ASU Basketball Year in Review: "Best Individual Performance"

At certain points throughout the season, the Sun Devils looked like less of a team and more like a group of talented individual players.

Though most experts believe relying on one or two players alone can inhibit success, Arizona State bucked that trend.

In many games, the Sun Devils had no choice but to lean on the hot hand of Carrick Felix or the will of Jahii Carson, which is why there are so many brilliant individual performances from the season.

However, the Sun Devils' best performance of the year didn't come from either of their two superstars.

Despite all of the great games the dynamic duo put together, the greatest individual performance came from an unlikely source.

Though 7-foot-2 center Jordan Bachynski averaged just 9.8 points 5.9 rebounds, the lengthy Canadian provided the most memorable effort of the season in his team's 87-76 victory over Cal State Northridge.

On Dec. 8th, Bachynski wrote a new chapter into the Arizona State record books by becoming the first Sun Devil ever to record a triple-double.

While his 13 points and 12 rebounds may not turn heads, the junior's most impressive statistic on the day had him approaching rarified air.

On the defensive end of the floor, Bachynski broke his own school record by blocking a practically unfathomable 12 shots.

Each time Cal State Fullerton entered the key, Bachynski was prepared to defend the hoop with relentless hustle and incredible anticipation.

Perhaps most remarkable about Bachynski's performance was his efficiency. In his 32 minutes on the floor, Bachynski was never whistled for a personal foul.

And while most triple-doubles require nearly a full 40 minutes of effort, Bachynski barely needed more than a half of basketball to piece together a historic stat line. At the 15:09 mark in the second half, the Sun Devil center flipped in a hook shot that secured the triple-double in less than 25 minutes of game time.

At the college level, the triple-double carries added lore because the amount of time a player has to record the necessary statistics is eight minutes shorter than the time an NBA player can use.

In fact, the last Pac-12 player to achieve the feat was Daniel Hackett, who notched his triple-double in November of 2007.

To put Bachynski's outing into greater perspective, he became just the fifth player in Pac-12 history to record a triple-double via points, rebounds, and blocked shots.

Yes, Carrick Felix led the Pac-12 with 13 double-doubles. Sure, Jahii Carson had 3 unforgettable 30-point games. However, no individual effort surpassed the unprecedented performance Bachynski delivered.

From this point forward, each time a Sun Devil player approaches a triple-double, announcers, commentators and other media members will remind their audiences of Dec. 8th, 2012.

That day, Bachynski secured his place in the record books, and right now, his name appears in the shortest chapter in the book.