‘Beard Night’ brings big win for Arizona State: By the Numbers

Former Arizona State legend James Harden’s No. 13 jersey was lifted to the rafters during halftime of Tuesday’s ASU basketball game.

Twenty minutes later, Savon Goodman’s near-perfect 20-point, 12-rebound performance lifted the Sun Devils (14-12, 6-7) over UCLA, 68-66. He was 8-of-8 from the field and made 4-of-7 freebies.

“I actually didn’t know I had shot perfect until the end of the game,” he said. “I’m just glad we got our house the win.”

Shaq McKissic notched 14 points of his own, followed by freshman point guard Tra Holder’s 13 and Bo Barnes’ eight as a wild game with 17 lead changes throughout ended in ASU’s favor at Wells Fargo Arena.

Harden sat coolly courtside in a snappy maroon suit during the game. Arizona State wasn’t as collected to start (maybe due to the fact that one of their greats was watching), and turned over the ball in their first possession.

But Goodman, who opened 5-of-5 with 10 points, sustained his offensively troubled team as they started just 3-of-14 from the field.

UCLA would use the help of a 10-0 run in less than two minutes to end the half on top, 36-32.

But 52 percent shooting from the field in the second half from the Sun Devils, alongside 10 points out of Holder and two clutch 3-pointers from Barnes, gave ASU the edge.

A giant rebound by Goodman, his 12th of the game, to take away UCLA’s final chance at a field goal sealed it in favor of the Sun Devils.

What did Arizona State’s second-straight win look like, by the numbers?

4 (part I)

Goodman’s performance marks his fourth double-double of the season and second in a row, and the first time he’s been perfect from the field.

Arizona State has won three of the four games in which Goodman has posted a double-double.

The sophomore is now averaging a double-double through his last four games.

36/22

The Sun Devils won the battle down low against UCLA’s bigs, notching 36 points in the paint over their opponent’s 22.

39/27

ASU’s 39 rebounds walloped UCLA’s 27, and only gave the Bruins nine second-chance points.

“”We got killed on the boards tonight,” said Bruins head coach Steve Alford. “You’ve got to give them a lot of credit for their effort because it’s been a long time since we’ve been hammered on the glass like that and they hammered us.”

The Sun Devils’ 12 offensive rebounds (against the No. 1 offensive rebounding team in the Pac-12) led to 17 second-chance points of their own.

1

The game marked the first time UCLA has ever played against Goodman, who was just four points away from his career high.

15

The Sun Devils turned the ball over 15 times, giving UCLA 15 points off giveaways.

124

Senior Jon Gilling played his 124th game, tied for the fifth-most in school history. He’s behind Derek Glasser (131, 2006-10), Ty Abbott (130, 2007-11), Jerren Shipp (129, 2006-10), Jeff Pendergraph (126, 2005-09) and Eddie House (124, 1996-2000).

4 (part II)

Arizona State has now won four of the past six games against UCLA in Wells Fargo Arena. Though they’ll see the Bruins just once in the regular season, ASU hasn’t “swept” since Harden’s sophomore year.

3

The win was the third in four games for ASU, who has now won six of their last nine.

They’ll host USC on Feb. 22 at 8:30 p.m. in Tempe.

Just for fun

Harden joined ESPN analysts Bill Walton and Dave Pasch on air — and barely batted an eyelash at their attire:

Bill Walton and James Harden are beard twins: http://t.co/9muOjdgcoN pic.twitter.com/wqcNWcHVip

— SB Nation (@SBNation) February 19, 2015

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