Evans Faces Old School And Coach

March 14, 2000

Wed., Mar. 15 7:30 p.m. MT
Ned Wulk Court/Wells Fargo Arena
vs. New Mexico St. (22-9, 11-5 Big West)
KGME 550 AM Tempe, Ariz.

ASU VS. NMSU IN NIT: - The Arizona State men's basketball team (18-12, 10-8 in Pac-10), winners of six of its past nine, takes on the New Mexico State Aggies (22-9) in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament on Wed., March 15 at 7:30 p.m. MST. All ASU games are carried on the Sun Devil Radio Network with Tim Healey (play-by-play) and Vic Cegles (color) on KGME 550 AM in Phoenix. There is no TV coverage. ASU went 6-3 in the second half of Pac-10 play after going just 2-7 last year.

New Mexico State, coached by Lou Henson, is 22-9 and finished 11-5 in the Big West (East Division) and lost in the Big West Championship to Utah State. Arizona State head coach Rob Evans is a 1968 graduate of New Mexico State with a Bachelors Degree in Education and played for Henson for two seasons (1966-68). Evans also is a native of Hobbs, N.M., and was the NMSU Most Outstanding Athlete in 1967 and is a member of the New Mexico State Athletic Hall of Fame. Also, New Mexico State's African American Alumni Association presents a scholarship in Rob Evans' name. The Rob Evans Scholarship Fund is given to the university to assist with the recruitment and retention of African American students.

SOME THINGS TO BUILD ON:
The young ASU team, with six true freshmen seeing playing time and just one senior, posted a Pac-10 road sweep for the first time since 1996 to begin the second half at WSU/Washington and notched a home sweep of the LA schools for the first time since 1986 a week later. It was ASU's first four-game Pac-10 win streak since 1995. ASU also is 3-1 in overtime, all Pac-10 road contests. ASU won OT games at Cal, Washington State and Oregon State and lost at USC after going just 1-3 last year in OT. ASU's three Pac-10 road OT wins is the most since the 1980-81 team won four. ASU also is 3-2 in games decided by three points or less after going 1-5 last year.

EDDIE:
Under second-year coach Rob Evans, ASU has just one senior, Pac-10 Player of the Year Eddie House (the first Sun Devil to earn the honor). With his 40 points vs. UCLA on Feb. 17, House became the first Pac-10 player to notch four 40-point games in one season. He has already posted six games of 30+ points games on the year, as he went crazy at Cal on Jan. 8 with 61 points, which tied the Pac-10 record held by Lew Alcindor. He also had 46 vs. San Diego State (Dec. 18), 42 vs. Penn State (Dec. 29) and the 40 vs. UCLA (Feb. 17). He has 15 games of at least 20 points this year and ASU is 13-2 in those contests (8-0 at home). House also is averaging 7.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.5 steals in his past six games.

NIT HISTORY:
ASU will make its seventh appearance in the postseason National Invitational Tournament and has a 2-6 mark overall?ASU's last appearance was in 1997-98, when it lost at Hawaii 90-73?ASU has lost four straight postseason NIT games?overall, ASU is 19-26 (.422) in postseason.

THREE-DOT DATA:
ASU has held eight of its past nine opponents to under 50% shooting?Alton Mason is averaging 14.8 points in his past five games and played a season-high 38 minutes at Oregon State?ASU won the OSU game in OT with three players fouled out (Awvee Storey, Tanner Shell and Tommy Smith) and Chad Prewitt playing only three minutes before spraining his ankle?Donnell Knight posted a season-high 29 minutes vs. Cal on March 8 and matched a season-high with 16 points?Kyle Dodd has 56 assists and just 16 turnovers in the past 22 games (431 minutes). Dodd had a career-high 10 assists vs. UCLA?ASU is 14-3 when leading at the half compared to 10-9 a year ago?Chad Prewitt averaged 10.2 points in Pac-10 play and is the only Sun Devil to start in all 30 games?Shawn Redhage made 32-of-36 (.889) FTs in Pac-10 play?Awvee Storey leads the league in offensive boards with 101.

ASU VS. NMSU:
ASU and NMSU have met 68 times and the series is tied at 34-34. The teams last met in 1981-82, when ASU beat NMSU 84-74 in the Fiesta Classic. The Aggies last beat ASU in Tempe in 1971-72, an 88-85 win. Another game of note in the series was on Dec. 15, 1967, when New Mexico State beat ASU 80-70 in Tempe. The leading scorer in that game was No. 11 Rob Evans, who had 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting and made 4-of-5 free throws.

JUSTIN TIME:
Freshman Justin Allen came off the bench on March 4 at OSU and posted six points and three boards, including two three-pointers, and played a season-high 26 minutes. Entering the OSU game, Allen was averaging 8.5 minutes per game but with Chad Prewitt suffering an ankle sprain three minutes into the game and Awvee Storey, Tommy Smith and Tanner Shell all in foul trouble, Allen stepped up. Allen is averaging 16.3 minutes in his past three games.

MASON SOLID:
Point guard Alton Mason's play in the past few weeks has been superb. It started at Washington on Feb. 12 when he posted eight points in 12 minutes off the bench, all in the second half, as ASU came back to beat the Huskies. Mason made all six FTs in that game. In the past five games, the junior is averaging 14.8 points, is shooting 44 percent from the field (24-of-54) and is 17-of-20 (.850) from the FT line. On the season, he is shooting 79.6 percent from the FT line (43-of-54) after shooting just 59.5 percent (47-of-79) last year. He also has 13 steals in his past six games.

EDDIE AND THE PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
Eddie House won his fourth Pac-10 Player of the Week Award this year on Feb. 21, joining Ed O'Bannon (UCLA in 1994-95), Chris Mills (Arizona in 1992-93) and Gary Payton (Oregon State in 1989-90) as the only Pac-10 players to have won the award four times in a year. House had a stranglehold on the Pac-10 Player of the Week, as he won it three straight weeks at the beginning of the year (Dec. 20, Jan. 2, Jan. 10), the first time any Pac-10 Player has won the award in one season in three straight weeks (Gary Payton won it three straight over the course of two seasons). He has earned the honor five times in his career.

OTHER HOUSE NUMBERS:
Eddie House is averaging 2.27 steals per game, second in the league and is first in the league in scoring (22.4 ppg.), fourth in free throw percentage (.844), tenth in assists (3.47) and 19th in rebounding (5.5 pg.). He is the only player listed in the league's top 10 in points and assists. He also has led ASU in assists in 14 games and led ASU in rebounding in six contests.

EDDIE'S HOUSES:
Eddie House has posted 10 games of at least 30 points in his career in seven arenas and in six states (California, Arizona, Texas, Oregon, Hawaii and North Carolina) and has four 40-point games. A look at House's 25+ point games, and note that 10 of the 18 have been away from Tempe:

AWVEE STOREY:
Looking at sophomore Awvee Storey's numbers and height, one would have to call him one of the toughest players in the Pac-10. Storey, listed at 6-6, is averaging 7.6 rebounds (101 total on offense), the fourth-best mark in the loop. He has led ASU in rebounding in 17 of 30 games and also has been a solid scorer (9.3 ppg.). Storey had 21 points at UCLA on Jan. 22 to go with eight rebounds, including 7-of-8 (.875) from the FT line. He averaged 8.6 points and 7.3 boards in Pac-10 play. Storey also has three 20-point games, all on the road (22 at BYU, 23 at USC and 21 at UCLA).

NOT SHELL-SHOCKED:
Freshman Tanner Shell has been a big part of ASU's success. Shell was 10-of-13 (.769) from the field, 4-of-5 (.800) from the line and made all four free throws in the sweep of UCLA and USC on Feb. 17-19. He had 17 points, 14 of them in the second half, vs. USC and had 12 vs. UCLA. He also posted 24 points at USC on Jan. 20 and also had 13 at UCLA on Jan. 22. Shell was 8-of-16 (.500) from the floor and 3-of-6 (.500) from the three-point stripe and had 17 points in the second half at USC. In that weekend, he was 12-of-24 (.500) from the field, 6-of-12 (.500) from the three-point stripe and 7-of-9 (.777) from the FT line and averaged 18.5 points (24 at USC and 13 at UCLA). He also did not make a turnover in 50 minutes. Shell is averaging 9.5 points and 22.3 minutes in the past 15 games.

He also delivered the quote of the day after the UCLA loss. Said Shell: "I hate losing. Losing is worse than death pretty much. You have to live with it."

WORTH A LOOK:
Shell's 24-point freshman game at USC ranks as one of the best in recent ASU history. It is the most points by an ASU freshmen on the road since Jamal Faulkner had 27 at Oregon on Feb. 28, 1991, and matched Eddie House's 24 points vs. UCLA in 1997.

TOP ASU FRESHMAN SCORING GAMES SINCE 1989-90

RED-UDGE:
Freshman Shawn Redhage (Lincoln, Neb.) has made a solid impact, averaging 8.8 points and is shooting 52% from the field. He is shooting 83.1% from the FT line, including 32-of-36 (.889) in the Pac-10. He is fourth on the team in assists (62) and leads the team with 24 blocks. Redhage had two of the best all-around games of the year with 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists vs. WSU on Jan. 15 and had 14 points, seven boards and five assists vs. USC on Feb. 19. He has been in double-digits in scoring in 13 games.

CHAD PREWITT:
Last year Chad Prewitt averaged 4.1 points per game in his initial season and had three double-digit scoring games. This year, Prewitt is averaging 9.1 ppg. Prewitt had his best game at No. 1 Stanford, posting 18 points and 10 rebounds (six offensive) and also had another double-double with 12 points and 10 boards vs. USC on Feb. 19. He has posted double-figure scoring games in 13 of the past 20 games and has 16 on the year. Prewitt averaged 10.2 points per game in Pac-10 play after averaging just 2.1 last year.

HEAP:
All-American tight end Todd Heap (6-5, 225) joined the team on Jan. 24. Heap caught 55 passes for 832 yards (15.1 ypc), had three TDs and was first-team All-Pac-10 in addition to earning numerous All-America honors. Heap prepped at Mountain View, along with Tanner Shell, and was a starter on a basketball state championship in 1998. He has played 36 minutes in nine games in 2000.

61!:
House's 18 FTs (19 attempts) is a school record...the last major college player to score more was Kansas State's Askia Jones, who had 62 vs. Fresno State on March 24, 1994...the 19th player to notch a 60-point game against a D-I team (24 occasions)...House outscored 55 Division I TEAMS on Jan. 8...it is only the fifth time since 1978 that a player had more than 60 in a game involving two D-I teams...was just 11 points shy of NCAA record (two D-I teams), as Kevin Bradshaw of U.S. International had 72 in 1991 vs. Loyola Marymount, but Bradshaw was 23-of-59 while House was 18-of-30.

MORE THREE-DOT DATA:
ASU swept Oregon State for the first time since 1996 and swept Washington and California for the first time since 1995...Tommy Smith had six blocks vs. Oregon State on Feb. 3, the most by a Sun Devil since Bobby Lazor had six vs. Texas A & M on Dec. 19, 1997 (72 games)...the Feb. 10 WSU game was the first time three freshmen started for ASU (Kyle Dodd, Tommy Smith and Shawn Redhage) since Feb. 6, 1992...ASU held Santa Clara on Dec. 21 to just 18-of-57 from the field (.316), the lowest field goal percentage by an opponent since Jan. 6, 1997, when ASU held Chaminade to 19-of-64 (.297), a span of 87 games...ASU held Santa Clara (Dec. 21) and Bucknell (Dec. 28) to 55 points each. It marked the first time since the 1994-95 season, a span of 149 games, that ASU has held two straight opponents to under 60 points. ASU beat Arizona 53-52 on Jan. 5, 1995, and Old Dominion 71-52 on Jan. 7 in that year...ASU's rebounding margin of +21 (46-25) vs. Bucknell is tied for the fifth-biggest margin by a Rob Evans-team, while the 27 forced turnovers is tied for the fourth-most by an Evans team...ASU forced 34 turnovers vs. Morgan State, the most forced by any Rob Evans-coached team and the most forced by the Sun Devils since Jan. 2, 1993, when ASU forced 35 vs. Alaska-Anchorage...ASU's 20 steals vs. Morgan State was the most by ASU since ASU had 22 vs. Cal Poly SLO on Dec. 20, 1994...Awvee Storey is the oldest player on the team. Storey was born on April 18, 1977...Justin Allen is the youngest player on the team, as he was born July 30, 1981...the last ASU opponent to score 100 points in Tempe was UA on Feb. 27, 1988 (101-73). The current streak of an ASU opponent not scoring 100 points in Tempe stands at 203 games.

STARTING FROM THE GROUND UP:
ASU has six true freshmen this year, tied for the most in ASU history as the 1983-84 squad also had six. The six freshmen hail from four states (three players from Arizona as well as one each from California, Nebraska and Illinois) and are joined by sophomore Awvee Storey, who was a newcomer in terms of games this year as he joined the team last year but had to sit after transferring from Illlinois. In addition to Eddie House, also returning were sophomore Chad Prewitt and junior Alton Mason. Evans made a point to go the prep route as he rebuilds, as ASU has just one J.C. transfer. The last time ASU had just one J.C. player was in 1984-85. The other time ASU had six true freshmen was in 1983-84.

ROB EVANS:
Rob Evans (118-109/.519) is in his second season (eighth overall) as the head basketball coach at Arizona State after being hired on April 7, 1998. The 1997 SEC Coach of the Year spent six seasons at Ole Miss, compiling an 86-81 (.515) record. He led the Rebels to a 42-16 record in his final two seasons, winning two SEC West titles, and led Ole Miss to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 1937-38. The 53-year old Evans is a 1968 graduate of New Mexico State, where he captained two NCAA Tournament teams, is a 1989 inductee of the NMSU Athletic Hall of Fame and was named to the school's All-Time Basketball team. He is 32-28 (.533) in his second year at ASU. Evans' Ole Miss squads were known as a tough man-to-man teams which ranked 13th in the nation and second in the SEC in 1997-98 in rebounding at +6.6, despite the fact that no player was in the top 30 in rebounding. Ole Miss held opponents to just 30 percent from the three-point stripe, best in the SEC, and to just 40.6 percent from the field. He is 74-44 (.627) in the past four seasons.

PAC-10 MEDIA:
ASU was picked to finish eighth by the Pac-10 Media in a preseason poll, announced on Nov. 4. The results, with first-place votes in parentheses: 1. Arizona (32), 2. UCLA (3), 3. Stanford (1), 4. Oregon, 5. Oregon State, 6. California, 7. USC, 8. Arizona State, 9. Washington, 10. Washington State.

ON A MISSION:
Kenny Crandall, who was a freshman on last year's team and started in 23 games, went on a two-year Mormon Mission to Eugene, Ore., and will return to the Sun Devils in 2001-2002. Crandall, a native of Mesa, Ariz., who prepped at Mountain View High School, averaged 5.9 points and 28.4 minutes per game last year.

COACHES VS. CANCER:
Rob Evans and ASU have made a commitment to Coaches Vs. Cancer as everytime an ASU player hits a three, donations are made to the Southwest Division of the American Cancer Society. Fans donate an amount for each three-pointer made (counting the two exhibitions). ASU made 195 threes in 1998-99, and Rob Evans, with his $5 per shot donation, gave the American Cancer Society $975. ASU raised $10,748.70 last year in its initial season.

PRACTICE PLAYERS:
ASU has two players on its roster who practice but do not dress. John Bray (#34 in practice) is a native of Charleston, S.C., and a graduate of James Island Christian High School. Brandon Goldman is a native of Northbrook, Ill., and a graduate of Glennbrook North High School. Bray has a 4.00 grade point average.

A VOTER:
Evans is also one of 31 coaches on the USA Today/ESPN Board which selects the Top 25 Coaches' poll. Evans is the only Pac-10 coach, and is joined by westerners Steve Aggers (Eastern Washington), Dick Davey (Santa Clara) and Bob Thomason (Pacific).

1999-2000 ASU record tendencies

EDDIE HOUSE ON THE ASU CAREER POINTS CHART

EDDIE HOUSE ON THE PAC-10 CAREER STEALS CHART

EDDIE HOUSE ON THE PAC-10 CAREER POINTS CHART

EDDIE ON SEASON LISTS:
Eddie House's remarkable senior season has him close to several ASU single-season records. House has posted 672 points on the year, already the fourth-best total in ASU history. He also had 68 steals, tied for ninth, and would need nine steals to set the ASU record. House's season average of 22.4 is a shade behind the ASU record, as Seabern Hill averaged 22.8 in 1969-70. A look at House on some single season lists:

POINTS

SCORING AVERAGE

STEALS

EDDIE AND LEW:
Eddie House's is the first Pac-10 player to notch 40 points four times in one season and joins Lew Alcindor as the only Pac-10 player to have more than three 40-point games in a career. Here's a look at Alcindor's and House's 40-point games:

Eddie House--1999-2000

Lew Alcindor--1966-67

Lew Alcindor--1967-68

Lew Alcindor--1968-69

"House's efforts in ASU's victories over UCLA and USC are impressive additions to an already glowing resume in his case for being selected the Pac-10's Player of the Year. There can't be a player in college who works harder on the offensive end, with and without the basketball. The guy is relentless."
Frank Burlison, Orange County Register, Feb. 22, 2000.

"The best way to describe Arizona State's Eddie House is to call him college basketball's version of Allen Iverson. If there is a better pure shooter in the NCAA this year, I haven't seen him."
Steve Bisheff, Orange County Register, Feb. 23, 2000.

"No one possibly could move more without the ball than House, who invokes memories of Larry Bird and John Havlicek in terms of miles logged trying to get open."
Jake Curtis, San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 9, 2000.

EDDIE HOUSE AWARDS:
Here's a list of awards won by Eddie House in 1999-2000 by different organizations and publications:
All-American: College Hoops Insider
Pac-10 Player of the Year: Pac-10 Coaches (official conference Player of the Year), College Hoops Insider
NABC District 15 First-Team Selection

PICK-UP TILTS:
Beginning Aug. 31, the Sun Devils were required to report the number of "open gym" wins in the fall both at the Wells Fargo Arena and at the Student Recreation Center. Who won the most games? Alton Mason racked up 74 wins while Awvee Storey was next with 64. An asterik is placed by Tanner Shell's 25 wins, as he was still rehabilitating from his ankle surgery for part of the fall.

NABC CLASSIC IN 2000:
ASU will play in the National Association Basketball Coaches Classic on Nov. 10-11, 2000, at the Dean Dome in Chapel Hill, N.C., along with three 2000 NCAA Tournament teams. ASU is scheduled to meet Tulsa while North Carolina will take on Winthrop. The winners/losers will meet the next day.

OTHER PREDICTIONS:
West coast media seem to think the Sun Devils will finish around seventh or eighth?says Ken Goe of the Oregonian (Jan. 7), who tags USC, OSU and the Sun Devils as "also-rans": "While Eddie House enters conference play on a tear, averaging 35.0 points in his final four non-conference games, it's hard to see how the Sun Devils can contend with a 6-1 go-to-guy."?Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Jan. 6) picks the Sun Devils seventh, behind Cal and in front of USC, and calls ASU the "Pac-10's any-given-night team."?Jon Wilner of the LA Daily News (Jan. 6) picks ASU eighth and says "House is good enough to make the Sun Devils competitive against the league's top teams."?Mark Fainaru-Wada of the SF Examiner (Jan. 6) picks ASU sixth, behind Oregon State and ahead of USC, and says "?this is a program on the rise. And Rob Evans still has Eddie House, the league's best pure scorer and a guard with the quickest shot around."?