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Men's hoops set to battle Baylor and Richmond


November 30, 2010

71-36 (.664) PAST FOUR SEASONS
The Arizona State's men's hoops team, the only Pac-10 team to post 20 wins in each of the past three seasons, faces a pair of hot teams when it travels to No. 11/10 (AP/USA Today) Baylor (5-0) on Thursday for a 6 p.m. CT/5 p.m. MT ESPN2 tilt and then hosts Richmond (6-1) Sunday at noon in a FOX Sports Arizona game. ASU is 3-2 after two wins over Houston Baptist and Weber State and a loss to St. John's in the Great Alaska Shootout over the weekend. The Sun Devils are in their fifth season under 2009-10 Pac-10 Coach of the Year Herb Sendek and return three senior starters and five total lettermen from last year's second-place Pac-10 team which finished 22-11, marking the first time ASU has posted three straight 20-win seasons since JFK was President. ASU finished second in the Pac-10 (12-6) for the first time since 1980-81 after being picked for seventh in the preseason media poll and tenth by Sporting News. After posting just three 20-win seasons in the previous 25 seasons, ASU has posted three 20-win seasons under Herb Sendek in his four years. ASU was 8-22 in Coach Sendek's first year (2006-2007), but is 71-36 (.664) in past four years and giving up just 60.9 ppg. in his 137 games as the Sun Devil head coach. The Sun Devils are in the middle of a six-game stretch to start the year that has them playing at home just once, a 69-66 win over UAB on Nov. 20. Among major conference teams, only ASU and Virginia Tech will play just one home game in its first six contests.

LET'S TALK ABOUT TRENT
Sophomore Trent Lockett has opened some eyes real quick in 2010-11. It started with a then career-high 22 points in the season opener at New Mexico (Nov. 16) where two of his dunks placed him No. 2 on SportsCenter's Top-10 and he has been nothing short of very good since. He had a new career-high with 24 points vs. Weber State on Nov. 26 in Alaska. Entering play Monday night his combination of 18.6 points per game and .655 shooting can be matched nationally by only two players (Travis Franklin of Colorado State at 18.7 and .714 and Marcus Morris of Kansas at 19.0 and .677). A native of Golden Valley, Minn., and a student in Barrett, the Honors College, he is averaging 35.0 minutes and comes from one of the top high school programs in the country (Hopkins High School in Minnetonka, Minn.). He earned a spot on the five-man Pac-10 All-Freshman Team in 2009-10. He has 14 double-figure scoring games in his career, including a 17-point, six-rebound and eight assist effort against Stanford on Jan. 30.

VS. RANKED TEAMS
Coach Sendek has 36 career wins against ranked foes...from 1995-1996 until 2005-2006 (11 seasons), ASU went 5-66 against ranked foes. Under Herb Sendek ASU has seven wins against ranked teams...he notched his first at ASU on Feb. 18, 2007, as ASU topped No. 22 USC 68-58 and won his first attempt in 2007-08 with a 77-55 over No. 17 Xavier on Dec. 15 (largest win over a ranked team in ASU history)...the Jan. 17, 2009, win at ninth-ranked UCLA was ASU's first top-10 road win since its 90-87 OT win at No. 4 Stanford on Jan. 31, 1998...against seventh-ranked Stanford on Feb. 14, 2008, ASU earned its first win over a top-10 team since Jan. 23, 2002 (88-72 over No. 10 Arizona).

COACH SENDEK WINS VS. RANKED TEAMS AT ASU
ASU 68, #24 Washington 51 (Jan. 8, 2010)
#23 ASU 75, #13 Washington 65/P10 Tourney (Mar. 13, 2009)
#18 ASU 74, #11 UCLA 67 (Feb. 12, 2009)
#16 ASU 61, @#9 UCLA 58 (OT), Jan. 17, 2009
ASU 72, #7 Stanford 68 (OT), Feb. 14, 2008
ASU 77, #17 Xavier 55, Dec. 15, 2007 (largest win over ranked team in ASU history)
ASU 68, #22 USC 58, Feb. 18, 2007

PAST THREE SEASONS
ASU is 32-22 (.593) in the past three seasons in Pac-10 regular season play, tied for the second-best mark in the league behind UCLA (37-17/.685) and even with Washington (32-22/.593). ASU is one of five teams who are above .500 in league play in that time frame.

PAC-10 LEAGUE RECORDS (2007-10/PAST THREE SEASONS)
1. UCLA, 37-17/.685
2. Arizona State and Washington, 32-22/.593
4. California, 30-24/.556
5. USC, 28-26/.519
6. Arizona, 27-27/.500
7. Stanford, 26-28/.481
8. WSU, 25-29/.463
9. Oregon, 18-36/.333
10. Oregon State, 15-39/.278

HE IS CAIN AND ABLE
Freshman Kyle Cain had 17 rebounds vs. Houston Baptist on Nov. 25, the most by a Sun Devil since Jeff Pendergraph had 19 at Oregon on Feb. 8, 2007, a span of the previous 112 games. The 17 boards is tied for second-most by a freshman in ASU history with Mario Bennett, who had 17 vs. Oregon on Feb. 1, 1992. Ike Diogu has freshman record with 18 vs. Oregon on March 13, 2003, in the Pac-10 Tournament.

20-WIN THEORY
ASU will play seven teams in its non-conference schedule that won at least 20 games last year. New Mexico (30-5), UAB (25-9), Weber State (20-11), Baylor (28-8), Richmond (26-9), Nevada (21-13) and Tulsa (23-12) all won 20.

DEFENSE
ASU is one of just nine teams to finish in the top 25 in scoring defense the past two seasons. ASU finished eighth at 58.7 ppg. in 2009-10 and was 24th in 2008-09 at 60.5. The others are Princeton, Wisconsin, Old Dominion, Butler, Stephen F. Austin, Northeastern, Bethune-Cookman and Wright State. ASU is seventh in the nation in scoring defense the past two seasons and eighth in the past three seasons.

NATION'S BEST DEFENSES, PAST TWO SEASONS (2008-10)
1. Princeton 55.1
2. Wisconsin 57.9
3. Butler 58.7
4. Old Dominion 58.9
5. Wright State and UNI 59.2
7. Arizona State 59.6

NATION'S BEST DEFENSES, PAST THREE SEASONS (2007-10)
1. Wisconsin 56.7
2. Stephen F. Austin 57.4
3. Princeton 58.2
4. Butler 58.6
5. Wright State and UNI 59.6
7. Bethune-Cookman 60.3
8. Arizona State 60.4

VS. BAYLOR
ASU is 2-3 vs. Baylor after a 64-61 Baylor win in Tempe last year and an 87-78 Bear win in Anaheim on Nov. 28. 2008...prior to last season the squads had not met since Nov. 26, 1988, an ASU 89-73 win in Richmond.

THE SHOOTER
Senior Rihards Kuksiks is 22-of-45 (.489) from the three-point stripe in his past seven games against ranked opponents. He has been clutch in close games the past two years, as ASU has played six games of two points or less (and went 4-2), and he is 22-of-46 (.478) from three. He matched career-highs in points (27) and rebounds (nine) in the Jan. 8 win over No. 24 Washington last season. He had six 20-point games in 2009-10 with 27 vs. USF and #24 Washington, 25 at Oregon, 24 vs. USC and UCSB and 21 vs. Jacksonville.

QUICK NOTES AFTER THE FIRST FIVE GAMES
ASU trailed UAB (25-9 in 2009-10) 50-42 with 11:33 remaining on Nov. 20 in Tempe but stormed back to top the Blazers 69-66 behind Trent Lockett'S 19 points, seven boards and five assists and Ty Abbott'S game-winning three-pointer with 2.2 ticks left. Abbott added 15 points while freshman Kyle Cain sparked the Sun Devils off the bench with 14 points and six boards. The Sun Devils had 18 assists and just eight turnovers...ASU opened its season on the road for the first time since Dec. 1, 1992, when it fell at New Mexico 76-62 on Nov. 16. New Mexico entered this season 49-5 in home games under Steve Alford and was 30-5 last year and won the Mountain West regular season title. ASU was led by sophomore Trent Lockett, who had a then career-high 22 points...TY ABBOTT became the 33rd member of ASU's 1,000-point club as he now has 1,108 career points.. When Abbott scores in double digits, ASU is 38-13 (.745) including 26-10 (.722) in the past three seasons. Abbott missed the Houston Baptist game due to a knee bruise.

THE FIVE RETURNERS
ASU returns three starters from last year in seniors Ty Abbott (All-Pac-10 first team selection last year), Jamelle McMillan and Rihards Kuksiks who had combined for 68 wins, 289 games played, 216 starts, 2,290 points and 7,524 minutes entering this year...in the 18 Pac-10 games last year, Abbott finished ninth in the loop in scoring (14.7 points per game), 11th in rebounding (5.7 rpg.), ninth in free throw percentage (.818 /36-of-44), fourth in three-point percentage (.411/53-of-129), second in three-pointers made per game (2.9) and sixth in defensive rebounds per game (5.0) en route Pac-10 first-team honors...McMILLAN played in 94 games his first three seasons and started in 50...KUKSIKS made 210 three-pointers in first his three years and led ASU in scoring in overall games last year at 12.1...sophomore Trent Lockett made the Pac-10 All-Freshman team last year and had nine double-figure scoring games, including a 17-point, six-rebound and eight assist effort against Stanford on Jan. 30. He played in all 33 games, just one off the freshman school record of 34 held by four players...sophomore Ruslan Pateev added about 20 pounds to his 7-0 frame this summer. He averaged 8.3 minutes in 20 games last year.

YOUNG
After coaching in more than 500 career games at three schools and in seven NCAA tournaments and having eight former assistants currently serving as head coaches at the D-I level, Herb Sendek is still the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10 even with seven new hires in the past three seasons.

PAC-10 COACHES BY AGE (YOUNGEST TO OLDEST)
Sean Miller (42), Arizona, 11/17/68
Johnny Dawkins (47), Stanford, 9/28/63
Herb Sendek (47), ASU, 2/22/63
Craig Robinson (48), OSU, 4/21/62
Lorenzo Romar (52), UW, 11/13/58
Dana Altman (52), Oregon, 6/16/58
Ken Bone (52), WSU, 5/21/58
Ben Howland (53), UCLA, 5/28/57
Kevin O'Neil (53), USC, 1/24/57
Mike Montgomery (63), Cal, 2/27/47

ONE OF JUST SIX TO OPEN ON THE ROAD
Of the 73 teams in the major conferences, ASU was one of only six to open with a true road game. No Big 12, SEC or ACC teams did it. The six were Georgetown winning at ODU (Nov. 12); Seton Hall losing at Temple (Nov. 12); Northwestern winning at Northern Illinois (Nov. 12); Rutgers losing at Princeton (Nov. 15); St. John's losing at St. Mary's (Nov. 16) and ASU losing at New Mexico (Nov. 16).

NOTE ON PAC-10 COACH OF THE YEAR
Herb Sendek became just the second Sun Devil coach to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year in ASU's 32 Pac-10 seasons in 2009-10, as Ned Wulk won the honor in 1978-79. What is even more eye opening is the 30 years between Sun Devil winners. That is nothing new for Coach Sendek. His 2003-04 ACC Coach of the Year honor was NC State's first in 15 seasons, as Jim Valvano was the last Wolfpack coach to win the honor prior to Coach Sendek in 1988-89.

DEFENSE
Just how good has the Sun Devil defense been since Herb Sendek took over? ASU has given up less than 62 points per game in each of his four seasons. In his 10 seasons in Raleigh, NC State led the ACC in scoring defense four times and held opponents to just 54.7 points per game in 1996-97, an ACC record. Last year's 58.7 points per game allowed was the lowest by ASU since the 1948-49 team gave up 47.6.

ASU LOWEST DEFENSIVE PPG.
1. 46.5 - 1948
2. 47.6 - 1949
3. 58.7 - 2010
4. 59.8 - 1950
5. 60.5 - 2009
6. 61.8 - 2007
7. 61.9 - 2008

THE SEVEN NEWCOMERS
ASU welcomes a trail mix group with seven newcomers representing three classes, including four southpaws...guard Brandon Dunson is a 6-1 roadrunner from Wabash Community College with a 6-7 wingspan...another junior college transfer is 6-6 jumping jack Carrick Felix from the College of Southern Idaho, who has three years of eligibility...ASU has five freshman, but only three are of the usual path...KYLE CAIN is a 6-7 forward who went to prep school first...JORDAN BACHYNSKI is a 7-2 post player from Canada who went on a LDS Mission to Miami the past two years. He just turned 21 last month...COREY HAWKINS finished his prep career as the all-time leading scorer in Arizona history...want more shooting? Chanse Creekmur brings an Iowa jumper from Tempe and was on campus both summer sessions to get ready for this year...highest ranked of the bunch is southpaw swingman Keala King, a 6-4 Los Angeles product ranked No. 26 by Rivals.com in its final shout-outs last year.

CURRENT LONGEVITY AMONG PAC-10 COACHES (YEARS AT SCHOOL)
Lorenzo Romar, Washington-8
Ben Howland, UCLA-7
Herb Sendek, ASU-4
Johnny Dawkins, Stanford; Mike Montgomery, Cal; Craig Robinson, OSU-2
Ken Bone, Washington State; Kevin O'Neill, USC; Sean Miller, UA-1
Dana Altman, Oregon-First Year

PERSPECTIVE
With its Feb. 25 win at Stanford last season, ASU clinched its third straight 20-win season for the first time since 1961-63. This manufactured note says it all...ASU posted its 20th win for the third straight season (en route to 26) on Feb. 16, 1963, a 104-87 win at BYU. Six days later on Feb. 22, Herb Sendek was born. Another nugget...last season was the first since 1994-95 (past 15 seasons) that ASU did not have a three-game losing streak.

THE ROAD
Some say it is the great preparation. Maybe it had something to do with having two NBA draft picks two years ago. Some of it had to do with Derek Glasser being the school's best free throw shooter. Whatever it is, Coach Herb Sendek has turned ASU into a solid road team. ASU is the only league team to post a winning road record in league tilts in each of the past two seasons, as it has gone 5-4 in each season. Over the past three seasons, ASU (14-13) and UCLA (17-10) are the only two schools with a winning road record in league tilts.

MORE ROAD NUGGETS
After losing its first eight Pac-10 road games under Herb Sendek, ASU is 15-13 (.536) since...ASU swept the Oregon trip for the second straight year in 2009-10, its second Pac-10 road sweep since January of 2005 and its third road sweep in the past six seasons...ASU has now won the past three in Tucson and is 3-1 at UA under Herb Sendek after winning once in Tucson in the previous 23 tries (win was in 1994-95, from 1983-84 through 2006-07 period)...ASU won four straight Pac-10 roadies in 2008-09 for the first time since the 1980-81 team won five straight...in 2009-10, ASU shot 72.1 percent from the free throw line on the road, which was better than the opponent's in their own arenas (.685). ASU shot 35.4 percent from the three-point stripe in road games last year and held opponents to just 35.2 percent.

PAC-10 ROAD RECORDS (2008-10/PAST TWO SEASONS)
Arizona State and Washington (10-8/.556)
UCLA and California (9-9/.500)
WSU, UA and Oregon State (6-12/.333)
USC and Oregon (4-14/.222)
Stanford (3-15/.167)

PAC-10 ROAD RECORDS (2007-10/ PAST THREE SEASONS)
UCLA (17-10/.630)
Arizona State (14-13/.519)
Washington and California (13-14/.481)
Washington State (12-15/.444)
Arizona (10-17/.370)
USC (9-18/.333)
Stanford (8-19/.296)
Oregon (7-20/.259)
Oregon State (6-21/.222)

FIRST-TEAM ALL-PAC-10
Senior Ty Abbott averaged 15.2 points and 5.5 boards in the final 18 games and was 56-of-138 (.406) from the three-point stripe in that time...had monster road tilt last year with 28 points on 11-of-17 shooting, including 5-of-8 three-pointers, in season-high 39 minutes in 73-69 win at Tucson on Feb. 21...posted a season-high 29 points vs. Stanford, including seven three-pointers, and also added a career-best 12 rebounds, all on the defensive end...played 38 minutes, posted 20 points and matched season highs in assists (four) and steals (three) vs. Pac-10 champion California on Jan. 28...missed one game after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee in mid-October...has played in 105 games in his four-year career and started in 94.

THE NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
ASU is taking its successful road trip act to Albuquerque, Waco and Reno in non-conference action this season against teams that were a combined 47-4 in their home arenas last year as Baylor was 15-1, Nevada 15-2 and New Mexico 17-1...for the first time since 1992-93, ASU opened its season with a road game as it lost to Mountain West Conference Champion New Mexico 76-62 on Nov. 16. The Lobos were 30-5 last year and 49-5 in Albuquerque under head coach Steve Alford entering this season. UNM averaged 13,595 fans per game last year, including five straight sellouts of 14,586 to close the season...Baylor's 15 home wins were the most in its Ferrell Center history and its one home loss was the fewest at the Ferrell Center. The Bears were one of the most balanced teams in the nation last year, finishing tenth in field goal percentage, sixth in field goal percentage defense and sixth in blocked shots per game en route to an Elite Eight finish and a 28-8 record.

REPLACE THESE GUYS
ASU lost two senior starters and three total key players from last year in Derek Glasser, Eric Boateng and Jerren Shipp, who all three earned their degrees...Glasser set ASU records for games (131), assists (551) and free throw shooting (.838)...Shipp is second on the ASU career list for games with 129...Eric Boateng led the Pac-10 in field goal percentage (.665) and averaged 8.8 points and 7.2 boards and matched Pac-10 record by making all 11 shots from the field at Stanford on Feb. 25, 2010.

HEAD COACH
Herb Sendek, 79-58 (.577) at ASU, is in his 18th season as a head coach in 2010-2011 and has averaged 19.4 wins per season. He led the NC State Wolfpack to five straight NCAA appearances from 2002-06 and is now 333-216 (.607) and was 191-132 (.591) at NC State. The 47-year-old (born Feb. 22, 1963) Pittsburgh, Pa., native remains the third-youngest coach in the Pac-10. Only Duke posted more ACC wins (regular season and ACC Tournament) than NC State's 53 from 2002-2006. An overlooked note is his 10-year stay at NC State. To compare it to the Pac-10, since the league expanded to 10 teams in 1978-79, only five coaches have coached at their schools for at least 10 years: Lute Olson (24/Arizona), Ralph Miller (19/Oregon State), Mike Montgomery (18/Stanford), Ernie Kent (13/Oregon) and Ben Braun (12/California).

HE IS THAT YOUNG AND BEEN COACHING THAT LONG
Herb Sendek earned the Miami of Ohio job in the spring of 1993 at age 30. Three years later he took over the NC State program at age 33. Some 18 years later he ranks near the top of the youngest coaches with at least 300 career Division I wins, as he turned 47 on Feb. 22, 2010.

YOUNGEST COACHES WITH 300 DIVISION I WINS (OR NEAR IT)
*Numbers are entering 2010-11 season
Billy Donovan, Florida, 366 (May 30, 1965)
Steve Alford, New Mexico, 306 (Nov. 23, 1964)
Herb Sendek, Arizona State, 330 (Feb. 22, 1963)
Bill Self, Kansas, 409 (Dec. 27, 1962)
Jay Wright, Villanova, 325 (Dec. 24, 1961)
Kevin Stallings, Vanderbilt, 336 (Oct. 1, 1960)
Jeff Jones, American, 306 (June 29, 1960)
Greg McDermott, Creighton, 280 (Nov. 25, 1964)
Mark Few, Gonzaga, 291 (Dec. 27, 1962)

BEST TREE IN THE LAND
Herb Sendek has eight former assistants who are D-I coaches, the best mark of any coach in the nation in 2009-2010, ahead of Mike Montgomery and Rick Pitino (seven each). Twelve-year sidekick Mark Phelps earned the Drake spot in the spring of 2008 after serving for 10 years on the staff at NC State and for two years at ASU. Former NC State sidekick John Groce also earned the Ohio University position in the spring of 2008. The others are Jim Christian at TCU (Miami assistant in 1995-96), Charlie Coles at Miami of Ohio (Miami assistant from 1994-96), Larry Hunter at Western Carolina (NC State assistant from 2001-05), Ron Hunter of IUPUI (Miami assistant from 1993-94), Ohio State's Thad Matta (Miami assistant in 1994-95) and Arizona's Sean Miller (assistant at both Miami from 1993-95 and at NC State from 1996-2000).