ASU beats Idaho for fifth straight win

The question posed came in the wake of victory. Saturday marked the fifth consecutive win for the Arizona State men’s basketball team, and ninth of the season, which means the Sun Devils have already eclipsed last year’s season total, and the second-best start to a season since 1994.

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But beating Idaho 76-65 wasn’t good enough for the Sun Devils. Nowhere near good enough.

At least, those were the lasting impressions left by players and coaches.

How would Saturday’s performance at Wells Fargo Arena have held up against a Pac-10 team?

Almost simultaneously, sophomore Derek Glasser and junior Jeff Pendergraph both shook their heads and smiled.

No words were uttered. None necessary.

Sun Devils coach Herb Sendek took care of that. He offered praise to Idaho for making shots — 56.5 percent of them from behind the arc — but there was more.

Sendek might have been more tepid in his assessment later Saturday night or Sunday, but not in the here-and-now of the afternoon.

“I was extremely disappointed in our performance,” Sendek said, and he made sure it was all-inclusive.

“It would be overly kind analysis if the focus was on one thing. … There’s no sense sugarcoating.”

Pendergraph had a career-high 27 points and 10 rebounds, his third double-double of the season. James Harden punished the Vandals most of the second half. Ty Abbott and Jerren Shipp made a couple of key plays late in the second half.

For those few stretches, the Sun Devils (9-2) appeared ready for the Pac-10 season in 10 days. They took leads of 30-19 early, 47-38 early in the second half and, minutes later, 64-55.

Each time, the lead vanished. Idaho did what Montana State did to the Sun Devils on Tuesday with outside shots. Meanwhile, ASU’s offense, predicated on cutting and ball movement, reverted to what Sendek likes to call, “sticky fingers:” lots of standing around and dribbling in place.

Pendergraph got on a roll early. He received lob passes from teammates — most of Glasser’s career-high nine assists came on lobs — behind Idaho’s front line. Pendergraph made his first four shots, and 13 of 14 free throws. He did not attempt a shot farther than 4 feet from the basket.

“If (defenders) guard me at the free-throw line, that’s layups and dunks all day,” he said.

Later it was Harden, who scored four points in the first half but countered his own team’s offensive struggles when ASU was desperate for scoring in the second half.

Harden missed a couple of free throws he normally makes but finished an efficient 7-for-12 with 17 points and six rebounds, hitting nearly every must-have basket.

“He picks and chooses his spots,” said Glasser, who’s been a Harden teammate since their early high school days. “He’s never been a guy who’d jack up 30 shots.”

The team will have three days off before returning to prepare for St. Francis (Pa.) in next Saturday’s nonconference closer, the last chance to disconnect from Saturday’s slush before the big boys come to town.

“We’ve got to be ready to come back to work,” Glasser said. “We need a good week of practice.”