ASU taking diverse, efficient offense to L.A.

The scene was a bit surreal, and exposed Arizona State's soft scoring underbelly. Thanks to James Harden, the Sun Devils were afloat. They led USC by five points early in the second half last year at the Galen Center.

Then Harden was whistled for four fouls in a 2-minute, 20-second span and went to the bench. By the time her returned, USC went on an 11-0 run and the game turned into a runaway.

The final damage was 67-53 USC. Harden finished with 26 points. Only Harden and Derek Glasser (eight points) shot better than 50 percent.

Back then, Jeff Pendergraph and Ty Abbott were nonfactors, Rihards Kuksiks played his second career college basketball game and Jamelle McMillan had little faith in his shot.

As the 16th-ranked Sun Devils play at USC on Thursday night, followed by No. 9 UCLA on national television Saturday afternoon, the Sun Devils have shown a disinterest in such sluggishness.

These days, ASU is shooting 51.9 percent, second in the country. ASU hits 74 percent from the foul line, best in the Pac-10, they lead the conference in assists (17.6 per game) and 3-pointers (nearly nine per game).

Kuksiks leads the nation in 3-point shooting (52.9 percent). Jeff Pendergraph leads the Pac-10 (fourth in the country) by hitting 66.4 percent. Derek Glasser is second in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. McMillan, Jerren Shipp and Ty Abbott have also had their moments.

It is this kind of offensive diversity which gives ASU perhaps its best chance to split or sweep the vaunted L.A. schools.

The 1986-87 season was the last time ASU won at USC and UCLA in the same trip.

No. 16 Arizona State at USC

When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Where: Galen Center, Los Angeles

Radio: KMVP (860 AM)

Outlook:

USC: Four of the Trojans five losses have been by four points or fewer, including last Sunday's loss to UCLA, but the 1-2 conference start means little since last year's team started 0-3 and wound up in the NCAA Tournament. USC returns quality talent in forward Taj Gibson, point guard Daniel Hackett and wing Dwight Lewis. Freshman standout DeMar DeRozan has scored in double figures every game this season, while teammate Leonard Washington (8.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg) has missed the past four games with an ankle injury.

Arizona State: At 3-1 heading into this West Coast trip, the Sun Devils could lose twice and still be in the top five of the standings. Rihards Kuksiks lead the nation in 3-point shooting at 52.9 percent and Jeff Pendergraph is tops in the Pac-10 and fourth in the nation with a .664 shooting percentage.