Two Hour Warning: Washington State Cougars @ (14) Arizona State Sun Devils

by Cory Williams on Jan 29, 2009 4:56 PM MST in ASU Basketball Comment 3 comments

With just about two hours to go before tipoff, this is another new segment from House of Sparky: The Two Hour Warning. Before every matchup for the rest of the season, you will find statistics, players to watch, and other pertinent information regarding the upcoming game.

We have also been posting a lot of good stuff lately, including an interesting breakdown of Washington State's team by their SBN blogger, Nuss.

Also, we offer a weekly Bracketology update on where your Devils stand, and how far we can reasonably expect them to go in the NCAA Tournament.

But without further ado...

The Two Hour Warning: Cougar Edition

The Washington State Cougars are a young team, fueled by their three star players: Aron Baynes, Taylor Rochestie, and Klay Thompson. They all average just over 11 points a game, but Baynes is the real threat tonight, in my opinion.

At 6'10", 250 lbs, the experienced senior from Australia plans to improve on his 7.1 rebounds a game against a Sun Devil team that is nearly depleted with big men talent outside of Jeff Pendergraph.

Taylor Rochestie plays point guard, and leads his team in scoring. However, he is shooting a mere 36.5% from 3, which is something ASU will look to exploit. Do not be surprised if he comes out with guns blazing; without a perimeter attack, Baynes' effectiveness will be compromised.

Klay Thompson would be considered the baby of the three, being just a freshman. He is putting up big enough numbers to impress this writer, with 11.5 PPG, 4.3 RPG, and 36.1% from 3. He is also made all 20 of his free throw attempts.

At 6'6", he is an imposing figure for a shooting guard at the college level. By comparison, we usually run out 4 players 6'6" (Rihards Kuksiks) or shorter (Derek Glasser, Ty Abbott, James Harden) in our starting lineup.

Here are the total statistics for the 2008-2009 Cougar season.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
Taylor Rochestie	19	35.5	4.1	10.4	39.1	1.4	3.9	36.5	2.7	3.0	91.2	0.5	3.1	3.6	4.7	2.5	0.9	0.1	1.7	12.3
Aron Baynes	19	26.8	4.5	7.5	59.4	0.1	0.1	100.0	2.9	3.9	74.3	2.2	4.9	7.1	0.6	1.4	0.3	1.1	1.8	11.9
Klay Thompson	19	31.8	4.4	10.4	41.9	1.6	4.4	36.1	1.1	1.1	100.0	0.9	3.4	4.3	1.7	2.2	0.9	0.7	1.9	11.4
Caleb Forrest	19	21.8	2.5	5.1	50.0	0.1	0.2	66.7	1.3	1.5	85.7	1.5	1.8	3.3	0.5	0.6	0.4	0.4	2.2	6.4
Daven Harmeling	18	23.4	1.8	4.7	39.3	1.2	3.4	36.1	0.6	0.6	90.9	0.2	1.5	1.7	0.9	0.4	0.2	0.2	1.1	5.4
Nikola Koprivica	19	21.9	1.4	4.1	35.1	0.7	2.4	30.4	0.4	0.7	57.1	0.1	2.6	2.7	1.4	1.5	0.5	0.1	1.3	4.0
DeAngelo Casto	19	15.5	1.2	2.8	43.4	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.4	2.1	65.0	1.3	2.8	4.1	0.2	1.1	0.5	1.3	1.6	3.8
Ryan Bailey	1	8.0	1.0	1.0	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.0	1.0	3.0	0.0	2.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	2.0
Marcus Capers	19	14.4	0.5	2.1	25.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.5	0.8	62.5	0.3	2.0	2.3	1.3	0.8	0.2	0.2	1.5	1.6
Fabian Boeke	2	2.0	0.5	1.5	33.3	0.5	1.0	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	1.5
Charlie Enquist	8	5.5	0.6	1.3	50.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	0.4	33.3	0.6	0.4	1.0	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.8	0.0	1.4
Abe Lodwick	15	7.6	0.5	2.4	19.4	0.2	1.7	12.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.8	1.1	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.1	1.3	1.1
Mike Harthun	6	5.2	0.3	1.2	28.6	0.0	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.2	0.2	0.3	0.5	0.2	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.7
Nick Witherill	4	4.0	0.3	0.5	50.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	1.0	1.0	0.0	0.8	0.3	0.0	0.3	0.5
	19	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	2.0	2.8	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

Lets look at our beloved Devils.

			FG			3PT			FT			Rebounds			Misc
	G	M	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	M	A	Pct	Off	Def	Tot	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	PPG
James Harden	19	34.0	7.0	13.0	53.8	1.7	4.2	40.0	6.3	8.3	75.9	1.6	4.1	5.7	4.2	3.2	1.9	0.1	2.7	22.0
Jeff Pendergraph	19	29.5	5.5	8.1	67.5	0.0	0.1	0.0	2.7	3.4	79.7	2.1	5.4	7.5	0.7	1.2	0.6	0.9	2.6	13.6
Rihards Kuksiks	19	30.9	3.6	7.3	48.9	2.7	5.6	48.6	0.7	0.9	82.4	1.1	2.8	3.9	1.2	1.4	0.6	0.2	2.6	10.6
Ty Abbott	19	30.1	3.0	7.9	38.0	1.2	4.9	24.7	0.8	1.2	65.2	0.7	3.4	4.1	1.9	1.8	1.1	0.5	2.2	8.0
Derek Glasser	19	30.5	1.8	4.6	40.2	1.1	2.5	42.6	2.4	2.8	84.9	0.5	2.0	2.5	5.1	2.3	1.1	0.0	1.4	7.1
Jamelle McMillan	19	17.0	1.4	3.7	37.1	0.8	2.6	30.0	0.5	0.7	64.3	0.2	1.7	1.8	1.8	1.2	0.7	0.1	1.6	4.0
Jerren Shipp	19	15.6	1.2	2.7	42.3	0.5	1.5	34.5	0.7	1.1	70.0	0.9	1.3	2.3	1.1	0.3	0.5	0.0	1.0	3.6
Eric Boateng	18	10.4	1.1	1.9	55.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.9	43.8	1.0	1.3	2.3	0.3	0.4	0.3	0.3	1.2	2.5
Taylor Rohde	14	5.1	0.4	1.1	33.3	0.1	0.4	16.7	0.1	0.2	33.3	0.4	0.3	0.6	0.2	0.4	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.9
Kraidon Woods	8	2.8	0.1	0.1	100.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	1.3	40.0	0.1	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.8
Nico Fricchione	4	1.3	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Virgil Sanders	1	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
	18	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.8	1.1	1.9	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0

The most shocking stat in all of this: Eric Boateng has played in 18 games this season. We have no other option, sadly.

In any case, the game tonight will be decided by James Harden and Taylor Rochestie. If these players can take control on the offensive side of the court, this could be a fairly high scoring matchup. Remember, the achilles heel of Sun Devil defense is the open 3 point shots we consistently offer up. Should they be converted, like Baylor did earlier in the season, we just can't keep up with the fireworks.

Prediction: ASU 72, WSU 59

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Comments

Game on tv?

I’m new to the House of Sparky, but enjoying the dialogue. Anyone know what channel they are showing the game on DirecTV? Is it televised?

by Call It The Throw on Jan 29, 2009 5:02 PM MST reply actions 0 recs

"Warning" is definitely the right word

Somebody should have given ASU a warning that you can’t always believe the polls. Just because they say you are the 14th ranked team in the country doesn’t mean you are actually the 14th best team in the country.

by sundevils on Jan 29, 2009 8:46 PM MST reply actions 0 recs