Next up for @SunDevilHoops: Oregon State Saturday at 4 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network

How to Watch Pac 12 Networks | PDF: ASU Notes vs. Oregon State | PDF: Every Sun Devil Box Score from 2020-21 Season | Quotes: Bobby Hurley Media Zoom Previewing Oregon State (January 14)

NEXT UP: The Sun Devil men's basketball team (4-5; 1-2) hits the road for a Saturday (Jan. 16) 4 p.m. PT tip on Pac-12 Network at the Oregon State Beavers, with Guy Haberman and Mike Montgomery on the call. ASU has played nine games, but has yet to have its full team in uniform for any game and it won't happen Saturday. It has had five games missed due to COVID protocols (three of them due to opponent issues). At tip off on Saturday ASU will have played two games in past 30 days. ASU is 10-5 in its past 15 road games.

SUN DEVIL PAST 15 ROAD GAMES (10-5)
12/13/20--@Grand Canyon, Won 71-70
12/3/20--@California, Won 70-62
2/29/20--@USC, Lost 61-71
2/27/20--@UCLA, Lost 72-75
2/16/20--@California, Won 80-75
2/13/20--@Stanford, Won 74-69
2/1/20--@Washington, Won 87-84
1/29/20--@Washington State, Lost 65-67
1/9/20--@Oregon State, Won 82-76
1/11/20--@#9 Oregon, Lost 69-78
1/4/20--@#25 Arizona, Lost 47-75
12/3/19--@San Francisco, Won 71-67
11/26/19--@Princeton, Won 67-65
3/9/19--@Arizona, Won 72-64
3/3/19--@Oregon State, Won 74-71

OSU SERIES: ASU has won three of the past four in Corvallis and is 8-2 in five seasons vs. the Beavers under Coach Hurley...ASU is 6-1 vs. the Beavers in past four years...ASU is 18-5 vs. OSU in past dozen seasons...ASU swept the Beavers in 2018-19 for the first time since 2009-10 and then did the same last season.

PEOPLE ASK, SO HERE ARE THE DETAILS: Arizona State has not had its full roster for any game this year. Kimani Lawrence missed the first two games after having knee surgery in the fall. Alonzo Verge Jr. missed the next two games (COVID-19 protocol). In that second game, a win at Cal on Dec. 3, Marcus Bagley inured his lower leg and then missed the next four games, returning to action -- after four other games were canceled/postponed -- on Jan. 7 vs. UCLA. Against UCLA and USC, Jalen Graham was out for mononucleosis, and Jaelen House and Taeshon Cherry (COVID-19 protocols) and Remy Martin (grandfather funeral and then COVID-19 protocols) would also miss those tilts.

WHY THE 21-DAY LAYOFF?: ASU already knew its Dec. 18 game with Incarnate Word was off but then had Utah postpone a Tempe game (Dec. 22) and the road trip to WSU (12/31) and UW (1/2) was called off due to ASU COVID reasons before hosting UCLA and USC last weekend. No one is keeping score, but to simply get the facts correct the first two games were because of opponent reasons and the UW/WSU games were Sun Devil reasons. Then this week Oregon paused its program so the Jan. 14 game vs. ASU was postponed.

THROUGH NINE: Freshman Josh Christopher is averaging 16.8 ppg. and is shooting 33-of-38 (.868) from the free throw line...Remy Martin is shooting 39-of-77 (.506) from the field...Marcus Bagley leads the team in rebounding at 7.8 per game in his six games...Jaelen House has made five three-pointers after hitting 16 all last year...ASU is +6.0 in turnover margin this year after leading the league at +3.19 last season...Jalen Graham has 42 blocks in 35 career games.

GAME 9 (JAN. 9, 2021) -- USC 73, ASU 64: USC topped ASU 73-64 in a game that saw ASU trail by 18 and come back to the take the lead. In a second straight game without Jaelen House, Taeshon Cherry, Jalen Graham and Remy Martin, the Sun Devils fell into a deep hole against the 8-2 Trojans, trailing 36-18 with 2:08 remaining. Holland Woods and the Sun Devils came roaring back, closing the half on a 14-0 run and eventually taking a two-point lead at the 8:52 mark after a pair of Marcus Bagley free throws. Woods and Alonzo Verge Jr. led the way in scoring for the Sun Devils with 18 and 17 points. Marcus Bagley had 13 rebounds.

GAME 8 (JAN. 7, 2021) -- UCLA 81, ASU 75 (OT): After a 21-day layoff ASU lost a tough 81-75 overtime game to UCLA without Jalen Graham (mononucleosis), Jaelen House and Taeshon Cherry (COVID-19 protocols) and Remy Martin (grandfather funeral). Alonzo Verge Jr. led ASU with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Josh Christopher added 22 points and 11 rebounds and Marcus Bagley 11 points and 11 rebounds in his first action since Dec. 3. There were 19 ties and six lead changes, but the lack of ASU depth was too much to overcome as two Sun Devils fouled out (only one Bruin had four fouls) and UCLA's bench outscored ASU's 25-4. ASU had four players notch at least 41 minutes.

NCAAS: ASU had been to four NCAA Tournaments (1995, 2003, 2009 and 2014) in 26 seasons (1992-2017) and had not been back-to-back since 1980-81. Remy Martin and Kimani Lawrence went to the Dance in each of their first two seasons and were on way to a third last year.

LAST YEAR: ASU (20-11 last year), the highest scoring squad in the Pac-12 over the past three seasons (78.1 ppg.) has posted three straight 20-win seasons under Bobby Hurley. It is coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1980-81 and remains the only Pac-12 team to make the NCAAs the past two chances. It was on  the doorstep of three straight for the first time since the early 1960s prior to the cancellations last March. ASU led the league in overall games in steals (249 for 8.03 pg), turnover margin (+3.19) and turnovers forced (16.42 pg).

ROAD REMY: Remy Martin's 22.6 ppg. in the 11 road games last year was 13th-best in the nation, and he is the fifth-highest road scorer returning in college hoops this season. He dropped 22 at Cal on Dec. 3 and then had 31 (23 in the second half) and the game-winning three pointer at Grand Canyon. In his past 13 road games he is averaging 23.2 points per game and five of his top six scoring games have been true road games.

TOP RETURNING ROAD SCORERS IN 2019-20
26.9--Jhivan Jackson, UTSA
26.2--Luke Garza, Iowa
24.2--Loren Cristian Jackson, Akron
24.1--Antoine Davis, Detroit
22.6--Remy Martin, Arizona State

THIS IS US: ASU has 27 wins (12 on the road) when trailing at the half under Bobby Hurley in six seasons, after going 12-64 (.157) the previous five seasons. In the Remy Martin-era it did it seven times in 2017-18 six times in 2018-19 and five times last year. ASU trailed UA 37-15 last season with just over five minutes remaining before closing the gap to 43-30 at the half and then scored the first 10 points of second half. The 22-point comeback matches the biggest in Pac-12 history.

FINAL FOUR TRIVIA: Coach Hurley is one of three current head coaches who earned Final Four MOP. He is one of nine current head coaches who won the NCAA title as a player, and is the only one to win it twice.

CURRENT HEAD COACHES TO WIN NCAA TITLE AS PLAYER
Steve Alford, Indiana (1987) — Nevada
Kenny Blakeney, Duke (1992) — Howard
Juan Dixon, Maryland (2002 MOP) — Coppin State
Patrick Ewing, Georgetown (1984 MOP) — Georgetown
Bobby Hurley, Duke (1991,1992 MOP) — Arizona State
Steve Masiello, Kentucky (1998) — Manhattan
Wes Miller, North Carolina (2005) — UNC Greensboro
Josh Pastner, Arizona (1997) — Georgia Tech
Mark Pope, Kentucky (1996) — BYU

PRESEASON AA: Remy Martin earned Associated Press Preseason All-America honors, the second Sun Devil to earn the honor (Ike Diogu in 2003-04). He is just the fourth Pac-12 player to earn the honor in the past dozen seasons. Also named were Luke Garza (Iowa), Jared Butler (Baylor), Cade Cunningham (OSU), Ayo Dosunmu (Illinois) and Corey Kispert (Gonzaga).

MICKEY D NEWS: How big is it that freshman Josh Christopher is a McDonald's All-American? He is just the sixth Sun Devil to earn the honor, and the first since James Harden in 2007. Josh is one of just three 2020 McDonald All-Americans in the Pac-12 this year, joining Evan Mobley of USC and Ziaire Williams of Stanford.

SUN DEVIL McDONALD ALL-AMERICANS
Josh Christopher, 2020
James Harden, 2007
Eric Boateng, 2005 (transferred from Duke)
Jamal Faulkner, 1989
Chris Sandle, 1984
Byron Scott, 1979

VERGE SURGE: Alonzo Verge Jr., the 2020 Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year, averaged 16.8 ppg. off the bench (19 games) last year which led the nation. After averaging 6.2 points, going 1-of-9 from the three-point stripe and 11-of-45 (.244) from the field in his first five Pac-12 games, Verge averaged 17.3 ppg., was 87-of-176 (.494) from the field and 37-of-52 (.712) from the foul line in the final 13. In ASU's seven-game win streak he averaged 20.6 ppg., was 53-of-100 (.530) from the field, 7-of-18 (.389) from three and 31-of-43 (.721) from the free throw line.

20: While the creation of exempt tournaments and more games has given teams a better chance to reach 20 wins, we won't take for granted what ASU has done. Coming off records in of 23-11 in 2018-19 and 20-12 in 2017-18, ASU notched its third straight 20-win season last year, something it had done just twice. In James Harden's two seasons ASU went 21-13 (2007-08) and 25-10 (2008-09) and then went 22-11 in 2009-10. You have to go back to 1960-63 for the only other time in ASU history for it to happen, as ASU went 23-6 in 1960-61, 23-4 in 1961-62 and 26-3 in 1962-63, led by another Olympic gold medalist, Jumpin' Joe Caldwell.

REMY: Remy Martin became the 38th member of the ASU 1,000-point club on Jan. 11, 2020. He now has 1,432 career points (102 games/14.0 pg) and had 18 20-point games last year. He posted seven straight - averaging 24.3 points - before posting 15 at WSU on Jan. 29. The seven matched the best by a Sun Devil since Eddie House had eight in 1999-2000. Remy averaged 19.1 ppg last after averaging 11.3 in his first two years.

SUN DEVIL CAREER SCORING CHART UPDATE
10. 1,539 – Seabern Hill, '67-70
11. 1,515 – Joe Caldwell, '61-64
12. 1,455 – Paul Williams, '79-83
13. 1,432 – Remy Martin, '17-present

TOP PAC-12 ROAD POINTS PER GAME SINCE 1996-97
24.0-Ed Gray, Cal (96-97)
23.6-Landry Fields, STAN (09-10)
23.5-Eddie House, ASU (99-2000)
23.0-Aaron Holiday, UCLA (17-18)
23.0-O.J. Mayo, USC (07-08)
22.9-Ryan Anderson, CAL (07-08)
22.6-Remy Martin, ASU (19-20)

QUICK STATS: Prior to its past two NCAA appearances under Bobby Hurley, ASU had made the NCAA Tournament three times in 22 seasons (1996-2017), but the Sun Devils made a run at a third straight for the first time since the early 1960s. It was 9-4 since Jan. 18 last year at season's end, with two of the losses (75-72 at UCLA Feb. 27 and 67-65 at WSU on Jan. 29) decided by three-pointers in the final seconds. ASU had its seven-game Pac-12 win streak -- an ASU first since the 1980-81 team won 11 straight -- ended in the 75-72 great tilt at UCLA on Feb. 27.

PRESEASON RANKING: The Sun Devils were ranked No. 18 in the Associated Press preseason poll, just the second time in the past 29 seasons and fifth overall ASU was ranked before the season tipped. It was preseason No. 15 in 2008-09, James Harden's sophomore and final season, as it never fell out of the rankings en route to a 24-9 record and NCAA Tournament win over Temple.

ASU ASSOCIATED PRESS PRESEASON RANKINGS
2020-21: 18
2008-09: 15
1991-92: 24
1975-76: 18
1963-64: 6

KIMANI NOTES: Long-armed and mobile swingman guards multiple positions...good mid-range jumper and helps in any and all rebounding and defensive categories...posted double digits in 14 games in 2018-19 and team was 5-0 when he scored 15...best game was 22-point effort vs. Mississippi State in Las Vegas on Nov. 19, 2018, which included the game-winning three-pointer with the scored tied and 29 seconds left...had 11 off the bench vs. Georgia on Dec. 14, 2019.

HOLLAND: We weren't sure Holland Woods would play this year after transferring from Portland State with just one year to play, but when the NCAA allowed a "free" year, the first team All-Big Sky guard entered the rotation. He averaged 17.7 points to rank fifth in the Big Sky, along wIth 5.2 assists (second) and 2.1 steals (first). He shot .842 from the free throw line and led team in scoring 14 times and assists 25 times. He posted 13 20-point games and dropped 30 twice.

GOOD NOTE: ASU has defeated eight ranked teams in Bobby Hurley's five seasons, but it trailed at the half in five of the wins, including both wins over Kansas.

ASU WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS UNDER BOBBY HURLEY (ASU DEFICIT AT HALF)
ASU 77, #14 Oregon 72 (Feb. 20, 2020)
ASU 66, #22 Arizona 65 (Jan. 25, 2020)--Arizona 43, ASU 30
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)--Kansas 39, #18 ASU 31
ASU 72, #15 Mississippi State 67 (Nov. 19, 2018/Las Vegas)
#16 ASU 95, at #2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)--Kansas 4 0, #16 ASU 37
ASU 102, #15 Xavier 86 (Nov. 24, 2017/Las Vegas)-- Xavier 46, ASU 44
ASU 74, #23 USC 67 (Feb. 12, 2016)-- USC 30, ASU 27
ASU 67, #18 Texas A&M 54 (Dec. 5, 2015)

GONNA' PLAY FOLKS: Bobby Hurley is going to play some folks as it has faced seven non-conference top-10 opponents at ASU, after ASU faced one in the previous 17 seasons.. In his first year after looking at a schedule he inherited that included tilts against NC State in Brooklyn, at Creighton, at UNLV and against eventual No. 18 Texas A&M, he put the wheels in motion to play at Kentucky and filled a holiday break hole that could have been a yawner with Stephen F. Austin. In 2016-17, the squad played No. 1 Kentucky in the Bahamas, Purdue in New York City, at San Diego State, and finished a series with No. 9 Creighton. Kansas returned a trip to Tempe in December of 2018 after ASU's win on Dec. 10, 2017. 

ASU REGULAR SEASON OOC GAMES VS. TOP-10 TEAMS (SINCE JOINING PAC-12)
UNDER BOBBY HURLEY (7 IN SIXTH SEASON)
#3 Villanova 83, ASU 74 (Nov. 26, 2020)
#7 Virginia 48, ASU 45 (Nov. 24, 2019)
#18 ASU 80, #1 Kansas 76 (Dec. 22, 2018)
#16 ASU 95 @#2 Kansas 85 (Dec. 10, 2017)
#9 Creighton 96, ASU 85 (Dec. 20, 2016)
#1 Kentucky 115, ASU 69 (Nov. 28, 2016 at Bahamas)
@#5 Kentucky 72, ASU 58 (Dec. 12, 2015)

PRIOR TO BOBBY HURLEY (8 IN 37 SEASONS)
#7 Duke 64, ASU 53 (Nov. 25, 2009 at MSG)
#2 Kansas 90, ASU 88, OT (Nov. 26, 1997 at MSG)
ASU 97, #7 Maryland 90 (November 23, 1994 at Maui)
@#8 Oklahoma St. 87, ASU 69 (December 2, 1993)
@#9 Kentucky 94, ASU 68 (December 14, 1991)
@#2 Kansas 90, ASU 67 (December 22, 1989)
#10 North Carolina 85, ASU 66 (December 23, 1984 at Tokyo)
#6 Missouri 48, ASU 47 (December 27, 1982 at Honolulu)

MOST POINTS IN SUN DEVIL HISTORY
61-Eddie House at California (2 OT), Jan. 8, 2000
46-Eddie House vs. San Diego State, Dec. 18, 1999
45-Paul Williams at USC, Mar. 10, 1983
43-Alonzo Verge Jr. vs. Saint Mary's, Dec. 18, 2019)

ALONZO VERGE TOP SCORING GAMES (12-4 WHEN HE SCORES 13/6-2 WHEN SCORES 20)
43 vs. St. Mary's (12/18/19)
26 vs. #14 Oregon (2/20/20)
26 vs. UCLA (2/6/20)
25 vs. #24 San Diego State (12/10/20)
23 vs. Texas Southern (12/28/19)
22 vs. #3 Villanova (11/26/20)
22 at California (2/16/20)
20 vs. Washington State (3/7/20)
20 vs. Prairie View A&M (12/11/19)
19 vs. Washington (3/5/20)
19 at Stanford (2/13/20)
19 vs. Creighton (12/21/19)
18 at Washington (2/1/20)
17 vs. Oregon State (2/22/20)
16 vs. USC (2/8/20)
15 vs. Georgia (12/14/19)
13 vs. Arizona (1/25/20) 

SUN DEVILS WITH 1,432 POINTS/406 ASSISTS
Tra Holder: 1,797/448
Stevin Smith: 1,673/416
Jeremy Veal: 1,984/413
Remy Martin: 1,432/406