Just look at how exciting Pac-11 hoops can be when the conference isn't in play...
The HQ had to kill time because of all of the weather back east- two days worth of time to kill. So, that meant trying to see what could be done in the Mill Street district in downtown Tempe. So, that meant a Herb Sendek update...
Oh... the "Herbivores" reference...??? Go to Cactus Sports just off Mill and 6th and you'll see what we're talking about...
Without looking at the team's win-loss record, we all had a good idea what we were getting into at the Arena. An average team having problems in an average conference with a game to play before going completely Pac-11 and a team in CONFUSA ((enough said)).
And, sure enough, ASU went into the game 8-7 beating the teams they should, and losing to the teams they shouldn't. The rundown: wins over UAB, Houston Baptist, Weber State, Gardner-Webb, NCA&T, Nevada, Long Beach, and at Oregon. The losses: New Mexico, St. John's, Baylor, Richmond, at Oregon State, at Stanford, and at Cal.
Tulsa...? Wins against Oral Roberts, Missouri State, Stanford, Northridge, Weber, TCU, Rice, and UTSA. Losses were to App State, UNLV, UALR, Oke State, Princeton, Wichita State, and UTEP...
The one thing you can take from both these squads is that they'll both go as far as their backcourts will take them. Ty Abbott had 25 points and 9 in Arizona State's 69-59.
Carrick Felix added 21 points.
Justin Hurtt scored 17 points while Steven Idlet and Scottie Haralson added 11 points each for the Golden Hurricane (now 8-8).
Abbott hit six of his first seven 3-point attempts and went into halftime with 20 points to give Arizona State a 45-25 lead at the break. Felix gave Arizona State its largest lead, 52-29, with two free throws with 15:49 to go.
See where I'm going with this...???
Tulsa came back as Haralson scored five points to spur an 11-2 run. Tulsa twice cut the lead to 10 points, the final time on a lay-in by Joe Richard with 1:02 remaining that made it 66-56, but that was as close as they got.
When Abbott and Felix have 43 of your 54, that may be a problem down the line. And the reason that Tulsa got the lead to ten was that the outside scoring that got ASU the lead went cold in the second half- almost at a bad time. Doug Wojcik's guys can shoot from the outside, but they looked gassed trying to get back in the ballgame late in the second half. They were 4-for-21 from three-point range in Tempe.
There's a key stretch for them in January and mid-February where they play 5 of 7 conference games at home. That will determine their post-season place.
ASU shot only 25-percent from the floor in the second half after 55-percent in the first. That won't get you many places come March.
Oh, and the arena itself doesn't have a bad seat. For $10 plus shipping, handling, and printing, TBH and I sat third-row upper deck- scared by the cap-wearing, earring-displaying security personnel.
But, after all it was Tempe...???
I guess that's normal for the place...
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