Printable VersionTEMPE — Rihards Kuksiks finally got some breathing room Friday, and it may be a while before that happens again.
“The first three games it was all deny (defense),” Kuksiks said. “I didn’t get open looks. This game, they left me open.
“My teammates did a good job of finding me. All I had to do was put the ball in the basket. I missed a lot of shots, though. I think I could have scored more.”
Freshman Trent Lockett scored a career-high 19 points in his second start, Ty Abbott and Taylor Rohde had 11 each and Derek Glasser added 10 as ASU (4-0) tuned up for a game Wednesday against No. 9 Duke in the semifinals of the Preseason NIT by shooting 61.3 percent.
“We all knew this was an important game because we are going to New York to play Duke,” Kuksiks said. “It was important to have a good game to have confidence against Duke.”
Arizona State made 18 of 32 3-point shots while scoring the most points in coach Herb Sendek’s four seasons. It had not hit 100 since beating USC 100-85 on Jan. 14, 2004.
Abbott, playing his third game after offseason knee surgery, made all three of his 3-point attempts. Lockett and Jerren Shipp, the man Lockett replaced in the starting lineup, made both of their attempts. Glasser and Jamelle McMillan each were 2-for-4.
“We don’t predetermine that,” Sendek said of shooting 3-pointers. “We want to take what the defense gives us. If they are there, we have good shooters, and we want them to take them.”
Kwame Vaughn led San Francisco (2-1) with 17 points, and Perris Blackwell had 13. Dior Lowhorn, who scored 22 points in each of San Francisco’s first two games, had 12 before fouling out.
“I played at a place where we got quality looks, and you get quality looks by being good shooters,” said San Francisco coach Rex Walters, who played at Kansas. “They have quality shooters, and they had great looks. They worked to get those looks.
“You have to be rock-solid defensively. You have to be a great on-ball (defensive) team and help team. They were beating us on the catch.”
San Francisco, which played mostly man-to-man defense in the first half, started the second half in a 2-3 zone and switched to a 1-3-1 zone seven minutes later. But nothing slowed Arizona State.
The Sun Devils had 29 assists on their 38 field goals. Glasser had seven assists and McMillan five.
The Sun Devils, who scored only 52 points in beating TCU on Tuesday to advance to the meeting with Duke, led 58-23 at halftime against San Francisco on the strength of 22-of-29 shooting (75.9 percent).
It was the most points Arizona State had scored in the first half since it had 58 in the first half of a victory over USC on Feb. 13, 2003.
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