Jerren Shipp’s body hasn’t worked well for a week. An injured knee suffered in practice Monday led him to an MRI Wednesday, which led him off the Arizona State practice court for five days until Friday’s casual run-through.

Neither has Ty Abbott’s, who caught a virus and walked around campus with a Kleenex box all week.

Sprains and sniffles had no chance, not with No. 17 Xavier coming to town. Abbott and Shipp joined regulars Jeff Pendergraph and James Harden for ASU in a 77-55 thrashing of the Musketeers, as the largest Wells Fargo Arena crowd of the season watched ASU glide to its first home win against a ranked nonconference team since 1980.

Abbott (19 points, 6 rebounds), Shipp (17, 7) and Pendergraph (9, 12) combined for 42 points and 25 rebounds. Harden scored 16. Derek Glasser played a solid floor game at point guard and Christian Polk gave quality minutes late.

Shipp, however, was the big unknown. For the game’s opening minutes — during which Xavier led 8-0 — the 6-foot-4 sophomore relented his starting spot to freshman Rihard Kuksiks, which meant the Sun Devils started four freshmen for what’s believed to be the first time in at least 20 years, if ever.

Already wearing a black sleeve to protect his knee, Shipp checked in, hit a 3-pointer and took two hard drives to the basket on consecutive possessions for a team-high seven points in the first half.

He went into the locker room at halftime, got treatment and a second tape job on his body.

“Toughness prevails,” Shipp said with a smile.

He turned his left ankle going for a rebound early in the second half, and lost a little more of his agility and strength. He had trouble moving with one knee barking and the opposite ankle throbbing.

No problem, as he came back out hit a pair of 3-pointers to give the Sun Devils a 46-31 lead never to be relinquished.

Don’t forget the seven rebounds, multiple sprint-outs toward Xavier’s shooters, scrambles for loose balls, blocking out Musketeers three inches taller, and one missed shot which bounced to him while lying on his back.

“He was all over the place,” Abbott said.

The Sun Devils were dismantled by Illinois and Nebraska this season, yet players talked of a tide-turner after Saturday’s win, in similar vein to the USC upset last February that snapped a 15-game losing streak.

To what extent this big win will mean to the Devils will play itself out in the coming weeks and months, but after losing 21 consecutive games to ranked opponents, ASU has won its past two against the top 25.

“I really mean this,” said Xavier coach Sean Miller, a disciple of ASU coach Herb Sendek. “We lost to a good team.”

Sendek offered as much praise for his team’s defense as he has all season.

Xavier was undone by 22 percent shooting in the second half, including 1-for-14 from outside, and regularly looked stifled by Sendek’s zone schemes.

While both teams acknowledged the Musketeers missed shots they’ve made most of the season, the difference between this year’s Sun Devils, and the version which lost by 18 points at Xavier in 2006, was “night and day,” to Miller.

A few minutes earlier, Sendek reiterated his even-keel motto.

“It’d be foolish to break our arm patting ourselves on the back,” Sendek said.

Wouldn’t matter to Shipp.

“You’d have to shoot him in the leg to get him out of a game,” Pendergraph said. “He’s a tough dude.”