The Arizona State Sun Devil men's hoops team (5-0) that returns three senior starters from last year's squad and welcomes six newcomers faces Xavier on Friday, Nov. 24, at 2:30 p.m. PT in the Continental Tire Invitational championship at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, with Rich Walz and Jim Jackson on the call. ASU, under third-year head coach Bobby Hurley, is led by seniors Tra Holder, Shannon Evans II and Kodi Justice. Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd have the call on the Sun Devil Radio Network. ASU is 5-0 for the first time since the 2013-14 NCAA Tournament squad started 6-0. ASU is 5-0 for just the second time in the past 32 seasons.
SERIES: ASU leads the series with Xavier 2-1, with the last meeting a 77-55 Sun Devil win over the No. 17 Musketeers on Dec. 15, 2007. It is the largest margin of victory for ASU over a ranked team.
GETTING 90: ASU has scored 90 points in five straight games, the first time that has happened since Feb. 1-20, 1960.
PAC-12 PLAYER OF THE WEEK: How good of a week did Tra Holder have in earning Pac-12 Player of the Week on Nov. 20? In three wins where ASU averaged 95.3 points, Tra Holder averaged 35.7 minutes, 23.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists. He shot .548 (23-of-42) from the field, .571 (12-of-21) from three and .813 (13-of-16) from the free throw line. He put the exclamation point on it on Nov. 19 with a career-high 35 points on 13-of-15 shooting in the win over UC Irvine. He is the 36th member of the Sun Devil 1,000-point club and also gets to the free throw line as he is 397-of-534 (.743) from the charity stripe in his 102 games/93 starts, as both marks are second in ASU history behind only Ike Diogu (671-of-854).
SUN DEVIL CAREER POINTS
1. Eddie House, 1996-2000/2,044
13. Mario Bennett, 1991-95/1,368
14. Ty Abbott, 2007-11/1,330
15. Alex Austin, 1986-90/1,329
16. Tra Holder, 2014-present/1,315
17. Al Nealey, 1957-60/1,304
TRA'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / FT% / PPG
2014-15: .317 / .708 / 7.0
2015-16: .387 / .727 / 14.2
2016-17: .433 / .772 / 16.2
2017-18: .477 / .743 / 20.0
#DUNK-KWON: Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake entered Tuesday 26-of-32 (.813) from the field in the first five games, good enough for the third-best mark in the nation. He has 17 offensive rebounds start to the season includes 13 dunks and his efforts have resulted in 18 second-chance points. He posted five dunks against both Idaho State and San Diego State.
ASU (5-0) 92, KANSAS STATE 90: ASU trailed by 51-42 at the 18:16 mark but scored the Wildcats 50-39 behind Kodi Justice's 19 second-half points to move to 5-0. Justice had a career-high 28 points, while Shannon Evans II added 14 and Romello White had 19 in the win.
ASU 99 (4-0), UC IRVINE (NOV. 19, 2017): ASU jumped out to a 22-6 lead seven minutes in and never let the lead get to single digits against Big West standard UC Irvine as it made 18-of-28 (.692) from the floor in the first half and posted 56 points, the most in the first half since it scored 58 vs. San Francisco on Nov. 20, 2009. Tra Holder had a career-high 35 points on 13-of-15 shooting, while Shannon Evans II had 22 points and seven assists. Romello White added his second double-double with 14/11.
ASU 97 (3-0), NAU 62 (NOV. 17, 2017): ASU jumped out to a 15-3 lead five minutes in and led 54-27 at the half as five players reached double digits. Romello White had 25 points (10-of-12 shooting), while Shannon Evans II had 20 and eight assists. Tra Holder filled the stat sheet with 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers. ASU had 24 assists, tied for the second-most in the past four seasons.
ASU 90 (2-0), SAN DIEGO STATE 74 (NOV. 14, 2017): For the ninth time under Bobby Hurley ASU trailed at the half but came back and won and did it in convincing fashion with a 90-68 win over San Diego State. ASU was down 40-34 at the half and 43-34 at 19:22 mark before it outscored the Aztecs 56-25, including a 22-2 run from the 14:40 to 6:42 mark. It marked the first time SDSU had given up 90 since Feb. 22, 2006. Tra Holder led the way with 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Romello White added 16 points and 15 rebounds in his debut, while De'Quon Lake added 15 points (perfect in seven shots) and seven rebounds off the bench. ASU shot .667 (20-of-30) from the field in the second half and held SDSU to 9-of-30 (.300). Shannon Evans II added 14/6/6 while Remy Martin had 12 points off the bench.
ASU 94, IDAHO STATE 74 (NOV. 10, 2017): Junior De'Quon Lake posted 24 points -- the best Sun Devil debut since Steve Moore had 26 vs. Arkansas-Little Rock on Nov. 22, 2003 -- and added eight rebounds and three blocks in the season opening win. Shannon Evans II added 25 points (with five three-pointers), while Tra Holder had 18 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Lake finished 10-of-14 from the line after going 1-of-4 in the first half. ASU led 51-33 at the half, sparked by Remy Martin who finished with 16 points and five assists on 6-of-8 shooting in 34 minutes off the bench. ASU had 22 assists and shot 34-of-65 (.523) from the field.
TOP SCORERS: ASU has two of the top five scorers in the Pac-12 returning, as Tra Holder (16.2 ppg) and Shannon Evans II (15.0) averaged more than 31 points.
PAC-12 TOP RETURNING SCORERS IN 2017-18
17.4-Reid Travis, Stanford
17.2-Allonzo Trier, Arizona
16.3-Stephen Thompson, Oregon State
16.2-Tra Holder, Arizona State
15.0-Shannon Evans II, Arizona State
LENGTH: ASU has some solid wing spans and length this year. De'Quon Lake has a 7-2 wingspan, while Vitaliy Shibel and Romello White are at 7-0. Freshman Kimani Lawrence stretched to 6-11 on his 6-7 frame.
DIGITS FROM LAST YEAR: ASU's 78.6 points per game last year was its best since the 1997-98 squad averaged 84.5...ASU ranked third in the Pac-12 in free throw shooting (.749) and averaged just 10.4 turnovers (first in the league and T-11th in the nation) and 9.9 three-pointers made (second in Pac-12)...Tra Holder led the league in free throws made and attempted (152-of-197/.772)...ASU likes to shoot the three as its 328 made last year was third-most in league history behind only UCLA (354 in 2016-17) and Oregon (350 in 2006-07).
PREDICTIONS: ASU was picked sixth in the Pac-12 preseason media poll announced on Oct. 12, its top preseason ranking since being picked fourth in the Pac-10 prior to the 2010-11 season. ASU has been picked 11th (2016-17 and 2012-13), eighth (2015-16), ninth (2014-15 and 2011-12), seventh (2013-14) in seven previous Pac-12 polls. UA was picked to finish first, followed by USC, UCLA, UO, Stanford, ASU, Utah, OSU, CU, UW, Cal and WSU.
MEET THE SIX: ASU will have six newcomers fill roles in 2017-18, led by three who were in the program last year. Romello White is a 6-8 forward from Suwanee, Ga. who practiced last season as an academic redshirt and was a top-100 player (No. 77 by ESPN, No. 81 by Scout) in the 2016 signing class. Texan Mickey Mitchell is a skilled 6-7 sophomore who started seven games and played in 23 for Ohio State in 2015-16, came to ASU in December of 2016 and will be eligible this December, while 6-9 redshirt freshman Vitaliy Shibel has a great southpaw shooting stroke but missed last year with an ACL injury. Junior college transfer De'Quon Lake has a 6-10 frame and a 7-2 wing span. ESPN 2017 top-100 players Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School/Providence, RI) is a 6-7 swingman with 6-11 wingspan who is No. 54, while Remy Martin (Sierra Canyon/Chatsworth, Calif.) is a 6-0 lead guard and is No. 82 in the rankings.
NOT MANY CAN SAY THIS: ASU's backcourt has two 1,300-point career scorers. Tra Holder has 1,315 points in 102 Sun Devil games (12.9 ppg.), while Shannon Evans II has 1,343 career points, with 754 of them coming at Buffalo from 2013-15. Combined the duo has made 821 total field goals, 309 three-pointers, 707 free throws and has dropped 2,658 collegiate points in 202 career games.
MOST COMBINED CAREER POINTS BY TWO TEAMMATES ENTERING 2017-18
2,707/St. Bonaventure: Jaylen Adams (1,377) and Matt Mobley (1,330)
2,701/Rhode Island: E.C. Matthews (1,519) and Jared Terrell (1,182)
2,639/Xavier: Trevon Bluiett (1,585) and J.P. Macura (1,054)
2,463/Arizona State: Shannon Evans II (1,248) and Tra Holder (1,215)
ABOUT THE FRESHMEN: From one coast to the other one, Bobby Hurley's staff signed a pair of top-100 players last fall, as 6-7 swingman Kimani Lawrence (New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H.) and 6-1 guard Remy Martin of Chatsworth (Calif.) Sierra Canyon joined the program this summer. A four-star signee according to Scout, Martin averaged 14.5 points as a junior. Lawrence, a four-star small forward from The New Hampton School in New Hampton, N.H., is the nation's 54th overall prospect according to ESPN.
SCOUT.COM SUN DEVIL TOP-100 RECRUITS ON ROSTER
54. Kimani Lawrence, 2017
81. Romello White, 2016
98. Remy Martin, 2017
100. Tra Holder, 2014
FREE THROWS: The Sun Devils made free throws at a rate that was third-best in school history (489-of-653/.749) last year. ASU shot .756 in 1977-78 and .754 in 1954-55 for its best seasons.
SPLASH GAMES: Shannon Evans II arrived at ASU after having spent two seasons under Coach Hurley at Buffalo. As a sophomore in 2014-15 he averaged 15.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 4.6 assists and led the Bulls to the NCAA Tournament as he earned second-team All-MAC honors. He made his first 20 free throws to start last season. Also, he had 50 points in an exhibition win this year against Arizona Christian.
SHANNON EVANS II 25-POINT SCORING GAMES (4 AT ASU)
33 vs. Cornell (1/3/15)
28 at #13 Oregon (2/2/17)
28 vs. UNLV (12/3/16)
25 vs. Idaho State (11/14/17)
25 vs. Washington (1/25/17)
25 at Ball State (2/4/15)
QUICK QUESTIONS WITH SHANNON EVANS
Most upset on the court: Losing the NCAA tournament
Happiest on the court: Winning the MAC championship
Past sporting event to go back and watch: 1991 Duke vs UNLV
Past Sun Devil to go watch compete: Pat Tillman
JUSTICE SERVED: Kodi Justice has made 153 three pointers in 88 career games. He suffered a fractured navicular bone in his left foot on Jan. 25, 2015 (freshman year) and missed the remainder of that season, but bounced back with a solid sophomore season. His injury happened the game following a season-high 16 points at California, so he was just starting to get in the groove, and then adapted to a new coaching staff in the summer of 2015 while getting healthy.
FOUR QUESTIONS WITH KODI JUSTICE
You can pick the brain of any coach, who is it? John Wooden
You can go watch a past sporting event live...which one? Rumble in the Jungle
Past Sun Devil (any sport) you wish you could have watched compete: Pat Tillman
Biggest challenge in my life: Being dyslexic
KODI'S YEAR-BY-YEAR IMPROVEMENTS
SEASON: FG% / 3PM / PPG
2014-15: .424 / 17 / 4.6
2015-16: .394 / 60 / 7.9
2016-17: .421 / 63 / 19.2
2017-18: .578 / 13 / 15.4
HALF: ASU is 10-27 (.270) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons.
10 HALFTIME DEFICIT WINS UNDER COACH HURLEY
(-2) Kansas State 44, ASU 42/Nov. 24, 2017/ASU 92, Kansas State 90
(-6) SDSU 40, ASU 34/Nov. 14, 2017/ASU 90, SDSU 68
(-1) USC 48, ASU 47/Feb. 26, 2017/ASU 83, USC 82
(-2) @Washington 41, ASU 39/Feb. 16, 2017/ASU 83, @Washington 81
(-1) Stanford 33, ASU 32/Feb. 11, 2017/ASU 75, Stanford 69
(-7) @SDSU 32, ASU 25/Dec. 10, 2016/ASU 74, @SDSU 63
(-3) #23 USC 30, ASU 27/Feb. 12, 2016/ASU 74, USC 67
(-12) @UNLV 37, ASU 25/Dec. 16, 2015/ASU 66, @UNLV 56
(-8) @Creighton 41, ASU 33/Dec. 2, 2015/ASU 79, @Creighton 77
(-2) UCSB 29, ASU 27/Nov. 29, 2015/ASU 70, UCSB 68
DON'T SLEEP ON KODI: In the final five games of 2016-17 Kodi averaged 15.6 points, which included a career-high 22 points in the Feb. 26 win over NCAA Tournament-bound USC. He was in double digits in 11 games in 2016-17 and was 17-of-35 (.486) from the three-point stripe and perfect in nine free throw attempts in those final five games.
NO DEPTH LAST YEAR: Tra Holder led the Pac-12 in minutes per game in conference games last year at 37.9, but not far behind him were Sun Devils Shannon Evans II (36.7/second) and Torian Graham (36.6/third).
