On Monday night, ASU hosted McNeese State, and looked to come up big after a tough loss at Northwestern before retiring for Christmas Break. With many players already packed to leave shortly after the game ended, Coach Evans was worried that his players would be looking ahead to their vacation and not focused on the game. This was not the case, as ASU came out and played its best first half this season against a McNeese State team that had lost 4 in a row, and all 5 of its road games. Even defensive perfectionist Rob Evans was pleased by his teams defense in the first half, holding the Cowboys to 37.5% from the field, while ASU shot 63%, giving them a 46-22 lead at half, with Ike outscoring McNeese State by himself with his 23 points.

Expecting a second half with the same intensity and level of play against one of the weaker teams on ASU’s schedule is too much to ask, especially so close to Christmas, and the Sun Devils did just that, letting the Cowboys outscore them by 4 in the second half. The Cowboys cut the lead by shooting an improved 58.3% from the field, while hitting 5 three pointers, while ASU shot a weak 34.5%. ASU kept their starters on the court for most of the game, with each starter getting at least 20 minutes in, trying to get prepared for the start of the conference season, now less than 2 weeks away. All 14 players in uniform got into the game, including fan favorite Brandon Goldman, and ASU ended up winning 81-61.

Leading ASU in scoring was Ike Diogu with 38 points, and also grabbed 8 rebounds. No other Sun Devil was in double figures, but Jason Braxton had a nice game, scoring 8 points, 7 assists, 3 steals, and a block while only turning the ball over 3 times. Wilfried Fameni also added 6 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes of playing time. Helping outscore ASU in the second half for the Cowboys was Edward Garriett who scored 8 of his 21 in the second half, and Eldridge Lewis who scored all 10 of his points in the second half. Eldridge also had a game high 9 assists in his 31 minutes of play. Ike Diogu shot an amazing 12-15 from the field, with many of those being awesome dunks and putbacks on teammates missed shots. He also shot a near perfect 14-15 from the free throw line, but did have 6 turnovers in the game. ASU yet again shot above 80% from the free throw line, mainly because of Ike, but seems to be putting its days of bad free throw shooting behind them, and even Jason Braxton went 4 for 4 from the line. Next up for the Sun Devils is San Diego at home in their annual holiday tournament.

-Ike Diogu’s 38 points is the most for an ASU player since Eddie House dropped 40 in 2000. Ike is just the 5th player in ASU history to have 38 or more points, with the others being Eddie House (61, 46, 42, 40, 39), Paul Williams (45), Stevin Smith (39), and Lafayette Lever (38). It is also the most scored for a Pac-10 player this year, passing Stanford’s Matt Lottich who scored 34 points against Gonzaga.

-The azcentral.com Hoops Classic will be held at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday Dec. 29th and Tuesday Dec. 30th. The opening game of the tourney will be Winthrop vs. Western Michigan at 2:30 on Monday with San Diego vs. ASU being played at 5 pm.