(Tempe, AZ) The Arizona State Sun Devil men’s hoops team — coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournaments for the first time since 1980-81 and the only Pac-12 team to make the NCAAs the past two seasons opens with five of its first seven away from Tempe, as after its trip to China for a non-conference game against Colorado on Nov. 9 it now hosts its only two home games before until Dec. 6, as it takes on Central Connecticut State of the Northeast Conference on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m., followed by Rider (MAAC) on Sunday, Nov. 17, at 4 p.m. ASU has averaged 80.04 points per game the past two seasons, the best mark in the Pac-12. Rider was picked to finish second in the the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) by the league’s 11 head coaches as the Broncs return five starters from last year’s squad.
The next two tilts for ASU are the only home games prior to Dec. 7 game with Louisiana. ASU’s two home games prior to Dec. 7 will be the fewest in the Pac-12. Four teams will have played six home games (Arizona, Stanford, UCLA and Washington) before ASU’s plays its third. Only WSU (three) and ASU (two) play less than four in that time span.
Since Bobby Hurley took over four years ago, ASU leads the league in wins over ranked out-of-conference teams during the regular season with a 5-5 mark with wins over Kansas (twice), Xavier, Mississippi State and Texas A&M. Four of the wins have been away from Tempe. UCLA is 4-6 and Arizona 3-4. No other Pac-12 teams have more than two. Take out ASU’s 5-5 mark and the rest of the league is 15-42 in those four seasons and seven of the teams have one or zero wins.
Courtesy of Arizona State Athletics
