James Harden’s career at Arizona State: By the Numbers
Feb 18, 2015, 4:33 PM | Updated: 4:33 pm
Wednesday night, James Harden will join an exclusive group of former Arizona State basketballers when his jersey number 13 is raised to the rafters at Wells Fargo Arena.
Harden played only two seasons in Tempe, but undoubtedly made a huge impact on a program that has been up and down over the last four decades.
Here’s a look back at Harden’s Sun Devil career, by the numbers.
8-22
The Sun Devils’ record in 2006-07, the season before Harden arrived.
5
Rivals.com rated Harden, out of Artesia High School in California, as a 5-star recruit in 2007 and the 11th-best prospect in the country.
6
Despite the fanfare, Harden struggled in his first collegiate game, scoring only six points on 2-of-9 shooting in an ugly 77-54 loss to Illinois at the Maui Invitational in Hawaii.
20.5
Harden got the hang of things quickly after that slow start and averaged 20.5 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting over his next four games — consecutive wins over Princeton, LSU, Cal Poly and Florida Gulf Coast.
16
As a freshman, Harden averaged 17.8 points per game and hit the 20-point mark 16 times. The Sun Devils went 13-3 in those contests.
5-0
During Harden’s stay in Tempe, the Sun Devils beat their in-state rival, Arizona, five consecutive times. Against the Wildcats, he avaraged 19.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
18
In his sophomore season, that ended with him receiving consensus All-American honors, Harden averaged 20.1 points and racked 18 games in which he scored 20 or more points. ASU went 14-4 in those contests.
40
Harden torched UTEP for a career-high 40 points in an 88-58 win Nov. 30, 2008 in the third-place game of the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
5.4
In showing the style that would make him such a difficult player to guard in the NBA, Harden averaged 5.4 points per game from the free-throw line during his collegiate career. He hit 75.5 percent (373-of-494) of his attempts from the charity stripe.
3
Harden was named the Pac-10 Player of the Year in 2008, joining Eddie House (2000) and Ike Diogu (2005) as Arizona State players to win the honor.
46-23
ASU’s win-loss record with Harden on the court in two seasons.
3rd
The Oklahoma City Thunder made Harden the third overall selection in the 2009 NBA Draft, the second-highest draft position ever for an Arizona State player. Joe Caldwell was picked by the Detroit Pistons with the second selection of the 1964 draft.
