Nov. 27, 2004
The Arizona State men's basketball team put together one of its better outings in the past few years with a convincing 87-68 win over 2004 NCAA Tournament member Vanderbilt Saturday evening at the Las Vegas Invitational.
Ike Diogu posted his seventh 30-point game with a 30-point, 11-board effort, including 14-of-16 from the free throw line. Steve Moore posted his first 20-point game (and fourth of his 31-game career) since Jan. 3, 2003, with 20 points, while Kevin Kruger added 15 off the bench and Serge Angounou had a career-high 13 points.
ASU (3-1) shot 58.3 percent from the field (28-of-48) and was 8-of-12 (.667) from the three-point stripe, tied for the fifth-best effort in ASU history (minimum 10 attempts). ASU also hit 16-of-200 (.800) free throws in the second half to stop any Vanderbilt runs.
Diogu, who is averaging 25.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, was unstoppable against the Commodores as he was 8-of-10 from the field. The nation's third-leading returning scorer this year, Diogu is shooting 70 percent from the field (28-of-40) and is 45-of-52 (.865) from the free throw line through four games.
ASU jumped out to a 14-2 lead a the 12:46 mark of the first half, but Vanderbilt (3-2) cut the lead to 20-17 with 4:38 remaining. ASU then went on a 10-0 run behind four points by Diogu and three-pointers by both Steve Moore and Kevin Kruger to lead 35-23 at the half.
Vanderbilt cut the lead to eight early in the second half at 41-33, but ASU went on a 20-5 run to put the game away and led by as much as 23 (61-38). ASU was 6-of-7 (.857) from the three-point stripe in the second half
ASU now (3-1) travels to Philadelphia to take on the Temple Owls on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 7 p.m. ET. It will mark ASU's third straight game against a 2004 postseason team, as ASU lost a tough 66-65 game to UTEP on Friday in Las Vegas. Both UTEP and Vanderbilt played in the 2004 NCAA Tournament while Temple played in last year's NIT.