson vs. #14 Creighton @Las Vegas (Nov. 24, 2012)
30, Ty Abbott vs. California (Feb. 16, 2008)
29, Evan Gordon vs. Sacramento State (Dec. 1, 2012)
29, Ty Abbott vs. Stanford (Jan. 30, 2010)
29, Jeff Pendergraph at Arizona (Feb. 10, 2008)
28, Ty Abbott at Arizona (Feb. 21, 2010)

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).