The 10 Moments Project - 30-26

It’s back!

The 10 Moments Project has resumed.

If you’re just joining us, we here at PFN are recapping the 40 biggest and/or most exciting moments in ASU sports since the turn of the decade. We’re counting down by 5 each week until we reach the top 10 (hence the title of this countdown) and then recap each of those top 10 moments with an article of their own.

The last time around, we spent a lot of time focusing on some of the most pivotal moments for ASU men’s basketball over the past decade or so.

30-26 is no different as we open with three more men’s hoops entries.

#30) Harden Gets America’s Top Honor  - March 30, 2009

2008-09 was a dream season for James Harden.

Not only did he lead the usually outside-looking-in Arizona State program to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2003, he averaged over 20 points per game, over five boards a night and nearly an astounding two steals per game over the course of the season. All of that garnered Harden the 2009 Pac-10 Player of the Year award, making him the first Devil to win it since Ike Diogu in 2005.

Despite pulling off an unfortunate disappearing act in the Sun Devils’ games with Temple and Syracuse in the 1st and 2nd rounds of the tourney, more often than not throughout the course of the year, it was The Beard who paced ASU to victory.

At the end of March, he received an honor that no one before him in ASU basketball history had been bestowed.

On March 30, Harden was rewarded for his efforts over 08-09 as an AP 1st-team All-American. He joined the likes of Tyler Hansbrough, Blake Griffin, DeJuan Blair and Stephen Curry as one of the five best players in America.

Only two other Sun Devils had even been 2nd or 3rd team AP All-Americans: Diogu was a 2nd teamer in 2004-05 and Lionel Hollins was named to the 3rd team in 1974-75.

Harden then, of course, was drafted 3rd overall by Oklahoma City in the 2009 NBA Draft, becoming the highest Sun Devil drafted in decades.

29) The Baltic Bomber Strikes Again - February 22, 2009

About a year before to the date, I was on this here blog saying that I didn’t think Rihards Kuksiks would make it as a Pac-10 basketball player. I just didn’t think he had the court intelligence or intensity to keep up in what was then one of America’s top basketball leagues.

Boy, was I wrong. Once Tempe’s Favorite Latvian(tm) found his groove as a quick wing defender and dynamite three-point shooter, he fit in with Arizona State just fine.

The Arizona Wildcats made their annual trek to Wells Fargo Arena in late March already having lost three straight games to ASU. It was a see-saw affair in front of the first pro-ASU crowd at one of these games in years. The Devils ran out to an early lead but the scrappy Wildcats, trying at that time desperately to stay on the NCAA Tournament bubble, kept scratching and clawing to stay in the game.

But then the Sun Devils started to pull away again, extending their lead to 14 with just over 12 minutes left in the ball game. Just like that, though, Jordan Hill and the Cats found themselves back in close game, hitting clutch jumper after clutch jumper.

With 2:30 left, Hill hit a turnaround jumper down low to give the UofA a 66-65 lead and once again grab the momentum down the stretch.

Cue Kuksiks. The sophomore, who ended up hitting five treys in the game, found himself wide open on the right wing after Jeff Pendergraph outmuscled Hill for a rebound off a Chase Budinger miss. Derek Glasser pushed the pace and found the Latvian, who coolly knocked down his final three of the night, giving the Sun Devils a 68-66 lead and sending the Maroon and Gold faithful into a frenzy.

Pendergraph hit two clutch free throws to put the game away just over a minute later, sending Arizona State to a 70-68 win and an unprecedented 4th straight victory over the Wildcats.

28) The Defensive Clampdown - January 17, 2009

It goes without saying that Arizona State and UCLA field two very different basketball programs.

In January of this past year, the Bruins were coming off their 3rd consecutive trip to the Final Four while ASU was still trying to prove to the nation that they were a force to be reckoned with this year. A Saturday afternoon CBS national TV window would prove just the trick if the Sun Devils wanted to do just that.

Mind you, Arizona State hadn’t defeated a top 10 team on the road in 11 seasons and, coming off their poorest effort of the season two nights earlier at USC, this one didn’t look promising.

Then tip off came.

The Sun Devils roared out of the gate to start the game at Pauley Pavilion, controlling the tempo and the scoreboard for the better part of the first half. James Harden and Jeff Pendergraph were combining to tear up the UCLA defensive unit. The Bruins, however, were able to get themselves into it in the latter stages of the first 20 minutes and, after leading by as many as nine at one point, Arizona State had to have been thrilled to be going into halftime with a two point advantage.

Then, Nikola Dragovic and the rest of the Bruins woke up. UCLA hit three after three after three to start the second stanza. With 8:05 left, Michael Roll knocked down an 18-foot jumper to give the homestanding Bruins their largest lead of the afternoon at 54-43.

And those, friends, were the last points UCLA would score in regulation and last field goal they’d hit until the clock read 0:55 left in overtime.

What occured with the Devils down 11 will go down as one of the most impressive and improbable defensive stands in ASU basketball history. Thanks to the combination of the Bruins going totally cold from outside over the last 8 minutes (0-for-7 from the field), clutch shooting from Harden and Pendergraph (they combined for the Devils last 11 points of regulation) and two pressure-packed free throws from The Beard with 21 seconds left, the Sun Devils shut out the Bruins 11-0 down the stretch to force overtime.

UCLA finally got on the board early in OT with two Darren Collison free throws, but the damage was done. ASU dominated the overtime period from start to finish and Harden ended up putting home the game-winning layup with 35 seconds left. The Devils remarkably won the basketball game 61-58 and announced to the nation that Arizona State was not to be toyed with through the rest of the Pac-10 season.

27) An Inside-The-Park Round Tripper - May 31, 2009

The most recent entry in The 10 Moments Project happened just about a month ago.

The 2009 Arizona State Sun Devils weren’t expected to come two wins away from playing for a national title, let alone even make the trip to the College World Series. Lo and behold, though, Pat Murphy and his band of coaches did it again, finding incredible pitching and just the right combination of players to let the Devils roar through another regular season and to a 3rd straight Pac-10 title.

ASU once again hosted a 4-team regional to open the 2009 NCAA Tournament, welcoming Oral Roberts, Cal Poly-SLO and Kent State to Packard Stadium. The Sun Devils roared through the first two games of the regional behind the stellar pitching of Mike Leake and Josh Spence, dispatching KSU 17-1 and ORU 4-1 to advance to a Sunday regional championship game.

They’d once again face the Golden Eagles of Oral Roberts, the 14-time defending Summit League champions, in that regional title game. One win would send ASU to a 3rd straight Super Regional appearance, but the Eagles would not go quietly, jumping out to a 3-0 lead in the top 0f the 1st. The Devils would be held to a surprisingly paltry one hit over the first five innings while Seth Blair settled down and dominated Oral Roberts after that rocky opening frame.

In the 6th, the Devils potent offense went to work. After Johnny Ruettiger scored on a bases loaded walk to make it 3-2, Kole Calhoun scored on a wild pitch to tie it up only three pitches later. Zach MacPhee then banged a 2-run single into center field to give the Sun Devils a two-run lead.

The Devils wouldn’t need any more than that, but with a 6-3 lead and Riccio Torrez on 1st base, Jared McDonald stepped into the batters box and sealed the Golden Eagles fate.

After battling ORU pitcher James Burleson through a tough at-bat, McDonald smacked one down the right field line that P.J. Sequiera misplayed off the fence. James rumbled around 2nd, then 3rd, and finally came sliding home to finish off a dramatic and regional clinching two-run inside the park home run.

The Devils won 8-3 and advanced to take on Clemson in the 2009 Super Regional.

26) Defense Plays Offense - November 28, 2008

It’s no secret that the Arizona State offense didn’t click at all during the 2008 season. By late November, the Devils were fighting for their bowl lives and, the day after Thanksgiving, hosted the fellow 4-6 UCLA Bruins in what would be a bowl-elimination game. The loser would be assured to be shut out of going to the 2008 postseason.

After a largely unremarkable 1st quarter in which neither Rudy Carpenter or Kevin Craft could move the ball at all, the Bruins held a 3-0 lead off a Kai Forbath field goal.

Then, the Sun Devils defensive explosion began. Just two and a half minutes into the 2nd quarter, Craft got belted on a blitz and fumbled; the loose pigskin was picked up and returned for a 17-yard touchdown by the little used Paul ‘Unga. Six minutes later, ASU extended their lead to 8 when Travis Goethel, who up to this game was having a tremendous season in his first year as a full-time starting LB, picked off Craft and returned it 38 yards to the house.

The teams traded field goals in another drudgery of a 3rd quarter and the Sun Devils entered the final quarter clinging to a 17-9 lead. After ASU went 3 and out to start the 4th, UCLA mounted an impressive 14-play drive which took them all the way down to the Devils’ 6 and within striking distance of a score that could potentially pull the Bruins back into a tie game.

No one gave Troy Nolan that memo. With 9:50 left, the senior safety stepped in front of a Craft pass at the goal line and returned it 100 yards for a backbreaking touchdown, the 3rd ASU defensive TD of the game.

Two plays later, after the Sun Devils kicked the the ball away with a stunning 24-9 lead, Mike Nixon cut across and read a dying quail from Craft perfectly, picking him off for the 2nd time in three plays from scrimmage and taking that one back 45 yards to the end zone, putting the game away.

The Sun Devils 4th defensive score of the game, 3 by pick six and 1 on a fumble recovery, tied the NCAA record for most touchdowns scored by a team defense in one game.

The stirring defensive performance led ASU to a 34-9 win on Senior Day, but it wasn’t enough to vault them into a bowl game, as the Devils would lose their season finale at Arizona to drop to 5-7. However, the night when defense became offensive at Sun Devil Stadium remains one of the most dramatic highlights of that ‘08 season.

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