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Men's hoops game notes for tilts with dogs and cats


February 15, 2011

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ASU to honor Sun Devil and NBA greats Hollins and Scott at Washington game Feb. 17

 

SUN DEVILS VS. HUSKIES AND COUGARS
The Arizona State's men's hoops team (9-15; 1-11 in the Pac-10), hosts the Apple State schools this weekend with the Washington Huskies up first for a Thursday (Feb. 17) 6:30 p.m. tilt that will be webcast on foxsportsarizona.com, followed by a FOX Sports Arizona TV tilt on Saturday at noon against Washington State. The Feb. 17 Husky game can also be heard on Westwood One, with Dave Sims and former ASU head coach Bill Frieder (who led ASU to the Sweet Sixteen in 1994-95 and six straight postseason appearances from 1989-90-1994-95) calling the action. Both the UW and WSU games can also be heard on SIRIUS 121/XM 141. ASU is taking care of the ball as it leads the Pac-10 in fewest turnovers per game at 11.95 (USC at 12.0) and is averaging just 10.1 turnovers in the past nine games. Sophomore Trent Lockett is averaging 15.3 points in the past six games while senior point guard Jamelle McMillan has played well recently as well (see JMAC note one more paragraph down).

RECAP
The Sun Devils, the only Pac-10 team to post 20 wins in each of the past three seasons, are in their fifth season under 2009-10 Pac-10 Coach of the Year Herb Sendek. Last year's second-place Pac-10 team was 22-11, the first time ASU had posted three straight 20-win seasons since JFK was President. ASU finished second in the Pac-10 (12-6) for the first time since 1980-81 after being picked for seventh in the preseason media poll and tenth by Sporting News. After posting just three 20-win seasons in the previous 25 seasons, ASU has posted three straight under Herb Sendek in his four years. ASU lost two senior starters and three total key players from last year in Derek Glasser, Eric Boateng and Jerren Shipp, who all three earned their degrees...Glasser set ASU records for games (131), assists (551) and free throw shooting (.838)...Shipp is second on the ASU career list for games with 129...Eric Boateng led the Pac-10 in field goal percentage (.665) and averaged 8.8 points and 7.2 boards and matched Pac-10 record by making all 11 shots from the field at Stanford on Feb. 25, 2010.

JMAC
Jamelle McMillan has played through a nagging groin injury since December that caused him to miss three games but is averaging 14.0 points in the past four games and is 11-of-16 (.688) from three in those tilts...he has posted three of the top scoring games in his career in the past four games with a career-high 17 at Stanford (Feb. 5), 14 at Cal (Feb. 3) and 13 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29)... ASU is 50-31 (.617) with Jamelle and 6-5 (.545) without. In the past two seasons those numbers go to 28-22 (.560) and 3-4 (.429)...294 career assists and 141 turnovers...six steals vs. Long Beach on Dec. 21, most by a Sun Devil since James Harden had seven vs. USC on March 13, 2008, in the Pac-10 Tournament...leads the Pac-10 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.86 (83 assists/29 turnovers) which is 12th nationally.

JAMELLE'S TOP SCORING GAMES
17 at Stanford (Feb. 5, 2011)
16 vs. Weber State @Alaska (Nov. 26, 2010)
16 vs. UCSB (Dec. 21, 2009)
15 vs. USC Upstate (Dec. 23, 2009)
14 at California (Feb. 3, 2011)
14 at Oregon State (Feb. 7, 2009)
13 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29, 2011)

ACTIVE WITH BLOCKS
ASU had six players notch a total of nine blocks vs. Arizona on Feb. 13, second-best in the Herb Sendek-era. ASU had 11 blocks vs. Southern Illinois on March 20, 2008. ASU also had eight blocks vs. USC on Jan. 27 this season.

INFO TO KNOW
ASU has had some poorly-timed injury/illness items since the opening of the Pac-10, as it lost at Oregon State 80-58 (Dec. 30) and won at Oregon 60-55 (Jan. 1) to close Mac Court, without leading scorer Trent Lockett (14.7 ppg.), who missed both games with a sprained left big toe. Then senior point guard Jamelle McMillan missed both games of the Bay Area home series (Jan. 6-8) and the Jan. 12 Tulsa win due to a groin injury. The Washington trip the scrambling continued as Carrick Felix and Brandon Dunson couldn't travel for the first game as both were ill. The main bummer? Felix was averaging 13.6 points (tied for team lead), 3.6 boards, 31.2 minutes and was 14-of-18 (.778) from the free throw line in the previous five games.

CLOSE STATISTIC
Arizona State has done a solid job of winning the close ones. In games of five points or less in the four years of its current senior class, ASU is 17-13 (.567), the third-best mark in the Pac-10.

TOP PAC-10 TEAMS IN GAMES OF FIVE POINTS OR LESS (2007-08 THROUGH 2010-11)
UCLA 21-12 (.636)
Oregon 13-9 (.591)
Arizona State 17-13 (.567)
Washington State 17-14 (.548)

WITH TRENT OUT
When Trent Lockett was not in the lineup the opening Pac-10 weekend ASU had to replace a player who in the Pac-10 ranked at the time 11th in scoring (14.7) and rebounding (6.5) and fifth in field goal percentage (.571) and in minutes per game (33.5).

BEST TREE IN THE LAND
Herb Sendek has eight former assistants who are D-I coaches, the best mark of any coach in the nation in 2010-2011. Twelve-year sidekick Mark Phelps earned the Drake spot in the spring of 2008 after serving for 10 years on the staff at NC State and for two years at ASU. Former NC State sidekick John Groce also earned the Ohio University position in the spring of 2008. The others are Jim Christian at TCU (Miami assistant in 1995-96), Charlie Coles at Miami of Ohio (Miami assistant from 1994-96), Larry Hunter at Western Carolina (NC State assistant from 2001-05), Ron Hunter of IUPUI (Miami assistant from 1993-94), Ohio State's Thad Matta (Miami assistant in 1994-95) and Arizona's Sean Miller (assistant at both Miami from 1993-95 and at NC State from 1996-2000).

LAST UW TILT
ASU played about as well as anyone can hope at Hec Ed Pavilion on Jan. 22 in a game that was a lot closer than the final would indicate (88-75)...ASU trailed 40-39 at the half...Huskies led 74-71 with 2:43 left but hit some clutch free throws to stretch the lead late...ASU was a season-best .600 (9-of-15) from the three-point stripe and shot 50 percent from the field (26-of-52) and was 14-of-19 (.737) from the free throw line...both Trent Lockett and Ty Abbott had 20 points in the defeat...Huskies shot an ASU opponent season-high .544 (31-of-57) from the field including 17-of-29 (.586) in a 48-point second half...UW also had 10 steals...UW's 88 points was an ASU opponent's season high.

SECOND-TIME AROUND
Entering this season ASU was 14-22 (.389) in the first half of Pac-10 play under Coach Sendek but 20-16 (.556) in the second half. In the past three seasons prior to this year ASU is 14-13 in the first half of Pac-10 play (.519) but 18-9 (.667) in the second half.

TY NOTES
Returning first-team All-Pac-10 performer Ty Abbott had some back and knee issues last two weekends, as he missed all but four minutes of the game at Stanford on Feb. 5...has 10 20-point games in his career, including three this year...he is averaging 33.2 minutes per game this year (sixth in the Pac-10). Only James Harden in each of his two seasons (35.8 in 2008-09 and 34.4 in 2007-08) has averaged more than 34 minutes per game in Herb Sendek's first four seasons at ASU...now has 1,267 career points which is 20th on the Sun Devil career list. Arthur Thomas ranks 19th at 1,268...also has 113 starts, third on the ASU career chart, just one behind Eddie House. Jeff Pendergraph has the ASU record with 120 starts...Abbott missed the Nov. 25 Houston Baptist game due to a knee bruise...currently fourth on the Sun Devil career chart for minutes played. Eddie House has the career mark, playing in 124 games from 1996-2000 while notching 4,164 minutes (33.6 per game). Abbott is at 3,838 and could become just the second Sun Devil to play 4,000 career minutes.

ASU CAREER MINUTES/GAMES/MINUTES PER GAME
1. Eddie House (99-2000)--4,164/124/33.6
2. Jeremy Veal (94-98)--3,980/122/32.5
3. Derek Glasser (06-10)--3,955/131/30.2
4. Ty Abbott (07-11)--3,838/124/31.0

UW SERIES
ASU leads the series 36-35 and has won two of the past four and three of the past seven, but UW has won 15 of past 18...ASU is 21-12 (.636) vs. Washington in Tempe in 32 previous years of Pac-10 play...Herb Sendek is 3-8 vs. UW (1-3 in Tempe, 1-4 in Seattle, 1-1 in Pac-10 Tournament)...in the Jan. 8, 2010, Sun Devil 68-51 win over No. 21 Washington in Tempe, ASU held the Huskies to a season-low 51 points. That is the fewest the Huskies have scored in the past 106 games dating to a 56-51 loss to Stanford on Jan. 31, 2008...ASU beat the No. 13 Huskies 75-65 in the 2009 Pac-10 semifinals on March 13 as James Harden had 24 points, Jeff Pendergraph had 18 and Derek Glasser 16...ASU has held the Huskies to 69.5 points per game in the Herb Sendek era in the 11 meetings...ASU has done as good as one can hope or pray on Husky standout Isaiah Thomas in his six games against ASU. He is shooting 34-of-83 (.409) from the field and 5-of-22 (.227) from the three-point stripe...of the 68 points scored in ASU win over the Huskies last January, 59 of them return this year. Rihards Kuksiks had 27, Ty Abbott had 17, Trent Lockett had 11 and Ruslan Pateev had four. Derek Glasser had the other nine.

WSU SERIES
ASU records have the series locked at 34 after sweeping last year for the first time since 2002-03, ending a six-game Cougar win streak, while WSU won the first contest this year 78-61 on Jan. 20...ASU took a season-high 29 three-point attempts vs Wazzu in the last meeting...last season ASU won in Pullman for the first time in seven tries on Feb. 4 (81-70), its first win at Wazzu since Feb. 6, 2003...ASU did a good job on Cougar standout Klay Thompson in last year's tilts as he was 9-of-31 (.290) from the field and 3-of-15 (.200) from the three-point stripe. In his freshman year, Thompson was en fuego in Tempe as he finished with 28 points and made 8-of-10 threes in a 65-55 WSU win on Jan. 29, 2009. He is 33-of-82 (.402) from the field against ASU...ASU's 71-46 Tempe win over WSU on Jan. 10, 2010, was WSU's worst loss since a 67-37 defeat to Oregon on Feb. 18, 2006, as ASU held WSU to .298 (17-of-57) shooting on Jan. 10...ASU is 19-13 vs. WSU in Tempe (.594) in Pac-10 play...ASU shot a season-low .328 from the field (20-of-61) in the last meeting while Washington State made nine three-pointers.

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

HERB PAC-10 NOTE
Last season's second -place Pac-10 finish matched ASU's best in its 32 seasons of Pac-10 play and its 12 wins were the most since 1994-95. ASU has notched at least 11 Pac-10 wins eight times, Herb Sendek has done it in each of the past two seasons.

MOST SUN DEVIL WINS IN PAC-10 PLAY
1980-81, 16-2/2nd/Ned Wulk
1979-80, 15-3/2nd/Ned Wulk
2009-10, 12-6/2nd/Herb Sendek
1994-95, 12-6/3rd/Bill Frieder
1982-83, 12-6/T-3rd/Bob Weinhauer
2008-09, 11-7/T-3rd/Herb Sendek
2002-03, 11-7/4th/Rob Evans
1992-93, 11-7/T-3rd/Bill Frieder

THIS IS ABNORMAL
If something hasn't happened in 17 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 (.639). Only his first team at Miami of Ohio back in 1993-94 shot free throws at a pace lower than this year's Sun Devil squad. Consider the following when talking about Coach Sendek's teams his 18 season 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...has coached four 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...last year's team shot .713 in Pac-10 games, third-best in the loop. In overall statistics, ASU has been a top-five Pac-10 free throw shooting team in each of the past three 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).

NON-CONFERENCE
ASU topped Tulsa 69-59 Jan. 12 behind 25 points and nine boards from Ty Abbott. Carrick Felix added 21 points as ASU was 13-of-16 (.813) from the foul line and made seven three-pointers in the first half. Tulsa, which finished 23-12 last year and had a final RPI of 68 and has posted four straight 20-win seasons, is one of seven teams ASU had on its non-conference schedule who won at least 20 games last year and one of eight that was in the top 100 of the RPI. New Mexico (30-5/RPI of 10), UAB (25-9/45), Weber State (20-11/85), Baylor (28-8/9), Richmond (26-9/25) and Nevada (21-13/73) all won 20, while St. John's finished with a RPI of 82.

KEEP IT CLOSE
ASU is 21-15 (.583) in games games decided by six points or less/OT in the past four seasons. ASU is 3-2 this year in games of three points or less.

GAMES OF SIX POINTS OR LESS OR OVERTIME (2007-08 TO PRESENT/PAST FOUR SEASONS)
UCLA (23-12/.657)
Arizona State (21-15/.583)
Oregon (14-10/.583)
Washington State (20-14/.588)

ASU WINS IN GAMES OF SIX POINTS OR LESS IN 2010-11
ASU 69, UAB 66 (Nov. 20, 2010)
ASU 59, Weber State 58 (Nov. 26, 2010)
ASU 78, @Nevada 75 (Dec. 17, 2010)
ASU 56, North Carolina A&T 50 (Dec. 23, 2010)
ASU 60, @Oregon 55 (Jan. 1, 2011)

TRIO STEPPED UP
With leading scorer Trent Lockett out and all three of ASU's seniors in foul trouble at Oregon on Jan. 1, a trio stepped up. First-year players Carrick Felix had then-season highs of 19 points, six boards, four assists and 34 minutes while Brandon Dunson did the same with 14 points and 29 minutes. Sophomore Ruslan Pateev (career highs with 10 points in 28 minutes) also helped the cause as ASU continued its solid work in close games.

RIHARDS
Senior Rihards Kuksiks is 48-of-115 (.417) from the three-point stripe in the past 18 games after starting the year 8-of-30 in the first four games. Kuksiks posted his ninth 20-point game of his career with 22 points vs. USC on Jan. 27, and ASU is 6-3 in those games. He now has 266 career three-pointers in his career, second spot on the ASU career list and eighth on the Pac-10 list. He became the 34th member of ASU's 1,000-point club against Long Beach State, as he now has 1,124. The senior is 29-of-60 (.483) from the three-point stripe in his past 10 games against ranked opponents. He has been clutch in close games the past two years, as ASU has played eight games of two points or less (4-4), and he is 29-of-59 (.491) from three. He matched career-highs in points (27) and rebounds (nine) in the Jan. 8 win over No. 24 Washington last season. He had six 20-point games in 2009-10 with ASU going 5-1 in those games.

TOP SCORING GAMES FOR RIHARDS
27 vs. #24 Washington (Jan. 8, 2010)
27 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
25 at Oregon (Jan. 14, 2010)
24 vs. USC (Mar. 4, 2010)
24 vs. UCSB (Dec. 21, 2009)
22 vs. USC (Jan. 27, 2011)
21 vs. Jacksonville (Mar. 16, 2010/NIT)
20 at Nevada (Dec. 17, 2010)
20 vs. Syracuse (Mar. 22, 2009 @Miami/NCAA)

HEAD COACH
Herb Sendek, 85-71 (.545) at ASU, is in his 18th season as a head coach in 2010-2011 and has averaged 19.4 wins per season. He led the NC State Wolfpack to five straight NCAA appearances from 2002-06 and is now 339-229 (.597) and was 191-132 (.591) at NC State. The 47-year-old (born Feb. 22, 1963) Pittsburgh, Pa., native remains the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10. Only Duke posted more ACC wins (regular season and ACC Tournament) than NC State's 53 from 2002-2006. An overlooked note is his 10-year stay at NC State. To compare it to the Pac-10, since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1978-79, only five coaches have coached at their schools for at least 10 years: Lute Olson (24/Arizona), Ralph Miller (19/Oregon State), Mike Montgomery (18/Stanford), Ernie Kent (13/Oregon) and Ben Braun (12/California).

CURRENT LONGEVITY AMONG PAC-10 COACHES (YEARS AT SCHOOL)
Lorenzo Romar, Washington-9th
Ben Howland, UCLA-7th
Herb Sendek, ASU-5th
Johnny Dawkins, Stanford; Mike Montgomery, Cal; Craig Robinson, OSU-3rd
Ken Bone, Washington State; Kevin O'Neill, USC; Sean Miller, UA-2nd
Dana Altman, Oregon-First Year

100
In his 568-game head coaching career, only three teams have scored 100 points against Herb Sendek. No team has posted triple digits against a Coach Sendek-led squad in the past 294 games. The last team to do it was No. 1 Duke in a 108-71 at Cameron on Feb. 14, 2002.

OT
ASU's Jan. 29, 2011, 73-72 loss to UCLA was its first overtime game since it lost back-to-back overtime games on Feb. 26-28, 2009. In that season, ASU went to the Apple State 10-4 and with a chance to win the Pac-10 title but fell 73-70 to Washington and then 51-49 to Washington State on Feb. 28 (on a Taylor Rochestie three-pointer at the buzzer from just inside halfcourt). ASU is now 6-4 in overtime under Coach Sendek, and that includes a 4-0 mark in 2007-08.

TRENT
Sophomore Trent Lockett had a then career-high 22 points in the season opener at New Mexico (Nov. 16) where two of his dunks placed him No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10...had a career-high 24 points vs. Weber State on Nov. 26 in Alaska...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 27 double-figure scoring games...posted his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 boards vs. Richmond on Dec. 5...missed both games of the Oregon road trip on Dec. 30-Jan. 1 with a sprained big left toe...averaging 15.3 points per game in the past six contests...in past four games he is averaging 14.8 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists.

TRENT'S TOP SCORING GAMES
24 vs. Weber State (Nov. 26, 2010)
22 at New Mexico (Nov. 16, 2010)
20 at #20 Washington (Jan. 22, 2011)
19 vs. UAB (Nov. 20, 2010)
19 vs. San Francisco (Nov. 20, 2009)
18 at Cal (Feb. 3, 2011)
18 vs. Houston Baptist (Nov. 25, 2010)
17 vs. UCLA (Jan. 29, 2011)
17 at Arizona (Jan. 15, 2011)
17 vs. Stanford (Jan. 30, 2010)
17 vs. Texas State (Nov. 16, 2009)

BIG-TIME
ASU inked Mesa, Ariz., point guard Jahii Carson in the November signing period. The 5-11 energizer is a consensus top-50 pick by anyone who follows the recruiting world, and Clark Francis' Hoop Scoop rankings in Basketball Times he is the second-highest Pac-10 recruit at No. 24, behind only Washington's Tony Wroten (No. 22).

HOOP SCOOP CLASS OF 2011 RANKINGS (BASKETBALL TIMES/NOVEMBER 2010)
Pac-10 Conference Top-50 Signings
22. Tony Wroten (Washington)
24. Jahii Carson (Arizona State)
34. Norman Powell (UCLA)
40. Josiah Turner (Arizona)
44. Jabari Brown (Oregon)
47. Nick Johnson (Arizona)

YOUNG
After coaching in more than 500 career games at three schools and in seven NCAA tournaments and having eight former assistants serving as head coaches at the D-I level, Herb Sendek remains the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10 even with seven hires in the past three seasons.

YOUNGEST PAC-10 COACHES
Sean Miller (42), Arizona, 11/17/68
Johnny Dawkins (47), Stanford, 9/28/63
Herb Sendek (47), ASU, 2/22/63

ASU CAREER THREE-POINT ATTEMPTS
1. 891, Stevin Smith, 1990-94
2. 831, Ron Riley, 1992-96
3. 719, Ty Abbott, 2007-2011
4. 683, Eddie House, 1996-2000
5. 664, Rihards Kuksiks, 2007-2011