Beyond the arc: Sun Devils fond of Hurley, Big 12 POW, Uniform czar

Sun Devils like their leader

The Arizona State Sun Devils and head coach Bobby Hurley agree to a five-year extension. Hurley’s contract now runs through 2023 and includes a raise in salary from $700,000 to $2.1 million effective in July. He also receives a $700,000 signing bonus within 45 days of board of regents approval.

Hurley is in his third season with the Sun Devils and 45-40 overall. This year they are ranked 25th and are 16-5, 4-5.

Early week follies

The new AP Top 25 rankings came out as usual Monday, then the kids in uniform reminded us that it’s a long, crazy season.

Monday went off without a hitch as No. 4 Duke, No. 7 Kansas and No. 24 Michigan all won fairly easily. Kansas handled in-state rival Kansas State by 14 in Manhattan.

On Tuesday it got a little interesting. No. 19 North Carolina and No. 23 Florida both lost on the road. The Tar Heels loss came against No. 20 Clemson and it was the first win for Clemson against the Heels in eight years.

The chaos on Tuesday were the near losses. No. 6 Xavier, No. 12 Oklahoma, and No. 21 Kentucky all came perilously close to losing to unranked teams. Oklahoma and Kentucky played at home. Xavier beat St. Johns by five on the road. St. Johns was 10-12 overall and 0-10 in conference coming into the game.

Wednesday saw eight top 25 teams in action with six of them winning fairly easily. The other two, well, those two are in the Big 12 and nothing is easy in the Big 12. No. 15 West Virginia was dismantled by Iowa State in Ames while No. 10 Texas Tech struggled again against Texas. This time Tech got the win at home 73-71 in overtime.

Big 12 POW

Keenan Evans of Texas Tech was named Player of the Week and Mohamed Bamba of Texas Newcomer of the Week by the Big 12 for week 12.

Evans, the senior point guard for the Red Raiders averaged 28.5 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 1.5 steals as Tech went 2-0 including a big road win against South Carolina. He scored 43 of his 57 points in the second half as Tech came from behind to win both games. His 31 points against South Carolina last Saturday also put him over 1,300 career points for his career.

Bamba, the 6’11 freshman forward for the Longhorns 24.5 points, 13.5 rebounds, and 3.5 blocks in last weeks two wins. He converted almost 79 percent of his field goal attempts including 3-3 from three point range. He also shot 94 percent from the free throw line. Bamba put up a career high 25 points against Ole Miss in the Big 12/SEC shootout game last Saturday.

On the women’s side, Bridget Carleton of Iowa State was named Player of the Week and Oklahoma’s Shaina Pellington named Newcomer of the Week by the Big 12 for week 12.

Carleton, a 6’1 junior guard, averaged 29 points and 7 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field and 58 percent from three point range. She poured in 39 points in Iowa State’s road win at No. 19 Oklahoma State. She became only the sixth league player to score 39 plus points and grab nine plus rebounds in a Big 12 contest since 1999-2000. This is Carleton’s third honor of the year.

Pellington, a 5’7 guard for the Sooners also picked up her third honor of the year by averaging 18 points, 2.5 assists, and 2.5 rebounds last week. The two games were a narrow loss at No. 24 TCU and a win against Kansas.

Coincidentally, both of these ladies hail from the Great White North.

Lady Raiders

The Lady Raiders (7-14, 1-9) only had one game this past week. It was a 62-80 loss last Saturday at No. 19 Oklahoma State.

Jada Terry and Brittany Brewer led the team in scoring with 14. Terry also led the team with 15 rebounds. Junior forward Zuri Sanders put in a solid performance with seven points and 11 rebounds in 28 minutes.

Texas Tech returns to action Saturday against No. 3 Baylor in the United Supermarkets Arena. Tip off is set for 2 p.m.

No baby, you ain’t going out like that

I know we’re supposed to stick to college basketball here, but I can’t let this go. Come on man, what were the Utah Jazz wearing Tuesday night when they demolished Golden State? This looked even worse when it was on the players.

The St. George News headlined, “It’s exciting”. I’ll admit the court was pretty nice.

But as my daughter tells me when I do something to embarrass her, “Stop. Just stop.” I know the Jazz destroyed the Warriors in the game but just say no to the uniforms.