Arizona State men’s basketball tied the mark for the second-most points in school history in Wednesday’s 127-110 win over the Citadel at Wells Fargo Arena as it bounced back from a rough 1-2 road trip at the Tire Pros Invitational in Florida.

Freshman guard Sam Cunliffe (23), junior guard Tra Holder (22), junior guard Kodi Justice (20), senior forward Obinna Oleka (20) senior guard Torian Graham (19) and junior guard Shannon Evans (17) II all ended in double figures for the Sun Devils.

ASU (4-2) scored 75 points in the second half and led for all but 22 seconds.

But regardless of the successes on the offensive end, head coach Bobby Hurley said he felt better about his team’s performance in its 68-60 loss to Davidson because of its defense.

The Citadel (3-3) entered the matchup averaging 102 points per game, and eclipsed that mark on 50 percent shooting.

“It’s human nature to look up at the scoreboard and to start thinking about the wrong things in a game like that,” Hurley said. “I think maybe we were thinking too much about what type of success we could have at the other end and forgetting about the business we need to take care of on defense.

“(The Citadel) plays as fast as any team that I’ve seen in my years of coaching.”

Justice, who has now come off the bench in four straight games after starting the first two, tied a career high with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting and 5 for 6 from 3-point range. He also tallied three assists and two rebounds but fouled out near the end of the game.

He also responded well to a bit of adversity as The Citadel freshman guard Kaelon Harris ferociously dunked on him in the first half. Justice then hit a 3-pointer just possessions later, part of his 4-of-5 3-point shooting during the first half.

He said he hasn’t minded coming off the bench after starting the first two games because Hurley always tells the team he has “six starters,” meaning there are six players who play a starter’s minutes.

In addition to his scoring, Justice added three assists, two rebounds, two blocks and two steals.

Hurley admitted he may have mismanaged Justice at the beginning of the year, leading to the junior’s slow start. Hurley said Justice plays better when he’s on the ball, and that Holder and Evans receiving most of the touches could have left Justice at a deficit.

Justice was the difference-maker as ASU established its 11-point lead in the first half, and a 10-point halftime lead, Hurley said.

Alas, he shook off the early-season slump.

“It always feels good to see the ball go through,” Justice said. “Yeah, I might have struggled here and there, but we have so many good players on our team that can score the ball. It didn’t affect me mentally to see that I didn’t have points like other guys because it’s going to be my night one night, it’s going to be the other guys’ nights the other nights. It’s not that big of a deal to me.”

Cunliffe entered the contest averaging just 7.2 points per game on 39.4 percent shooting but tallied a double-double against The Citadel. He scored his team-high 23 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 3-of-4 from 3-point range, also adding 10 rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.

After the first weekend of the season, Hurley discussed the adjustment period Cunliffe was experiencing. On Wednesday, he said the freshman looked “smooth.”

“He’s just looking more and more relaxed and comfortable in what we’re doing,” he said. “He’s throwing himself into both ends of the floor…He’s thinking about everything, not just being a scorer.”

Oleka tallied his third double-double of the season with 20 points and 15 rebounds, eight on the offensive glass. He also had one block.

High-energy freshman big man Jethro Tshisumpa only played four minutes, but scored two points to go along with two rebounds and three blocks.

Now, ASU faces easily its toughest test to date as it readies for No. 1 Kentucky on Nov. 28 in the Bahamas.

When asked how to prepare for the Wildcats, Hurley briefly paused before answering.

“Everyone would struggle with that question, I’m sure I’m not the only one,” he said.

Hurley said he believes his players will be excited to play the game as the opportunity to play the country’s top team doesn’t come around too often.

“You just attack them,” Evans said. “You can’t be timid, you can’t be nervous. You just got to trust yourself and trust your team, play team ball, and I feel like we’ll be fine.”

Last season, ASU trailed by just one at the half in Lexington, Ky., but lost by 14 after a rough second half.

ASU has shown its offensive explosiveness multiple times this season, highlighted by Wednesday’s scoring output. However, Hurley is focused on its improvement on the defensive end, which will be necessary for success moving forward.

“Obviously, we have a tremendous amount of respect for that program and the talent in that program,” Hurley said. “We’re going to have to have a couple of great days of practice and clean up our defense because I’m scared to think of how many points they might score on us if we played defense the way we played today.”