Torian Graham had 26 points and
Tra Holder added 22 on his way to eclipsing 1,000 career points but it was not enough as third-ranked UCLA topped the Sun Devils 102-80 Thursday night at Pauley Pavilion.
ASU fell behind 46-21 at the 6:08 mark and cut the lead to 54-39 at the half and kept on fighting as it cut the deficit to 68-61 with over 12 minutes remaining, but UCLA's 16-of-27 (.593) and 30 assists on 35 baskets was too much to overcome. Obi Oleka posted his tenth double-double of the season with 10 points and 12 boards. Graham in his past eight games is 68-of-133 (.511) from the field, 31-of-71 (.437) from three and averaging 21.3 points.
MOST SUN DEVIL POINTS OFF BENCH (1997-98 TO PRESENT)
31-Steve Moore, 2/10/05 at UCLA
30-Torian Graham, 12/30/16 at Stanford
29-Shawn Redhage, 2/8/03 at Washington
26-
Torian Graham, 1/19/17 at #3 UCLA
CAREER CHART: Junior Tra Holder became the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club at UCLA on Jan. 19. Eddie House leads the way with, 2,044 points, while Kurt Nimphius is 35th on the list with 1,006. ASU now has a backcourt with two 1,000-point scorers, as Shannon Evans has 1,039 career points, 754 of them coming in 62 games at Buffalo.
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House/2,044
33. Derek Glasser/1,028
34. Gary Jackson/1,017
35. Kurt Nimphius/1,006
36. Tra Holder/1,005
OBI OLEKA'S 10Â DOUBLE-DOUBLES THIS SEASON
10/12 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
15/10 vs. Colorado (1/5/17)
18/17 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
19/16 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
15/11 vs. New Mexico State (12/17/16)
15/12 at San Diego State (12/10/16)
14/11 vs. #1 Kentucky (11/28/16)
20/15 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
11/10 vs. Nothern Iowa (11/17/16)
17/13 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/16)
TRA HOLDER 20+ GAMES 16 TOTAL/9 THIS YEAR
26 at UCLA (1/9/16)
25 at Stanford (12/30/16)
24 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
24 vs. Cal Poly (11/13/16)
24 vs. #8 Arizona (1/3/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
22 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
22 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
22 vs. Citadel (11/23/16)
23 vs. CSU-Bakersfield (12/28/15)
22 vs. North Carolina State (11/23/15)
21 at USC (1/7/16)
20 at #16 Arizona (1/12/17)
20 vs. UNLV (12/31/16)
20 vs. #23 USC (2/12/16)
20 vs. Washington State (1/16/16)
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TORIAN GRAHAM 20+ GAMES (7)
30 at Stanford (12/30/16)
26 at #3 UCLA (1/19/17)
26 vs. Central Arkansas (12/22/16)
24 vs. #9 Creighton (12/20/16)
23 vs. Portland State (11/11/16)
22 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
22 vs. Tulane (11/18/16)
ASU takes on USC Sunday (Jan. 22) at 5:30 p.m. PT/6:30 p.m. MT on ESPNU.
SUN DEVIL HEAD COACH BOBBY HURLEY QUOTES
"It was very similar to the game we had against Arizona. We just didn't get off to a good start. Hamilton really had a hot start and they are a very talented team. Hamilton is like fourth guy in their priority, so they're going to be on all cylinders when he is making shots. They push the ball really well up the floor and we are built to play up-tempo, but it's hard when you play somebody who is better at doing it. It makes it very difficult. We knew we had to play great offensively and we cut the lead down to seven and they switched to zone, which made me very happy. I thought because of that we could shoot some threes and cut down the lead, but we missed some opportunities."
on getting within seven points
"They fought really well. We put ourselves in position to have chances to win the game. I didn't like the way we finished the game defensively. They got too many easy points in transition."
on the play of Junior Guard Tra Holder
"Tra is having a really great season. He is very good with using ball screens and he finished well in the paint. He also found his teammates. He is just a competitor and I really enjoy coaching him."
on where they go from here
"It doesn't really help when you lose, especially when you put a lot of pressure on a team. We're going to work on conditioning, so we can sustain. We are really going to work on that in practice. I felt like we couldn't sustain for the full forty minutes."
TORIAN GRAHAM
"We overcame some adversity and we cut the lead down to seven and that gave us some hope. We just can't really get out to a slow start. We have to start faster. We also have to get more stops than we usually do. It felt really similar to the Arizona game as we cut it down. We just have to get stops in transition. You take out the transition easy points and it gives us a chance to win.
TRA HOLDER
on how it felt to play in his hometown
"It was cool, but we didn't get the result I wanted, so it was bitter sweet. We really have to look at the film. We gave up too many easy buckets. They're a fast team, so we really have to keep up to their flow. I feel that we have some mature and immature spots, but the game shouldn't have ended like that. The lead changed so quickly, so it's kind of hard to say what really happened out there. We just have to look at the film to see what happened."
