Despite Saturday's 98-87 loss to Oregon, freshmen small forward Sylvester Seay and center Jeff Pendergraph made school history.
Each scored a career-high 21 points to lead the Sun Devils, becoming the first pair of ASU freshmen to score 20 or more points in the same game.
The duo poured in 30 of their combined 42 points in the second half.
"We just want to win, and we're doing whatever it takes and whatever we're told to do to win," Pendergraph said. "We're just playing as hard as we can and leaving it all out there."
Pendergraph has averaged 18 points his last three games, two of which have been ASU wins. Seay played a season-high 30 minutes against Oregon and has scored 9.8 points per game since assuming a starting role -- almost double his season average.
Defensive troubles
The old adage might say that offense wins games, but a team on the bottom of the Pac-10 standings still can't get away without playing a little defense.
The Sun Devils best offensive output of the season went to waste because it was combined with their worst defensive effort.
ASU scored 87 points on 56 percent shooting on Saturday, which were both season highs. But the Sun Devils allowed 98 points on 59 percent shooting, also season-highs.
ASU will try to correct its deficient defense before Thursday night's game at Stanford.
"We have to play with more emotion," Seay said. "The second half against Oregon we came out all fired-up. That's the way we have to come out early on for the game."
Turn the tide
ASU on Thursday will try for just its third win over Stanford in the last 17 meetings going back to 1998. The two victories came last year as ASU swept the season series against the Cardinal.
This year's ASU team could have easily made it three in a row, but it let a late second-half lead slip away at Wells Fargo Arena on Jan. 21.
"You have to beat them; they're not going to beat themselves because they're a very cerebral basketball team," ASU coach Rob Evans said. "They're not the most athletic team in the world, but they're going to negate your athletic ability by playing smart."
Reach the reporter at derrik.miller@asu.edu.
