Arizona State rolling, jelling as it welcomes Northern Arizona

Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley mentioned he will continue to develop team cohesiveness when the Sun Devils host Northern Arizona on Tuesday night in Tempe, Ariz.

The Sun Devils (7-2) are off to a strong start despite having only two returners from last year's team. They are coming off perhaps their best win of the season -- an 86-70 verdict over Oklahoma on Saturday in Phoenix.

Hurley's team has won five of its last six games with the loss being to USC in the Maui Invitational championship game Nov. 26.

The team's top scorer and assist producer (Moe Odum from Pepperdine) and leading rebounder (Santiago Trouet from San Diego) were attracted by Hurley via the transfer portal. Odum averages 18.9 points and 6.0 assists while Trouet produces 6.1 rebounds per game.

Anthony Johnson, a transfer from NAIA school University of the Cumberlands, is averaging 13.8 points per game and tied with Odum for the team lead with 14 steals.

"We specifically brought in a number of guys to play and to have a deeper team than we had last year," Hurley said. "We have more options with this group. I always thought we would get better as the season went on because of how late guys got to campus and how little amount of time they had, and we had injuries as well. Getting them all on the same page was something that's pretty cool."

Northern Arizona (4-4) won three straight games after losing 84-49 at Arizona on Nov. 11, but the Lumberjacks lost their most recent games against South Dakota State and North Dakota State.

Saturday's 69-68 loss at North Dakota State ended after a lob inside to Traivar Jackson was swatted away as time expired.

"The guys responded well (after last week's loss to South Dakota State) and that's who we are," Northern Arizona coach Shane Burcar said. "I'm proud of their effort. To score 46 points in the second half (against North Dakota State) and have a chance to win it at the end says a lot about our guys, and we'll live and learn from this."

Zack Davidson, the Lumberjacks' leading scorer at 16.4 points per game, came off the bench for the first time this season and scored a team-high 20 points.

--Field Level Media