Last season, the curse of the first leg of a Pac-12 road trip was in full effect, as the Sun Devils failed to win any of those contests. New year, new team and ASU (11-4, 2-1 Pac-12) wasted no time reversing that trend in their first conference game away from Tempe beating Cal 80-66.

Here are five key takeaways from the Sun Devils’ Thursday night win in Berkeley.

ASU gets a taste of its own medicine. A suffocating zone defense last week against Colorado limited the Buffaloes to 29.6 percent shooting in the first half. Tonight the Sun Devils were on the receiving end of that scheme as Cal limited ASU to 2 of 13 shooting midway through the first half. ASU, which didn’t score its 10th point until 9:56 left in the half was able to adjust.

Nonetheless, future ASU opponents watching this game will be very tempted to employ the same tactic to slow down Arizona State, and as we all know its ongoing struggles with against the zone was one aspect that really hindered Bobby Hurley's team in Pac-12 play last season. So, kudos for ASU figuring how to better counter that approach tonight but they will have to continue and be consistent in that department because it will be an ongoing case of Déjà vu the rest of the year.

Martin’s mayhem off the bench. how ironic it is that last year’s Pac-12 co-Sixth Man of the year, Remy Martin, who was guaranteed to have a starting role this season as the team’s floor general has played his best basketball this season while not in the starting five.

Much like last week's win versus Colorado the sophomore guard once again notched eight assists, tying a season-high. Luckily for his team, unlike that contest he showed up in the scoring column with a career-high 24 points that were crucial in turning around a one-time 14-point deficit into an eventual 14-point win. Martin also posted a career-high five three-pointers converting five of seven attempts. I expect Bobby Hurley to continue and tinker with the starting lineups, case in point the starting five tonight was different than the one against Colorado. But intentionally or not it's almost as if Martin is making a very strong case for himself to keep on bringing him off the bench. In reality, after logging in 33 points the reserve moniker probably loses a lot of its meaning as it is. Either way, if the last two wins proved anything it’s that how important Martin’s ability to get his teammates involved is for a team trying to find some kind of measure of offensive steadiness.

Dynamic duo goes from hot to cold. Junior forward Romello White and senior forward De’Quon Lake always wanted to play on the court at the same time and that combination was prolific last Saturday combining for 31 points and 15 rebounds in that Colorado victory. Tonight, though they were not side by side in the starting lineup and seldom shared the court as often as they did last week. Their numbers took quite a dip as both scored 10 points and tallied just eight rebounds. Of course trying to counter Cal's zone had probably the most effect on these two players, and if it wasn't for two textbook breaking the press possessions White's numbers would suffer even more. Yet, ASU has to find a way to effectively feed those two players down low and not try and over-rely on their outside shooting which at times has undoubtedly been a hindrance on the overall performance.

Saluting Zylan. The senior forward received devastating news following the loss to Princeton of his brother, Wanyaa Stewart being in critical condition following a gunshot wound and later on that night he did pass away. Not only hasn't Cheatham missed any practices or games since that tragic event, but in a three-game stretch he's been averaging 15 points and six rebounds and tonight his 13 second-half points were key in ASU's comeback win. Cheatham is by far the most consistent player on the team this year and has been absolutely invaluable with his contributions. With his brother’s funeral taking place back in the valley on Saturday it remains unclear if he will be available for the Stanford road game that afternoon at 3 p.m. local time. A potential absence from that matchup can be detrimental for ASU’s chances and Cheatham's performance tonight was a not so subtle reminder of how much his team relies on him.

The big picture. As satisfying as the Colorado victory was, Bobby Hurley claimed days after that game that there's nothing for this team to get excited about. Sure enough, the manner in which his squad played for the first ten minutes versus Cal unfortunately validated that statement in spades.

ASU made life much harder on itself than it should of and the fact that it took place against arguably the worst team in the Pac-12 is anything but a source of comfort. But at the same time with less than satisfying results this team has endured on the road not only last season but even during this current campaign this victory isn't anything that fans should take for granted. And it avoided a potential postseason resume pitfall that the Sun Devils already encountered versus Princeton and Utah.

Now, this begs the question whether the manner in which ASU played tonight will be indicative of future contest away from the friendly confines of The Bank. To avoid another white-knuckle Selection Sunday the Sun Devils are going to have to make it a habit to win more than three conference road games this season, a feat that has alluded them in the last few years. Time will tell if their performance in Berkley was a true turning the page moment when it comes to those precious Pac-12 road wins.