Upstate Closes Out Non-Conference Slate At Arizona State
12/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2009
Game Notes | Live Audio | Gametracker
Spartanburg, S.C. - USC Upstate ends its trip out West Wednesday afternoon when it faces Arizona State in its final non-conference game of the season. The tip time is 2:00 p.m. MST, 4:00 p.m. EST. It marks the second of three television appearances this season for the Spartans with the game being televised on FOX Sports Arizona. Check your local listings for the channel lineup. The game will be available in the Spartanburg area on Charter Cable Channel 306, Dish Network Channel 415 and DirecTV Channel 686. Upstate enters the game with a 1-9 record after its 88-58 loss at UNLV Saturday night. The Spartans have lost four straight games. Arizona State stands 9-3 on the year, following its 69-42 victory over UC Santa Barbara. The Sun Devils have won three games in a row. This is the first meeting between Upstate and Arizona State, but Spartans head coach Eddie Payne is 3-7 all-time against the Sun Devils.
Fans not in attendance at the game can listen the action live online for free and get live statistical updates via Gametracker at www.upstatespartans.com, the official Upstate Athletics Web site.
Looking Back At UNLV
Despite getting a game-high 22 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots out of Nick Schneiders and outshooting No. 23 UNLV from the floor, Upstate could not overcome its costly turnovers and allowing the Runnin' Rebels 17 offensive rebounds as UNLV took an 88-58 victory Saturday in Las Vegas. Upstate committed 20 turnovers in the game, allowing UNLV to score 28 points off of the miscues. The Runnin' Rebels also scored 14 second chance points off of its 17 offensive rebounds. The combination of forcing turnovers and grabbing offensive rebounds allowed UNLV to take 28 more shots than the Spartans. That was key as Upstate shot just under 49 percent from the field while holding the Runnin' Rebels to under 44 percent shooting. UNLV used a pair of early 7-0 runs to establish a 29-7 lead in the first half before holding a 19-point lead at the intermission.
Scouting Arizona State
Arizona State plays its final non-conference game of the season Wednesday afternoon against Upstate. The Sun Devils enter the game with a 9-3 record and on a three-game winning streak after wins over Delaware State (76-34, Dec. 12), San Diego State (55-52, Dec. 19) and UC Santa Barbara (69-42, Dec. 21).
ASU opened the season with four straight wins before suffering its first loss of the season to Duke in the NIT Tip-Off. The Sun Devils responded with a pair of wins before losing two straight to Baylor and at BYU.
ASU averages over 71 points a game, but thrives on the defensive end of the court. The Sun Devils hold their opponents to 54 points an outing. They have forced their opponents into 186 turnovers on the year, coming away with 92 steals. The only chink in the ASU defensive armor is that opponents have grabbed 143 offensive rebounds, 40 more than the Sun Devils have grabbed.
ASU shoots nearly 50 percent from the field at 49.2 percent. The Sun Devils are also strong from the 3-pt. arc at 40.7 percent and shoot 70.6 percent from the free throw line. Opponents shoot under 40 percent (37.9%) from the field and under 32 percent (31.8%) from behind the arc.
Individually, Rihards Kuksiks leads ASU in scoring at 12.8 points per game. Derek Glasser is second at 11.8 ppg and tops the club with 68 assists on the year. Eric Boateng is solid in the paint. The 6-10 center averages nine points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds per game.
Herb Sendek is in his fourth season at the helm of the ASU program. He owns a 63-48 record at the school. His Sun Devils finished the 2008-09 season with a 25-10 record and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He has led ASU to two postseason appearances, the NIT in 2007-08 and last year's NCAA Tournament berth. Overall, Sendek owns a 317-206 record in now his 17th season as a head coach. Prior to his stint at ASU, he served as head coach at N.C. State from 1996-2006. He led the Wolfpack to nine postseason appearances in 10 seasons in Raleigh. His teams advanced to the NCAA Tournament five straight years from 2002-06, including an appearance in the Sweet 16 in 2005. Prior to his time at N.C. State, he was the head coach at Miami (OH) from 1993-96, leading the team to two NIT and one NCAA Tournament appearances. He is a 1985 graduate of Carnegie-Mellon.
Schneiders Solid At No. 20 UNLV
Nick Schneiders has proven he can play against upper-level competition throughout his three years playing on the Division I level. On Dec. 19 at UNLV, he again showed strong play, finishing with a game-high 22 points to go along with seven rebounds and five blocked shots. The 22 points was just one shy of his career-high 23 scored against UNC Greensboro earlier this year.
Palkert Gets First Start
Due in part to his solid play lately, freshman forward Caleb Palkert received the first start of his career Saturday night at UNLV. Palkert had been very solid in the five previous games, averaging five points and 3.4 rebounds per game. Despite not scoring at UNLV, Palkert grabbed four rebounds.
Schneiders All Alone At The Top
On a night when Nick Schneiders needed just one blocked shot to take sole possession on the all-time record at Upstate, he tied his own career-best, as well as the single-game school record, with seven against Florida Gulf Coast (Dec. 14). He now has 154 blocks in his four-year career with the Spartans. With the career record, he now owns all three of the school's blocked shots records. In addition to the 154 career blocks and seven blocks in a game, he also swatted a program-best 79 shots last year while leading the A-Sun.
Chavis' Record-Setting Night
Oh what a night, a great song made popular by The Four Seasons. But on Monday, Dec. 14, it stood for Josh Chavis' performance as the junior point guard did everything he could to try to get a win for the Spartans. He sank a single-game school record 10 three-pointers en route to scoring a career-high and school Division I single-game record 34 points against Florida Gulf Coast. The 10 three-pointers is the fourth-most by a Division I player this year and the most by a player who failed to make a 2-point basket in the same game. He played 37 minutes for Upstate in the game, missing just over a minute in the second half. For his efforts, Chavis was highlighted on ESPN.com's Inside the Boxscores section of their Web site as one of five noteworthy accomplishments in all of Division I college basketball.
Schneiders Throwing A Block Party
Not content to own all three of Upstate's blocked shots records (career - 154, season - 79, game - 7), Nick Schneiders has caught fire on the defensive end of the court. He has collected 18 blocks in the last three games, recording a single-game school record seven against Florida Gulf Coast on Dec. 14, six against Winthrop on Dec. 16 and five at No. 20 UNLV on Dec. 19. He averages 6.0 blocks per game in his last three outings.
It's Feast Or Famine
The 2009-10 season has been a roller coaster on the offensive side of the ball for Upstate. While the Spartans have shown the ability to fill the hoop, having reached 70 or more points on three occasions this year, Upstate has also shown futility with the rock, failing to reach 50 points on four occasions. As expected, the Spartans have lost all four games when they have failed to reach 50 points. Upstate is 1-2 in games when it scores 70 or more points.
Schneiders Tops The A-Sun
No doubt about it, Nick Schneiders is the main shot-blocking threat for Upstate. He leads Upstate, and the A-Sun, with 37 blocks on the year, averaging 3.6 per game. Caleb Palkert is second on the team with six blocks, while Chalmers Rogers has swatted three.
