HOOPS (SCHEDULE)...HERE IT IS!!!
The Pac-12 Conference and Pac-12 Networks have announced the 2014-15 men’s basketball schedule, and the Sun Devils, coming off a 21-12 season and NCAA appearance, will open its Pac-12 season with three straight on the road in early January, the fifth time in the past seven years it will have opened on the road.
ASU will visit Arizona (Jan. 4), Oregon State (Jan. 8) and Oregon (Jan. 10) before opening its home portion of the Pac-12 schedule on Thursday, Jan. 15, on Fox Sports 1 vs. Utah at 8 p.m.
The Sun Devils, who are 32-5 at home in the past two seasons including a 16-1 mark last year that was their best home mark in four decades, open the season in Tempe on Friday, Nov. 14 vs. Chicago State at 8 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks and is part of the CBE Classic.
All nine of ASU’s non-conference home games will be on Pac-12 Networks, including its Dec. 3 tilt with UNLV (6 p.m.) and a noon game on Sunday, Dec. 28 game vs. Ivy League champion Harvard, as the Crimson are favored to win the league and have been to the past three NCAA Tournaments, beating Cincinnati in 2014 and New Mexico in 2013. ASU will make trips to Texas A&M (Dec. 6) and Marquette (Dec. 16).
Coach Herb Sendek’s squad, who averaged 75.3 points per game last year, its most since it averaged 76.0 in 2004-05, will appear nine times on the Pac-12 Network, five times on FOX Sports 1, twice on ESPNU and once each on FOX and ESPN2 in Pac-12 play. The ESPN2 broadcast will be on Wednesday, Feb. 18, when UCLA returns to Tempe after a one-year absence last year. ASU will miss the Washington schools on their home schedule and not make the trip to Los Angeles this year.
The full schedule is below, with more notes below.
2014-15 @SUNDEVILHOOPS SCHEDULE
Friday, Nov. 14 vs. Chicago State, 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks/CBE Classic)
Monday, Nov. 17, vs. Bethune-Cookman, 7 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks/CBE Classic)
Thursday, Nov. 20 vs. Loyola Marymount, 7 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Monday, Nov. 24 vs. Maryland at CBE Classic in Kansas City, 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT (ESPNU)
Tuesday, Nov. 25 vs. Iowa State/Alabama at CBE Classic in Kansas City (TV TBD)
Saturday, Nov. 29 vs. Colgate, 5 or 8 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Wednesday, Dec. 3, vs. UNLV, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Saturday, Dec. 6 at Texas A&M
Saturday, Dec. 13 vs. Pepperdine, Noon (Pac-12 Networks)
Tuesday, Dec. 16 at Marquette, 8 p.m. CT/7 p.m. MT (Fox Sports 1)
Saturday, Dec. 20 vs. Lehigh, 7 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Tuesday, Dec. 23 vs. Detroit, 1 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Sunday, Dec. 28 vs. Harvard, Noon (Pac-12 Networks)
Sunday, Jan. 4 at Arizona, 5 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday, Jan. 8 at Oregon State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (Fox Sports 1)
Saturday, Jan. 10 at Oregon, 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Thursday, Jan. 15 vs. Utah, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Saturday, Jan. 17 vs. Colorado, 2:30 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Thursday, Jan. 22 at California, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Saturday, Jan. 24 at Stanford, 9 p.m. PT/10 p.m. MT (ESPNU)
Wednesday, Jan. 28 vs. Oregon State, 6 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Friday, Jan. 30 vs. Oregon, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Sat, Feb. 7 vs. Arizona, 2:30 p.m (FOX)
Friday, Feb. 13 at Washington State, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Sunday, Feb. 15 at Washington, 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Wednesday, Feb. 18 vs. UCLA, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, Feb. 22 vs. USC, 6:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Thursday, Feb. 26 at Utah, 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Sunday, Mar. 1 at Colorado, 6:30 p.m. MT (ESPNU)
Thursday, Mar. 5 vs. Stanford, 9 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)
Saturday, Mar. 7 vs. California, 12:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
OTHER NOTES ON THE SCHEDULE
--ASU will play 18 home games, where it is 32-5 in the past two seasons and last year’s 16-1 home record was the best since the building opened in 1974-75 when the team went 14-0. The 16 home wins matched a school record, set by Herb Sendek’s teams in 2009-10 and 2012-13 (both 16-4).
--ASU’s lone FOX appearance is its annual home Territorial Cup tilt against Arizona on Saturday, Feb. 7, at 2:30 p.m. In the past seven years, ASU has an 8-7 record vs. Arizona. Only UCLA has won more wins vs. the defending league champion in that time, and ASU’s 69-66 win over No. 2 Arizona last year marked the highest ranked team the Sun Devils have ever beaten at home. ASU has won two of the past three vs. the Wildcats in Tempe.
--ASU opens its home Pac-12 schedule with Utah (Jan. 15) and Colorado (Jan. 17). ASU has swept Utah and Colorado at home in each of the past two seasons in Tempe. ASU will enter the Pac-12 season on an eight-game Pac-12 home win streak, as its lone loss in Tempe last year was to Washington in the Pac-12 opener.
--The Sun Devils will travel to the Bay Area in late January, where last year it won at California, as ASU swept the Golden Bears for the first time since 1999-2000.
--The Oregon schools will visit Tempe on Super Bowl and Phoenix Open weekend, but the community avoids a weekend game as ASU will play Wendesday/Friday that weekend.
--Last year the Sun Devils didn’t make the Washington trip, but Pullman (Feb. 13) and Seattle (Feb. 15) are back on the slate this year in mid-February.
--There is no trip to Los Angeles this year, but USC and UCLA come to Tempe in late February. The last time UCLA traveled to Tempe, ASU sent the eventual Pac-12 champions Bruins home with a 78-60 loss on Jan. 26, 2013.
--ASU hosts the Bay Area in the final weekend of the year as it swept the Bay Area homestand for the first time since 1994-95 in 2013-14. With the Pac-12 Tournament starting Wednesday, the league does not schedule Sunday games the final weekend.
@SUNDEVILHOOPS NOTES
ASU went to the NCAA Tournament three times in 25 seasons prior to Coach Sendek’s arrival. It has gone twice in the past seven years...ASU has won 20 games in five seasons in Herb Sendek’s eight seasons, including the second-most in school history (25) in 2009. In the previous 25 seasons ASU won 20 games three times...if the game is close, ASU wins. ASU is 13-6 in overtime under Herb Sendek...ASU averaged 75.3 points per game last year, its most since it averaged 76.0 in 2004-05...in the past two seasons, ASU has averaged 73.5 points per game, fourth-best in the Pac-12.
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 GAMES ON FOX SPORTS 1 (5)
Saturday, Jan. 3 at Arizona, 5 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday, Jan. 8 at Oregon State, 6 p.m. PT/7 p.m. MT (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday, Jan. 15 vs. Utah, 8 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday, Feb. 26 at Utah, 8:30 p.m. (Fox Sports 1)
Thursday, Mar. 5 vs. Stanford, 9 p.m. (FOX Sports 1)
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 GAMES ON PAC-12 NETWORK (9)
Saturday, Jan. 10 at Oregon, 2 p.m. PT/3 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Saturday, Jan. 17 vs. Colorado, 2:30 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Thursday, Jan. 22 at California, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Wednesday, Jan. 28 vs. Oregon State, 6 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Friday, Jan. 30 vs. Oregon, 6 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Friday, Feb. 13 at Washington State, 8 p.m. PT/9 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Sunday, Feb. 15 at Washington, 2:30 p.m. PT/3:30 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Networks)
Sunday, Feb. 22 vs. USC, 6:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
Saturday, Mar. 7 vs. California, 12:30 p.m. (Pac-12 Networks)
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 GAMES ON ESPNU (2)
Saturday, Jan. 24 at Stanford, 9 p.m. PT/10 p.m. MT (ESPNU)
Sunday, Mar. 1 at Colorado, 6:30 p.m. MT (ESPNU)
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 GAMES ON FOX (1)
Sat, Feb. 7 vs. Arizona, 2:30 p.m (FOX)
SUN DEVIL PAC-12 GAMES ON ESPN2 (1)
Wednesday, Feb. 18 vs. UCLA, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
PAC-10/12 STANDINGS: In its first 28 seasons of Pac-10 play, ASU finished tied for third or better six times. Last year’s tie for third was the third time it has happened under Coach Sendek in his eight seasons, with all three happening in the past six seasons.
SUN DEVIL BEST PAC-10/12 FINISHES
1980-81, 16-2/2nd/Ned Wulk
1979-80, 15-3/2nd/Ned Wulk
2009-10, 12-6/2nd/Herb Sendek
2013-14, 10-8/T-3rd/Herb Sendek
2008-09, 11-7/T-3rd/Herb Sendek
1994-95, 12-6/3rd/Bill Frieder
1982-83, 12-6/T-3rd/Bob Weinhauer
1992-93, 11-7/T-3rd/Bill Frieder
1990-91, 10-8/T-3rd/Bill Frieder