ASU’s Tra Holder slogged through nonconference play shooting just 28.6 percent from three-point range.
Then, when the competition became even tougher in the Pac-12, he started hitting at a 45.1-percent rate.
What gives?
It’s not complicated, the way UA assistant coach Mark Phelps put it, having watched plenty of ASU video as UA’s game scout.
“He’s just knocking them in now,” Phelps said. “When you’re looking at him shoot, it looks great. His legs are in great position and he’s snapping his wrist. But it looked good before.
“The question is, `Why wasn’t he hitting them before?’ But when you start hitting them, confidence does grow. He’s on a streak of about 50 percent in the last five games.”
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We had a ton of pregame coverage today: A feature on how Ray Smith is dealing with his second torn ACL, Greg Hansen’s column on Bobby Hurley’s days as a player against UA, a scouting report with notes and a look at ASU.
In the Republic’s advance story, Hurley said he remembers the McKale crowd being “electric” when he played there with Duke.
While the UA-ASU game starts at 7 p.m. on ESPN2 (with Miles Simon and Dave Pasch), Colorado at USC (9 p.m.. ESPNU) is the only other Pac-12 game tonight.
The Buffs, meanwhile, landed a possible replacement for Josh Scott.
The L.A. Times wrote about the salesmanship Andy Enfield has shown at USC.
