Not pretty, but Arizona gets a 67-52 victory at Arizona State with some suffocating defense … well, OK, perhaps it was more a case of bad and sloppy ASU offense. And Kyle Fogg’s career-high-tying 26 points certainly helped.
However you see it, Arizona improves to 21-4 overall and 10-2 in the Pac-10, one game ahead of UCLA.
Another happy stat for UA fans: Sean Miller is 3-1 against the Sun Devils, including 2-0 in Tempe.
Arizona State loses its eighth consecutive game and is further buried in the Pac-10 basement at 1-11. Oregon State is ninth at 4-9.
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Tweets Scott Terrell of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network: With his 1st free throw MoMo Jones has as many points as ASU has Pac-10 wins.
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Kyle Fogg’s career high is 26 points, against UCLA last season. He has 23 with 2:43 to play. In a game in which it seemed as if nobody wanted to score, Fogg has been golden.
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Just for the record, ASU’s lowest point total of the year is 41, against Stanford. So, at least the Devils won’t set a new low in that regard.
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Arizona re-taking control with a 6-0 run, all on baskets close to the hoops. Arizona leads 57-41 with about 5 minutes to go. Hard to believe ASU can score enough to catch up in the next five minutes the way this game is being played.
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Kyle Fogg ties season high with 18 points. Still 9:09 to go. Also had 18 vs. Kansas. Arizona leads 51-39.
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No points for MoMo Jones with 11:39 to go in the game. And that’s after everybody in the state wrote a feature on him this week.
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Arizona State on a 10-0 run, and Arizona can’t get the ball to Derrick Williams on offense. … Now, Williams gets the ball near the lane and he fights off a triple team and throws in a bucket while getting knocked to the ground (no foul). That’s what an All-American can do for you, as he gives UA a 45-34 lead with 11:37 to go, ending the Cats’ drought.
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Jeff Goodman of FoxSports.com has filled out his AP poll for the week, pending Arizona’s victory over ASU. Send it in, Jeff. Send it in.
(On second thought … hold that ballot, Jeff.)
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Jesse Perry converts a three-point play with 17:33 to play for a 40-24 lead. Those on the East Coast can stop watching this national Fox Sports Net again (assuming anyone had tuned in anyway).
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With four new players in the game, ASU commits a shot-clock violation. So much for a spark.
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This still looks like a bad pick-up game early in the second half, but Jesse Perry hits a 3-pointer for Arizona for a 37-24 lead. ASU calls timeout with 18:23 to play. Herb Sendek is going for a bit of a line change here, with four new players in the game. Gotta do something, right?
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Bad news: Arizona had only 10 baskets in the first half.
Good news: The Cats had assists on nine of them.
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Great Arizona defense or poor ASU offense? You make the call. The Sun Devils had 17 points with 10:22 to play in the half but scored only seven points the rest of the way, shooting 10 of 30 from the field. Arizona leads 34-24 at halftime.
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Kyle Fogg with 13 points with about three minutes to go in the half. His best scoring game since late November is 14 against UCLA on Jan. 27.
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The shooting percentages have cooled and the scoring pace has slowed but Arizona is nicely stiff-arming the Sun Devils so far, leading 30-20 with 3:54 to play. ASU is only 8 of 24 from the field.
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Tweet from ex-Cat David Bagga: asu is beyond horrible, the team managers for az could start and give buckets against this awful team
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Tweet from ZonaZooOfficial: Arizona’s blue jerseys looking leagues above those ugly yellow ones.
My take: What would you expect a Zona Zoo official to say.
My take, part II: Zona Zoo official is right.
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Arizona bumps the lead to 10 but it sits at 28-20 with 6:25 to play in the half. Arizona State, despite its stature as the last-place team in the league, has played many teams close. Arizona, despite it’s league-leading ways, hasn’t exactly been a blowout machine. I’m thinking this one finds a way to stay tight.
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Regarding the previous note, Derrick Williams now has five points on the boards thanks to his typical hoop-and-the-harm three-point play. Kyle Fogg sets him up for the basket with a nice bounce pass from the baseline. Yep, Fogg is the star of the first half of the first half.
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Not exactly what you want to see: Kyryl Natyazhko has the same number points as Derrick Williams and Momo Jones combined with 9:18 to play in the half. That would be two.
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Not exactly the grind you’ve come to expect out of ASU games over the years. Arizona leads 20-17 with 9:41 to go in the half. Could this turn into a 3-point shooting contest?
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Arizona State’s Herb Sendek has to call timeout with 10:36 to go in the half. That’s what happens when Kyryl Natyazhko scores against your team. The big man muscled up a basket, but it’s mostly been a guard show for the Cats — Fogg with 10 points, Jordin Mayes with five as UA leads 20-15.
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Kyle Fogg goes to the bench with 13:28 left in the half; he has 10 points.
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Hard to believe Jamelle Horne didn’t score after getting the ball all alone underneath the basket. But he is fouled and goes to the line … and the ASU student section starts with the ‘Block that kick” chant again. Gotta say: It was funny and rivalry-appropriate. The first time.
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A chant of “U of A” erupts at Wells Fargo Arena with 16:28 left in the first half and UA leading 7-6. There’s definitely a stronger pro-UA contingent in the building than in recent seasons, as ASU fans didn’t gobble up all the tickets. The game goes into the first TV timeout with that 7-6 score. Kyle Fogg has five points for the Cats.
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Derrick Williams gets his right mitt on a pass on ASU’s first possession for an Arizona steal.
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Tweet from Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic: Points from the foul line will be key. Arizona has made 444 free throws. ASU has ATTEMPTED only 385.
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Finally got to the press seats at Arizona State. Few minutes to tip-off. On the drive up, there was still talk on sports radio about tickets being available — shameful — but it might eventually all fill in. (I take that back … a lot of empty seats at the top behind the baskets.)
It’s the usual lineup for Arizona.
Keep checking back during the game, and have your say in the comments section.