April 10, 2010
The Sun Devil men's hoops team, in its fourth season under 2009-10 Pac-10 Coach of the Year Herb Sendek and winners of 20 games (22-10) in three straight seasons for the first time since JFK was President, made its third straight postseason appearance for the first time since the mid-1990s and finished second in the Pac-10 (12-6) for the first time since 1980-81. ASU was picked for seventh in the preseason media poll and tenth by Sporting News.
HERE IS ONE YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T REALIZE
The Sun Devils are the only team in the Pac-10 to post 20 wins in each of the past three seasons. ASU won five Pac-10 road games for just the sixth time in its 32-year history in 2009-10. It went 8-1 in 1980-81, 7-2 in 1979-80 and 5-4 in 2009-10, 2008-09, 1994-95 and 1982-83.
JUST ANOTHER WAY TO SAY IT WAS A REALLY GOOD SEASON
ASU has three 20-win seasons under Herb Sendek in four years. How much has he changed the mindset in Tempe? It had three 20 win-seasons in the previous 25 seasons. This past season also was the first since 1994-95 (past 15 seasons) that ASU did not have a three-game losing streak.
QUICKIES ON THE SUN DEVIL SEASON
Herb Sendek became just the second Sun Devil to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors in ASU's 32 years of Pac-10 play (Ned Wulk in 1979-80)...ASU finished 7-2 in the second half of Pac-10 play and held 16 of 33 opponents to under 40 percent shooting, including seven of the nine Pac-10 schools (33 of its past 68 opponents have shot under 40 percent)...ASU is 32-22 (.593) in Pac-10 regular season games the past three seasons, tied for the second-best mark with Washington...ASU allowed just 58.7 points per game and averaged 8.2 three-pointers made per game...after going 8-22 in Coach Sendek's first year (2006-2007), ASU is 68-34 (.667) and giving up just 60.7 ppg. in his 131 games...Herb Sendek is 11-4 in first-round games of postseason play overall as he is 6-1 in NCAA action and 5-3 in NIT play.
TEAMS THAT HAD 2009 FIRST-TEAM ALL-AMERICANS--ONE YEAR LATER
Arizona State, James Harden (22-11 this year; 25-10 last year)
Davidson, Stephen Curry (16-15 this year; 26-7 last year)
North Carolina, Tyler Hansbrough (17-16 this year; 28-4 last year)
Oklahoma, Blake Griffin (13-18 this year; 27-5 last year)
Pitt, DeJuan Blair (24-8 this year; 31-5 last year)
PERSPECTIVE
With its Feb. 25 win at Stanford, ASU clinched its third straight 20-win season for the first time since 1961-63. This manufactured note says it all...ASU last posted its 20th win for the third straight season (en route to 26) on Feb. 16, 1963, a 104-87 win at BYU. Six days later on Feb. 22, Herb Sendek was born.
MORE ON THE 68 WINS
ASU was picked to finish seventh in the Pac-10 media poll and some had them tagged for last, as ASU was one of just seven schools to have two draft picks in the top 35 last year (James Harden was third and Jeff Pendergraph 31st), joining North Carolina (three), USC, Louisville, Wake Forest and UCLA. This year marked the first time ASU has posted three straight winning seasons since Bill Frieder led ASU to five straight from 1990-91 to 1994-95 (and also the last time ASU had posted back-to-back winning seasons before last year). ASU produced 68 wins in the past three seasons, just the second-time in school history a three-year period has produced 68 wins. ASU notched 20 wins for the third straight season after reaching 20 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1979-80 and 1980-81. ASU had not had three straight 20-win seasons since the 1960-61 (23-6), 1961-62 (23-4) and 1962-63 (26-3) teams racked up 73 wins.
MOST WINS OVER A THREE-YEAR PERIOD IN ASU HISTORY
1960-61 TO 1962-63 (73-13/.849)
2007-08 TO 2009-10 (68-34/.667)
SENIOR POINT GUARD FINAL QUICK NOTES
Derek Glasser set the ASU record for games played in a career with 131. Jeff Pendergraph played in 126 to set the mark last year....Glasser averaged 10.1 points and shot 86.3 percent from the free throw line (113-of-131) in 2009-10...led league in assist-to-turnover ratio in Pac-10 games at 1.9 (75 assists and 20 turnovers)...led the league in assists per game (4.8) and in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.16 (158 assists and 73 turnovers)...is the ASU career record holder with 551 assists, topping the mark held by the late Bobby Thompson, who had 454 from 1983-87, and free throw shooting (295-of-352 for .838)...posted a career-high 24 points in the Nov. 27 win over LSU at Madison Square Garden...played 20 turnover free games in his 131-game career...had five 20-point games in his career...the first Sun Devil with 1,000 points (1,028) and 500 assists (551).
ASU CAREER GAMES
1. Derek Glasser, 2006-2010, 131
2. Jerren Shipp, 2006-2010, 129
ASU CAREER FREE THROW PERCENTAGE
1. Derek Glasser, 2006-10, 83.8 (295-of-352)
2. Alex Austin, 1986-90, 81.5 (255-of-313)
3. Rick Taylor, 1974-78, 81.4 (253-of-311)
4. Dennis Hamilton, 1963-66, 81.3 (261-of-321)
5. Kevin Kruger, 2003-06, 81.2 (229-of-282)
NIT STUFF
ASU made its 11th appearances in the NIT and is now 5-11 overall...Herb Sendek is now 8-9 in the NIT...he was 0-2 at Miami of Ohio with appearances in 1994 and 1996...he was 6-5 at NC State with appearances in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2002...his 2000 team advanced to the semifinals with wins over Tulane, Arizona State and Mississippi...at ASU he is 2-2.
SENIOR BIG MAN FINAL NOTES
Eric Boateng led the Pac-10 in field goal percentage at .665 (117-of-176) and finished even better in Pac-10 play at 68-of-103 (.660). Last year Sun Devil Jeff Pendergraph led the nation in field goal percentage at .660, the best mark by a Pac-10 player since Todd MacCullouch of Washington shot .662 in 1998-99. Boateng didn't have enough makes to qualify for national honors but no team had produced different players lead the league in shooting since Washington State's Fred Ferguson (1993-94) and Mark Hendrickson (1994-95)...Boateng already has his degree in Global Studies, speaks a little bit of Chinese and an African dialect called "Twi" and is took advantage of the 24-hour access for ASU's new practice facility (Weatherup Center)...he averaged 8.8 points and 7.2 boards and scored 292 points after scoring 57 last year...had monster game vs. UCLA on March 6 with 16 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, four blocks and zero turnovers in 34 minutes...notched 19 points and 13 boards vs. Cal on Jan. 28...in his final 13 games he was 60-of-86 (.698) from the floor and averaged 11.2 points and 8.8 boards with 16 blocks...had made 14 straight shots entering the March 4 USC game, as he is the only D-I player to make 11-of-11 in D-I in a game this year when he did it at Stanford on Feb. 25. Jon Avery of IUPUI was 10-of-10 against Oral Roberts on Jan. 14, 2010 as was Dominic Calegari of UC Davis vs. UC Irvine on the same might)...had career-best 24 points at Stanford on Feb. 25.
11-OF-11 FIELD GOAL GAMES IN A PAC-10 GAME
Eric Boateng (Arizona State) at Stanford (Feb. 25, 2010)BOAT: Eric Boateng already has his degree in Global Studies, speaks a little bit of Chinese and an African dialect called "Twi" and is took advantage of the 24-hour access for ASU's new practice facility (Weatherup Center)...averaged 8.8 points and 7.2 boards and shot 66.5 percent from the field (117-of-176), as he has scored 292 points after scoring 57 last year...68-of-103 (.660) from the field in Pac-10 play, best in the league...had monster game vs. UCLA on March 6 with 16 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, four blocks and zero turnovers in 34 minutes...notched 19 points and 13 boards vs. Cal on Jan. 28...in his final 13 games he was 60-of-86 (.698) from the floor and averaged 11.2 points and 8.8 boards with 16 blocks...had made 14 straight shots entering the March 4 USC game, as he is the only D-I player to make 11-of-11 in D-I in a game this year when he did it at Stanford on Feb. 25. Jon Avery of IUPUI was 10-of-10 against Oral Roberts on Jan. 14, 2010 as was Dominic Calegari of UC Davis vs. UC Irvine on the same might)...had career-best 24 points at Stanford on Feb. 25.
11-OF-11 FIELD GOAL GAMES IN A PAC-10 GAME
Eric Boateng (Arizona State) at Stanford (Feb. 25, 2010)
Bryce Taylor (Oregon) vs. USC (March 10,2007/Pac-10 Tournament)
Tommy Smith (Arizona State) vs. Washington (Feb. 10, 2001)
Marques Johnson (UCLA) at California (Feb. 27, 1976)
AT HOME
ASU is 43-12 (.782) at home in the past three seasons, including a 15-5 mark in 2007-08 that set the ASU mark for total home wins that was topped by this year's 16-4 (.800) mark. ASU is 28-7 (.800) the past two seasons at home.
FIRST-TEAM ALL-PAC-10
Junior Ty Abbott averaged 15.2 points and 5.5 boards in the final 18 games and was 56-of-138 (.406) from the three-point stripe in that time...in the 18 league games, Abbott finished ninth in the loop in scoring (14.7 points per game), 11th in rebounding (5.7 rpg.), ninth in free throw percentage (.818 as he was 36-of-44), fourth in three-point percentage (.411 as he was 53-of-129), second in three-pointers made per game (2.9) and sixth in defensive rebounds per game (5.0)...had monster road tilt with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-8 three-pointers, in season-high 39 minutes in 73-69 win at Tucson on Feb. 21...posted a season-high 29 points vs. Stanford, including seven three-pointers, and also added a career-best 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end...played 38 minutes, posted 20 points and matched season highs in assists (four) and steals (three) vs. California on Jan. 28...last year he shot 19-of-86 (.221) from the floor, 8-of-59 (.136) from the three-point stripe and averaged 2.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in Pac-10 play...missed one game after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in mid-October...Jan. 8-10 Pac-10 Player of the Week after the sweep of the Washington schools as he scored 17 points in each win...has played in 101 games in his three-year career and started in 90...closing in on 1,000 career points as he has 971 (9.6 points per game)...when Abbott scores in double digits, ASU is 37-12 (.755) and 25-8 (.758) the past two seasons.
HE IS THAT YOUNG AND BEEN COACHING THAT LONG
Herb Sendek earned the Miami of Ohio job in the spring of 1993 at age 30. Three years later he took over the NC State program at age 33. Some 17 years later he ranks near the top of the youngest coaches with at least 300 career wins, as he turned 47 on Feb. 22.
YOUNGEST COACHES WITH 300 DIVISION I WINS
Billy Donovan, Florida, 366 (May 30, 1965)
Steve Alford, New Mexico, 306 (Nov. 23, 1964)
Note: Alford has 384 career wins, but 78 were at Manchester, which was not D-I.
Herb Sendek, Arizona State, 330 (Feb. 22, 1963)
Bill Self, Kansas, 409 (Dec. 27, 1962)
Jay Wright, Villanova, 325 (Dec. 24, 1961)
Jeff Jones, American, 305 (June 29, 1960)
MOVING UP THE LIST
Already Herb Sendek is third in terms of coaching longevity in the Pac-10. He finished his fourth season at ASU in 2009-10, behind only Lorenzo Romar of Washington (eight seasons) and Ben Howland of UCLA (seven seasons).
CURRENT LONGEVITY AMONG PAC-10 COACHES (YEARS AT SCHOOL)
Lorenzo Romar, Washington-8
Ben Howland, UCLA-7
Herb Sendek, ASU-4
Johnny Dawkins, Stanford; Mike Montgomery, Cal; Craig Robinson, OSU-2
Ken Bone, Washington State; Kevin O'Neill, USC; Sean Miller, UA-1
ONE MORE COACH HONOR
For the second time in four seasons, Herb Sendek earned United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) District IX honors (California, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii, Arizona and Alaska). He also earned the honor in 2007-08 and earned District III (Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Maryland) honors in 2003-04. One note on the honor for this year...he was the only coach of the nine honored to not have a player on his All-District team.
REALLY?
ASU had a winning record at the halfway mark of the Pac-10 season (5-4) for just the third time in the past 15 seasons (1995-96 to present) and for the second straight season under Herb Sendek. ASU was 5-4 at the turn last year en route to the NCAA Tournament with NBA draft picks James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph leading the way. In 2002-03, ASU also was 5-4 at the turn, with Freshman of the Year Ike Diogu (and eventual NBA Lottery pick) and four seniors in the starting lineup and also advanced to the NCAA Tournament. This year also marks the fourth straight year Herb Sendek's Sun Devils posted at least the same Pac-10 record in the second half as it did in the first half, as it was 5-4 through first nine games and 7-2 in the final nine. ASU is 14-22 (.389) in the first half of Pac-10 play under Coach Sendek but 20-16 (.556) in the second half. ASU notched its first 7-2 "half" record in a Pac-10 season since the 1982-83 team went 7-2 in the back half of Pac-10 play en route to a 12-6 league mark. In the past three seasons ASU is 14-13 in the first half of Pac-10 play (.519) but 18-9 (.667) in the second half.
SOLID D NOTE
Seven of ASU's 23 opponents had season-lows in points against ASU...UW, WSU, SDSU, UCSB, Delaware State, Western Illinois and UCLA all had or matched season-lows in points vs. ASU...ASU held two of the top three scoring teams in the Pac-10 to its season low...UW is at 79.8 but had 51 on Jan. 8...WSU averaged 71.9 points per game but had just 46 on Jan. 10 in Tempe...ASU held UCLA (66.8) to 46 on March 4, matching a Bruin season-low...San Diego State (25-9 and 2010 MWC Tournament champions) averaged 70.3 ppg. but had just 52 on Dec. 19...Big West Champion UCSB (20-10) averaged 67.6 ppg. but ASU held the Gauchos to 42 on Dec. 21...others with season-lows against ASU were Delaware State (34 but averaged 58.5) and Western Illinois (35 but averaged 59.0)...Jimmer Fredette of BYU, who had 49 at Arizona and averaged 22.1 points, was 1-of-13 from the field against ASU and missed all his three-point attempts on Dec. 8 in Provo...WSU's Klay Thompson averaged 19.6 points on the year (third in Pac-10) but was 3-of-11 from the floor and posted nine points on Jan. 10 and was 6-of-20 from the floor and 2-of-10 from the three-point stripe on Feb. 4 against ASU...Cal averaged 77.2 but ASU held the Bears to 62 on Feb. 27 in Berkeley, which was a season-low until Duke topped the Bears 68-53 in the NCAA Tournament.
DEVIL DATA
ASU's 43 points in the second half at Arizona on Feb. 21 is the most it has scored in the second-half of a Pac-10 game since it had 47 at Stanford last year on Jan. 2. ASU also had 40 at Stanford on Feb. 25...only four players scored 25 points against ASU in 2009-10. Jerome Randle and Jerome Boykin of California both had 25 Jan. 28, Tweety Carter had 27 for Baylor on Dec. 3 and Ben Smith had 26 for Jacksonville on March 16...Rihards Kuksiks had 17 points off the bench in the UA win, matching a Sun Devil high with Trent Lockett who had 17 vs. Texas State on Nov. 16. Those digits mark the most points off the bench by a Sun Devil since Christian Polk had 18 vs. Arizona on Feb. 25, 2007.
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 2009-2010, ahead of Mike Montgomery and Rick Pitino (seven each). 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).
A FEATHER IN THE CAP
ASU became just the third Pac-10 team to win three straight in McKale Center in the past 27 seasons (1983-84 to present) when it beat UA 73-69 in Tucson on Feb. 21. Stanford under Mike Montgomery won four straight from 2001-2004 and UCLA under Ben Howland won three straight from 2006-08.
OFFENSE
ASU'S 88 points vs. Stanford on Jan. 30 is the second-most in a Pac-10 regulation game under Herb Sendek. It then posted 81 at Washington State on Feb. 4, the first time since Jan. 13-15, 2005, it had scored at least 80 points in back-to-back Pac-10 games.
MOST POINTS IN PAC-10 GAME BY ASU UNDER COACH SENDEK
ASU 99, @California 90, 2 OT (Jan. 17, 2008)
ASU 90, @Stanford 60 (Jan. 2, 2009)
ASU 88, Stanford 70 (Jan. 30, 2010)
ASU 83, California 66 (March 7, 2009)
ASU 81, @Washington State 70 (Feb. 4, 2010)
ASU 80, USC 66 (March 1, 2008)
AT THE OTHER END
ASU had the tough-to-defend combination of being leading the league in three-pointers made per game (8.2) and was second in percentage (.369). It was not just a get-fat-on-non-conference-opponent type of thing...ASU finished third in Pac-10 games only by shooting .351 from the arc and making 7.9 per game, best in the league.
ALL OVER STAT SHEET
Junior Jamelle McMillan was all over the stat sheet the eight games prior to his injury in mid-January, as he missed four games, and ASU was 2-2. In the eight games prior to the injury he averaged 32.8 minutes, 9.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.3 assists and had 12 steals and just 11 turnovers. What is eye-opening are the numbers with him playing and not playing for the Sun Devils. Some notes to ponder...ASU gave up 57.1 points per game in the 29 games he played yet gave up 70.5 in his absence...as the point man in the zone, ASU opponents shot .450 from the field and .363 in the games he was missing, yet in the games he played those numbers dropped to .394 and .311.
IMPRESSIVE
Freshman Trent Lockett, a native of Golden Valley, Minn., comes from one of the top high school programs in the country (Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minn.) and made a solid first impression as he earned a spot on the five-man Pac-10 All-Freshman Team. His 17 points against Stanford (Jan. 30) matched his second-best scoring night, as he had 19 vs. USF on Nov. 20 and 17 vs. Texas State on Nov. 16. He also added a career-best eight assists (he had 15 assists entering the game) vs. Stanford. He had nine double-figure scoring games on the year, including a 17-point, six-rebound and eight assist effort against Stanford on Jan. 30. He played in all 33 games, just one off the freshman school record of 34 held by four players.
PAC-10 STATISTICS
In overall statistics, ASU led the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (+1.2), fewest turnovers per game (11.9) and three-pointers made per game (8.2). It is second in three-point percentage (.369), scoring defense (58.7 ppg.), field goal percentage defense (.402) and is third in turnover margin (+1.0) and scoring margin (+8.0). Derek Glasser leads the league in assists per game (4.8) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) and is fourth in free throws (.863) while Ty Abbott is sixth in three-point shooting (.404) and fifth in threes made per game (2.4). Eric Boateng is first in field goal percentage at .665 (117-of-176) and fourth in rebounding (7.2).
PAC-10 LEADERS IN CONFERENCE TILTS
In the 18 Pac-10 regular season games only, ASU led the league in three-pointers made (7.9) and fewest turnovers per game (11.4)...ASU ranked second in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) and field goal percentage defense (.410)...ASU ranked third in scoring margin (+3.8), scoring defense (60.7 ppg.), free throw percentage (.715) and three-point percentage (.351)...Ty Abbott finished ninth in the loop in scoring (14.7 points per game), 11th in rebounding (5.7 rpg.), ninth in free throw percentage (.818 as he was 36-of-44), fourth in three-point percentage (.411 as he was 53-of-129), second in three-pointers made per game (2.9) and sixth in defensive rebounds per game (5.0)...Derek Glasser was first in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.9), third in assists per game (4.2) and fifth in free throw percentage (.871)...Eric Boateng finished third at 7.6 boards per game and first in field goal percentage at .660 (68-of-103).
DEFENSE
Just how good has the defense been since Herb Sendek took over? ASU has given up less than 62 points per game in each of the past three seasons. Those that followed Coach Sendek's career won't find it a big shocker. In his 10 seasons in Raleigh, NC State led the ACC in scoring defense four times and held opponents to just 54.7 points per game in 1996-97, an ACC record. This year's 58.7 points per game allowed was the lowest by ASU since the 1948-49 team gave up 47.6.
ASU LOWEST DEFENSIVE PPG.
1. 46.5 - 1948
2. 47.6 - 1949
3. 58.7 - 2010
4. 59.8 - 1950
5. 60.5 - 2009
6. 61.8 - 2007
7. 61.9 - 2008
WINNING TOUGH ONES
ASU is 27-18 (.600) in the past three seasons in 10 points or less games after going 4-17 in Herb Sendek's first year...after going 10-29 in Herb Sendek's first two seasons when trailing at the half, ASU is 7-11 the past two seasons with victories at SDSU, vs. IUPUI, vs. BYU, at and vs. Arizona (Pac-10 Tournament) in 2008-09 and vs. LSU and at Stanford in 2009-2010...ASU is 6-2 in its past eight overtime games...in ASU's first season under Herb Sendek, it was 3-12 in two-possession games (six points or less), in the past three seasons it is 15-10
(.600).
GAMES OF 10 POINTS OR LESS, PAST THREE SEASONS(2007-08 THROUGH 2009-10/AS OF MARCH 23, 2010)
1. UCLA, 28-15 (.651)
2. ASU, 27-18 (.600)
3. Washington, 25-18 (.581)
4. Cal, 28-23 (.549)
5. Stanford, 25-24 (.510)
6. USC, 26-27 (.490)
7. WSU, 23-24 (.489)
8. OSU, 25-28 (.472)
9. Arizona, 23-27 (.460)
10. Oregon, 23-24 (.489)
THE SHOOTER
Junior Rihards Kuksiks was the third-best returning three-point shooter in the nation according to official NCAA statistics. Kuksiks was 93-of-210 from the arc, eighth in the nation, in 2008-09. He shot .420 from the three-point stripe in the 16 games against NCAA Tournament teams last year and is 22-of-45 (.489) in his past seven games against ranked opponents. He has been clutch in close games the past two years, as ASU has played five games of two points or less (and went 3-2), and he is 19-of-39 (.487) from three. He matched career-highs in points (27) and rebounds (nine) in the Jan. 8 win over No. 24 Washington. He had six 20-point games in 2009-10 with 27 vs. USF and Washington, 25 at Oregon, 24 vs. USC and UCSB and 21 vs. Jacksonville.
THE HEAD COACH
Herb Sendek, 76-56 (.576) at ASU, is in his 17th season as a head coach in 2009-2010 and has averaged 19.2 wins per season. He led the NC State Wolfpack to five straight NCAA appearances from 2002-06 and is now 330-214 (.607) in 17 seasons 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 victories from 2002-2006. Another 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).
ABOUT THE ROAD
ASU at 10-8 is the only team in the Pac-10 with a winning league road record in the past two seasons, as it has gone 5-4 each year away from Tempe...after losing its first eight Pac-10 road games under Herb Sendek, ASU is 15-13 (.536) since...ASU swept the Oregon trip for the second straight year, just its second Pac-10 road sweep since January of 2005 and its third road sweep in the past six seasons...ASU has now won the past three in Tucson and is 3-1 at UA under Herb Sendek after winning once in Tucson in the previous 23 tries (win was in 1994-95, from 1983-84 through 2006-07 period)...ASU won four straight Pac-10 roadies last year for the first time since the 1980-81 team won five straight...ASU won five Pac-10 road games for just the sixth time in its 32-year history this year. It went 8-1 in 1980-81, 7-2 in 1979-80 and 5-4 in 2009-10, 2008-09, 1994-95 and 1982-83.
POINTS ALLOWED
Quietly the Jan. 10 71-46 win over Washington State and the 56-46 wins over Oregon State (Feb. 13) and UCLA (Mar. 6) were three of the best in terms of points allowed by ASU in its Pac-10 history. It is the eighth-fewest points allowed in ASU's 576 Pac-10 regular-season contests.
FEWEST POINTS ALLOWED IN A PAC-10 GAME
ASU 48, @Oregon State 38 (Feb. 7, 2009/Herb Sendek)
ASU 69, Oregon State 38 (Jan. 8, 2009/Herb Sendek)
ASU 42, @Cal 41 (Mar. 3, 2008/Herb Sendek)
ASU 53, Washington 41 (Jan. 31, 1991/Bill Frieder)
ASU 67, @Washington State 41 (Feb. 11, 1984/Bob Weinhauer)
ASU 82, Oregon State 44 (Feb. 25, 1995/Bill Frieder)
ASU 96, WSU 45 (Feb. 7, 2002/Rob Evans)
ASU 56, UCLA 46 (Mar. 6, 2010/Herb Sendek)
ASU 56, Oregon State 46 (Feb. 13, 2010/Herb Sendek)
ASU 71, Washington State 46 (Jan. 10, 2010/Herb Sendek)
OVERTIME
ASU is 6-3 in overtime under Herb Sendek. It was 0-1 in his first year, 4-0 in his second year and 2-2 last year. ASU's four OT wins in 2007-08 was the second-most in school history (1980-81 team was 5-0). ASU won five straight overtime games under Coach Sendek, a first in school history.
DEFENSE
ASU held Oregon State to just .246 (14-of-57) from the field on Feb. 11, the best defensive effort in a Pac-10 game in the past 23 seasons. ASU also held WSU to .298 (17-of-57) on Jan. 10, tied for its fifth-best defensive shooting night in past 23 seasons in Pac-10.
ASU BEST DEFENSIVE FG% PAC-10 GAME/1987-88 PRESENT
.246/14-57 by Oregon State/Herb Sendek (Feb. 11, 2010)
.265/13-49 vs. Washington State/Rob Evans (Feb. 7, 2002)
.286/20-70 at Oregon/Rob Evans (Jan. 22, 2005)
.286/14-49 by California/Bill Frieder (Mar. 7, 1996)
.298/17-57 by Washington State/Herb Sendek (Jan. 10, 2010)
.298/14-47 at Arizona/Herb Sendek (Jan. 21, 2009)
GOOD ON THE TUBE
ASU is 17-7 in Fox Sports Net national games in the past three years, including 9-0 in 2008-2009...ASU is 4-2 in CBS games the past two years with wins over UCLA (twice), Cal and Temple. In the previous 11 years, ASU was 1-4 in CBS games...ASU is 31-14 in national or network regional games (games on FSN, CBS or any of the ESPN networks), and 6-2 in past eight against ranked teams in TV games.
MANY WINS, MANY PLACES
Herb Sendek has covered the map in wins. In his career, Coach Sendek has won 327 games in 24 states, plus two wins in Puerto Rico and one in Washington D.C. North Carolina (153), Arizona (55) and Ohio (51) lead the way as he has been head coach in each state, and he also has posted wins in California (11), Florida (seven), Michigan (six), Oregon, South Carolina and Virginia (five each), Georgia and Indiana (four each), New York, Massachusetts and (three each), Hawaii, Maryland, Texas and Washington (two each). One-win states are Alabama, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, Tennessee and Utah.
A SOLID NOTE FROM HIS ACC DAYS
From the 2001-2002 season through 2005-2006 (Herb Sendek's final five seasons) NC State won 53 total ACC games (regular season and ACC tournament). Only Duke was better (76) in that time frame. Maryland also had 53.
ABOUT THE LACK OF TURNOVERS
On Feb. 25 at Stanford, ASU committed turnovers in the first half at 15:29, 14:36, 13:04, 12:16 and 10:18...and that was it. ASU played the final 29:32 of the game without a turnover, which matches the fewest by a Sun Devil team in a road game in the past 23 seasons and the fewest in a road game since Feb. 6, 1999, when it had five at Washington.
FEWEST TURNOVERS BY ASU (1987-88 TO PRESENT)
4-vs. USC/Pac-10 Championship (March 14, 2009)
4-vs. Oregon State (Mar. 9, 1991)
4-vs. Washington (Mar. 8, 1990)
5-at Stanford (Feb. 25, 2010)
5-at Washington (Feb. 6, 1999)
5-vs. Washington State (Jan. 14, 1993)