Jan 3, 2004
by Brian Gomez, sundevils.com
For the Arizona State men's basketball team, the good news is that Arizona won't reappear on its schedule until March 7 in the season finale.
There wasn't much else for the Sun Devils to hang their hat on Saturday afternoon during an in-state rivalry game that didn't live up to its hype, despite a capacity-plus crowd and a national television audience.
Stricken by costly turnovers and streaky shooting, ASU couldn't get over the hump against No. 4-ranked UA, dropping a 93-74 decision in the Pac-10 opener for both teams before 14,518 at Wells Fargo Arena, the third-largest crowd in building history.
Junior guard Steve Moore paced the Sun Devils with a team-high 23 points, but UA junior playmakers Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye combined for 43 points, and the Wildcats shot 56.1 percent from the field, in addition to forcing 17 turnovers.
"It's never going to get any easier in this league," said ASU head coach Rob Evans, whose team allowed 17 offensive rebounds, leading to 17 second-chance points, 15 of which came in the first half. "I can deal with defeat, but it's tough for me to deal with the fact that we didn't play as hard as we need to play."
Although sophomore forward Ike Diogu got his due with 18 points and a game-high 11 rebounds, he wasn't nearly as effective inside because of a sagging zone defense.
Diogu was forced to work for most of his points Saturday, while the Wildcats created easy baskets by running the floor well in transition and cleaning up on the glass. UA (9-1, 1-0) outrebounded ASU 41-28.
"Everything I did today was stuff I normally do," said Diogu, who was 5-for-17 from the field and attempted only eight free throws after going to the line a school-record-tying 23 times against Western Michigan. "I worked on the outside game, and I got it in a few times. I got the ball where I needed it, but it just didn't go in today."
The Wildcats led the entire way, although didn't take control until late in the first half when they scored 10 unanswered points over a three-minute stretch to claim a 46-30 edge at intermission.
Frye started the pivotal run with a layup, then Stoudamire tossed in back-to-back buckets. Sophomore guard Chris Rodgers made two free throws after Moore was whistled for an intentional foul, and freshman guard Mustafa Shakur capped the scoring spree with a hanging jumper.
"We felt that if we could do a good job on our defensive glass, we would get breakout opportunities with the fastbreak because they send four guys to the board a lot," said UA head coach Lute Olson, who recorded his 700th career win.
"It makes them tough to deal with on their offensive boards, but on the other hand, if we're quick enough up and down the court, they're going to have a hard time recovering when we get the rebound."
In the second half, UA continued its momentum with an 8-2 run that transpired into a 22-point lead. Stoudamire sank a three-pointer from the wing in the short burst, and sophomore forward Andre Iguodala laid in a basket after a turnover, prompting Evans to turn to his bench for help.
"We run just like they do, but we want everybody to crash the boards, and I guess they noticed that, and they had people leaking," said Moore, who was 8-for-13 from the field. "If everybody goes and crashes, we have to turn around and find our man."
As a team, ASU shot 39 percent from the field, 41.7 percent from three-point range and 78.3 percent from the foul line. Other than Moore and Diogu, senior swingman Jamal Hill (15 points) was the only Sun Devil to score in double figures.
Five Wildcats scored in double figures, as Stoudamire led the way with a game-high 26 points on a 10-for-14 effort from the field, including a 6-for-9 effort from three-point range, and Frye followed with 17 points and seven rebounds. Sophomore guard Hassan Adams tossed in 14 points, Shakur added 12 and freshman forward Ivan Radenovic had 11.
UP NEXT: ASU continues Pac-10 play at Wells Fargo Arena at 8:30 p.m. Thursday against No. 5 Stanford. The game can be seen on Fox Sports Net and heard on ESPN Radio 860 AM.
Reach the reporter at brian.gomez@asu.edu.
By MEL REISNER
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) - Arizona coach Lute Olson simply pointed toward the scoreboard in response to Arizona State's rowdy fans.
The fourth-ranked Wildcats gave Olson his 700th career victory Saturday, with Channing Frye playing preseason All-American Ike Diogu to a standstill in a 93-74 rout of the Sun Devils on Saturday.
"I've been learning all sorts of new words from that student section down there for years, and I thought, 'You probably should learn to keep your mouth closed when you're down 30-something,"' the soft-spoken Olson said.
Salim Stoudamire had 26 points and Frye had 17 points and seven rebounds.
"I can't make this a one-on-one battle," Frye said. "I think Ike is a great player, and he does what he has to do for his team to win. But this is a team game."
Hassan Adams had 14 points and Mustafa Shakur 12 to help the Wildcats (9-1) win their eighth in a row.
Olson is 700-240 in 31 years as a coach at Long Beach State, Iowa and Arizona, 508-148 in 21 years with the Wildcats.
The 2002 Hall of Fame inductee is the 19th college coach to reach 700 and the fourth still active, trailing Bob Knight, Lou Henson and Eddie Sutton.
Diogu had 18 points and 11 rebounds, but double teams by Frye and a teammate forced him outside in the first half, and the sophomore had one of his worst games, hitting 5-of-17 from the field.
"They did a real good job keeping a lot of guys around me, and just made it tough to hit the shots that I normally do," Diogu said. "It's just a disappointing loss."
Steve Moore had 23 points and Jamal Hill 15 for the Sun Devils (6-4, 0-1), who have not beaten a team with a winning record and lost to Western Michigan at home on Tuesday.
The same night, the Wildcats committed a season-high 23 turnovers and were extended before beating Louisiana-Lafeyette on a 3-pointer by Andre Iguodala. Stoudamire went scoreless for the second time in his career in the Fiesta Bowl Classic championship, and came in anxious to redeem himself.
He made six 3-pointers - one short of a career high - in nine attempts, burying all four tries in the second half.
"This is the new year, 2004, and one of my resolutions is to keep it positive," Stoudamire said. "The games count now. The game before, preseason, I mean, I care, but not too much."
The Wildcats led 46-30 at halftime and by at least 20 points most of the second half, taking an 84-50 lead on a three-point play by Adams with 7:58 remaining before Olson began using reserves.
By then, Arizona had its 17th win in the last 18 meetings with its archrival.
"I was really looking forward to today's ball game," Sun Devils coach Rob Evans said. "I thought our guys would come out and compete a little harder than we did. We got outcompeted in the first half - Arizona got all the loose balls and beat us on the glass."
Only four players scored for Arizona State in the first half, when the Sun Devils shot 30 percent.
The Wildcats opened a 16-9 lead on Stoudamire's 3-pointer with 13:52 left in the first half.
Hill and Moore made 3-pointers 45 seconds apart, and the Sun Devils cut the deficit to 20-19 with 10:07 to go. But that was as close as they got.
Moore's was the Sun Devils' last field goal in a 5:21 span, and a big swing occurred when Moore's baseline jumper wouldn't drop. At the other end, Adams made a 3-pointer with 7:43 to go.
That made it 27-21 during a 26-8 run capped by Shakur's jumper with 42 seconds left for a 46-27 Arizona lead.