The Blaze

Happy New Years to you all! It is my pleasure to bring you this blog live from one of the most historic college basketball arenas in the country, McArthur Court. Tonight we have a great matchup on hand between two teams looking to avenge losses earlier this week: first, the Oregon Ducks, who lost to the Arizona Wildcats 76-57, and of course the Sun Devils, who lost to Oregon State 80-58.

The Devils come into the game at 7-5 overall, while the Ducks are 7-6 this season; both are 0-1 in conference play.

Tonight is also a very historic night in Eugene, as this game will be the last men’s basketball game held in McArthur Court. The arena opened in 1926, and held it’s first basketball game in 1927. It is the second oldest on-campus arena in the country. The team will move in to the newly built Matthew Knight Arena on January 13th after today’s game. That stadium is also on campus, but a bit nicer – the cost as been estimated at $200 million. Tonight I’ve also already seen quite a few familiar faces, including ASU alum Jeff Pendergraph (who had a sort stint with the Portland Trail Blazers), head coach of the Blazers Nate McMillan (who’s son, Jamelle, is on ASU’s team), and Oregon Basketball icon Aaron Brooks (who is to be the honorary captain for tonight’s game).

Game tips off in about fifteen minutes.

Also before the starting line-ups, I just saw Trent Lockett not dressed for the game, so it looks as if he is out for this game.

Just said this building has held over 1,100 home basketball games.

ASU Starters: Carrick Felix, Kyle Cain, Rihards Kuksiks, Ty Abbott and Jamelle McMillan

Oregon Starters: EJ Singler, Joevan Catron, Jay-R Strowbridge, Johnathan Lloyd, Malcolm Armstead

And I might add the Ducks are wearing the throwbacks tonight.

20:00 ASU wins the tip and Ty Abbott an immediate layup

19:27 Kuksiks picks up a foul, EJ Singlers makes both free throws

ASU then gets a five second violation on the inbounds play.

19:11 Oregon wants to attack Kuksiks, but Singler travels in the post

18:47 After drawing a foul on Armstead, Cain gets his first personal on an over the back

The Ducks really want to the ball to Catron, as the Ducks draw another foul in the post.

17:28 Strowbridge commits a personal, but a 2-3 zone from UO has been stifiling

17:02 McMillan commits his second personal foul, takes a seat, replaced by Brandon Dunson

16:30 Dunson an immediate play on the offensive end, gets Cain an easy basket. Good defense leads to good offense, an alley-oop to Felix puts the Devils up 6-3

15:56 Felix commits his second personal, replaced by Ruslan Pateev

15:28 Kuksiks hits a wide open three. 9-3 Devils early in the game

14:56 Pateev great position on the small Armstead, ASU looking confident offensively

14:31 Four offensive rebounds lead to another Sun Devil basket. Pateev gets a block and draws a foul on the defensive end

13:45 EJ Singler hits a three, cuts lead to 11-6

12:40 ASU has missed four straight shots, but Chanse Creekmur goes to the line after an offensive rebound and hits a pair

11:38 Timeout on the floor, the Ducks will have possession of the ball down three, 13-10

Both teams are shooting under 35% in the game, and Oregon is adamant on getting the ball to Joevan Catron. Works on first possession, gets a three for Teondre Williams

10:21 ASU already in the penalty, as Tyrone Nared goes to the line. He gets both and ties the game at 15, but Pateev gets a dunk on the other end. 17-15 ASU

Both teams cold from the field

7:23 Timeout on the floor, ASU leads 19-15

During the timeout, Aaron Brooks came in to a standing ovation.

7:12 ASU misses free throws

6:11 ASU getting the ball inside to Pateev, he looks to have a massive size advantage over every Oregon player

ASU’s 2-3 defense is still giving Oregon fits, they’ve missed jumpers from all angles

4:18 Singler gets a three point play, cuts ASU’s lead to 21-20. Jamelle McMillan gets a charge on the other end

2:18 Great fastbreak, Hawkins alley-oop to Felix in transition for a bucket and a foul; completes the three point play

12.8 sec: Strowbridge hits a basket as the shot clock expires, cuts ASU lead to 26-24

0:00 Dunson scores as the halftime buzzer goes off; ASU leads 28-24 at halftime

Stats from the 1st half: ASU shooting 34% from the field including 1-7 from three point range

Carrick Felix is ASU’s leading scorer with nine points, and also has three rebounds. Ruslan Pateev has six points. Ty Abbott is 1-5 from the field, and has played 19 minutes

On the other side, EJ Singler leads Oregon’s scoring with 10 points, as well as six rebounds; Joevan Catron has five points.

Nine turnovers for Oregon; just four for the Devils

Start of the second half: Again, ASU leads the Oregon Ducks 28-24 in Eugene

19:31 Oregon starts be scoring a three from Teondre Williams

18:54 First strong drive by Ty Abbott – finishes at the rim

17:36 ASU turnover; UO scores in transition. Game tied at 30

17:14 Another ASU turnover turns into Oregon points. Mac Court is getting loud now

16:29 Abbott’s third turnover in about five possession leads to an EJ Singler And 1; Oregon now leads 36-32 as we await the free throw. Time out ASU

Singler hits the free throw. 37-32 Oregon

13:13 Catron gets offensive rebound and put-back; and one; Oregon leads 40-35

Dunson has had a great second half – already hit two three pointers, cuts deficit to two, 40-38

Dunson hits a shot in the lane and draws a foul; ties game at 40. Timeout

11:19 Dunson completes three point play. 41-40 ASU

9:17 Kuksiks hits a big three, extends lead to 46-42

Cain picks up his fourth personal, then as he exits the floor gets a technical foul which makes five personals. Singler hits both free throws

Garrett Sim then hits a three pointer; makes it a five point possession, UO up one

6:53 ASU leads 51-49 after time out

6:39 Felix draws a foul on Catron (his fourth); makes the pair

4:44 Oregon time out. ASU leads 56-51

Trainers are also working on Felix, looks like he has a cramp in his hamstring

3:20 Williams scores in transition; 56-53 ASU

3:04 Dunson dribbles the ball off his foot; UO basketball, down three

Also, the possession arrow is in favor of Oregon

1:47 Catron fouled as he goes to the hoop; hits both free throws

1:10 Abbott misses a turnaround in the lane; Oregon the rebound; time out Ducks; ASU leads 56-55

32.9 sec: Felix slashes to basket and scores; and one; misses free throw; ASU up 58-55

10.5 sec: Singler has three pointer partially blocked by Felix; Felix the rebound; fouled; one-and-one; makes both free throws; ASU leads 60-55

FINAL SCORE: Arizona State 60, Oregon 55

ASU improves to 1-1 in conference play; Oregon drops to 0-2

Felix leading scorer with 19 points

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 1st, 2011 at 7:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.