Arizona State makes statement with rout of Colorado: By the numbers

Arizona State’s men basketball team Saturday hosted a Colorado Buffaloes squad that suffered a 69-57 loss in Tucson to the Arizona Wildcats two day prior.

With the Buffaloes looking to avoid getting swept in the Grand Canyon State, ASU took a 9-8 lead with 13:48 left in the first half and never let go, rolling to a 72-51 win. The Sun Devils won their second straight game and moved ahead of Colorado (15-6, 4-4) in the Pac-12 standings.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s contest by the numbers:

2

The Sun Devils topped 70 points and won by more than 20 with just two players reaching double-figures in scoring: Point guard Jahii Carson with 18 and forward Jonathan Gilling with 12 (off the bench).

4

Gilling was a perfect 4-for-4 from behind the 3-point line. He has made all seven of his 3s since moving to the bench two games ago. The junior forward made four out of five shots overall in the game. Up until his only miss of the game, he had a streak going of seven makes in a row since losing his spot in the staring lineup.

ASU moved to 4-3 in conference with the win, and 15-5 overall. The team now has the fifth best record in the Pac-12 after knocking Colorado down to sixth place.

5

Colorado freshman guard Jaron Hopkins, a native of Mesa, Ariz., had a rough outing. The only stats that stood out for him were his five turnovers and five fouls. He finished with four points on 1-of-6 shooting, but did swipe two steals.

6:12

The Buffaloes were never able to recapture the lead from ASU after the first six minutes, 12 seconds of the contest, when the Sun Devils jumped ahead 9-8 on a Jordan Bachynski layup.

9

Bachynski entered the game just 12 blocks shy of tying a conference record — held by Arizona’s Anthony Cook. The Sun Devils senior recorded three against the Buffaloes, and is just nine away from tying the record with 11 games to go in the regular season.

21

The Sun Devils rolled to their biggest win since they started conference play; however, the 21-point margin is just their seventh widest of the season.

24

ASU’s bench overshadowed that of Colorado Saturday. The Sun Devils’ reserves scored 24 — led by Gilling’s 12 — while the Buffaloes’ bench contributed just seven points.

35

Saturday’s game was marred by turnovers — from both teams. The two of them combined for 35 turnovers, compared to only 23 assists. Even though Arizona State won the turnover war — giving it away 16 times, compared to Colorado’s 19 — the Buffaloes recorded 12 steals, while ASU only posted five.

37.5

Colorado posted some anemic shooting numbers — 20-for-47 from the field (42.6 percent) and 2-for-11 on 3-pointers (18.2 percent) — but the worst had to be the team’s nine free throws out of 24 attempts, good (bad?) for a percentage of 37.5. The Sun Devils, on the contrary, converted 17 out of 21 free tosses (81 percent).

1,015

Carson’s first bucket of the game was a 3-pointer, and it put him at exactly 1,000 points in his Sun Devil career. The sophomore sensation finished with 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting. He also added six rebounds and four assists.