Arizona St. 67, Iowa 64 By BOB BAUM, AP Sports Writer
November 26, 2006
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) -- Christian Polk's 35-footer at the shot-clock buzzer with 12.7 seconds to play gave Arizona State a wild 67-64 come-from-behind victory over Iowa on Saturday night.
Arizona State outscored Iowa 19-4 over the final six minutes.
Polk, one of three freshmen who started for first-year coach Herb Sendek, found himself under tight defense from the basket when he let loose the game-winning shot.
Iowa's Tony Freeman missed a 3-pointer just before the finish. A turnover gave Iowa one last shot with less than a second to play, but Brett Wessel's desperation attempt was far off the mark.
Polk scored 20, including 4-of-5 3-pointers, two of them in the final two minutes. Serge Angounou added 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Sun Devils (3-2).
Adam Haluska scored 24 for the Hawkeyes (2-3), who lost their third in a row. Tyler Smith added 10 points.
Down 60-48, the Sun Devils scored 13 consecutive points to go up 61-60 on Polk's 3-pointer from the corner with two minutes to play.
Cyrus Tate scored inside and was fouled by Jeff Pendergraph but missed the free throw and Iowa led 62-61. Angounou's 3-pointer put Arizona State ahead 64-62, then Smith's tip-in tied it at 64 with 48 seconds to play.
The Sun Devils shot 10-for-16 from 3-point range. They started three freshmen for the first time since the 1999-2000 season.
The Hawkeyes used a 10-0 run at the end of the first half and start of the second to go up 35-25, but Arizona State responded with a 12-3 spurt to cut it to 38-37 on Jerren Shipp's 3-pointer with 14:29 to play.
Tyler Smith scored on a left-handed drive, then Haluska sank a 3-pointer and Iowa boosted its lead to 43-37. Seth Gorney's inside basket capped a 9-2 run that gave the Hawkeyes their biggest lead, 60-48, six minutes from the finish.
The Sun Devils scored the first 13 points of the game.
But the Hawkeyes outscored Arizona State 31-12 the rest of the half to lead 31-25.
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"It's like a truck driver, whose livelihood depends on his vehicle, being asked to choose between a truck he's driven for four years and one he's only test driven a few times over the last five months, with his decision affecting the next year of his career. If he doesn't even hint towards the truck he's familiar with, one would have to assume something is wrong with it." - Espo RISE UP DARK SIDE
Great win for the Devils, especially considering how sloppy they played. The team can eliminate a lot of easy mistakes and play much better than they did tonight (same can be said for Iowa). That last shot was insane, I couldn't believe it went in. The whole time on that possession I was screaming "shot clock, you've got to shoot it...shoot it...times going to run out...shoot it!!!"
Pendergraph needs to try to cut back on the silly fouls, and Polk needs to work on being less of a black hole when he gets the ball.
^Minnesota just lost their coach, so hopefully their emotional turmoil will help the Devils. If ASU wins, itll be the fist time beating 2 Big 10 teams in a season since the Ned Wulk era.
It was a sad to lose when they were so close...if only they could've made the free throws. Oh well, it does show a lot about them that they never quit and they have the confidence in themselves to keep going. I love Herb Sendek.
Stanford's tough to figure out. They'll beat a serviceable Texas Tech team but get blown out at home by Santa Clara. Win or loss, Trent Johnson probably isn't keeping his job on the Farm past 2007 with Monty unemployed. The admisitration can't be too pleased about being replaced by Washington amongst the Pac-10 basketball elite.
I think Ill be headed down to the arena tonight to watch ASU play Cal. I have 4 free tickets, but sadly I think Im only going to be able to use 1. Hopefully I can find someone at the door to give the other 3 to. Hopefully ASU can get a win, the Pac10 is going to be so tough this year, Cal is probably one of the few Pac schools that the Devils have a chance against.
EDIT: I just got back from the game, here are my thoughts:
On defense ASU employed the zone on every possession, and for the most part it worked well. They held Cal below their average point total, but part of that is ASUs slow down offensive style as well. ASUs rotations on D left too many wide open 3's, but I'd rather leave open 3's than an open key. Towards the end of the game ASU missed 2 key rebounds off free throws which is absolutely pathetic- thats basic stuff, needs to be cleaned up.
On offense, ASU is nothing more than a mess. I'd rather see Shipp and Antwi in the game as opposed to Glasser. Glasser just looks confused, and doesn't create anything. Too many ASU players pack it in, and stand around- they need to spread out and move more.
ASU needs to find a handful of plays they can run on offense successfully. I know Herb wants to slow the pace to keep the ball out of the other teams hands, but this is just bad basketball. Holding it for 35 seconds and throwing up a prayer won't cut it.
Perhaps trying to install some sort of pick and roll w/ Pendergraph, and a pick and pop play w/ Serge would work. Who knows, right now this offensive is not only ineffective, its dull.
Last edited by HooverDam; December 30th, 2006 at 09:01 PM.
ASU needs to find a handful of plays they can run on offense successfully. I know Herb wants to slow the pace to keep the ball out of the other teams hands, but this is just bad basketball. Holding it for 35 seconds and throwing up a prayer won't cut it.
Perhaps trying to install some sort of pick and roll w/ Pendergraph, and a pick and pop play w/ Serge would work. Who knows, right now this offensive is not only ineffective, its dull.
Did you ever watch NC State over the last five or six years? For better or worse, the offense you watched last night is Sendek ball only he does not have shooters or bigs that can pass at ASU.
FYI - The Devils are hanging with UW tonight. I really hope the Devils pull it off, it'll shut up the 'UW is the next Pac-10 power' Husky fans that have been running amok recently.
FYI - The Devils are hanging with UW tonight. I really hope the Devils pull it off, it'll shut up the 'UW is the next Pac-10 power' Husky fans that have been running amok recently.
I think UW's 0-3 PAC-10 start has already done that.
Tetris Champion!
Oh well, it does show a lot about them that they never quit and they have the confidence in themselves to keep going. I love Herb Sendek. 
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