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By Jon GoldARIZONADAILY STAR

It’s not often you hear a coachglorify a 2-2 run.

But for Todd Graham, Arizo-na State’s early-season slugfest— which started with a fortuitouswin over then-No. 20 Wisconsinand ended with a crushing 37-34loss to defending national run-ner-upNotre Dame at AT&T Sta-diuminArlington,Texas—cut the

rugged,wildSunDevils intodisci-plineddiamonds.

It was during that month-longstretchfromSept.14throughOct.5

thatArizonaState found itself test-edanduptothetask.Ingood times(62-41 win over USC in Week 4)and in bad (the USC win followeda 42-28 loss to then-No. 5 Stan-ford), theSunDevils bought inandbuckled down, setting the stagefor a seven-game winning streakdown the stretch.

And setting the stage for a

ToughearlystretchhardenedSunDevils

COLLEGE FOOTBALL: PAC-12 CHAMPIONSHIP

ROSS D. FRANKLIN / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

A controversial 32-30 home victory over Wisconsin on Sept. 14 startedthe early-season murderers’ row for coach Todd Graham and ArizonaState. It included a win over USC and losses to Stanford and Notre Dame.

UP NEXT•What: Pac-12 Championship: No.7 Stanford at No. 11 Arizona State

•When: 5:45 p.m. Saturday• TV: ESPN

See ASU, B2

SPORTSWednesday, december 4, 2013 • secTIOn b

SPORTSSPORTSEditor: Ryan Finley / 520-573-4312 / sportsed@azstarnet.com

By Bruce PascoeARIZONADAILY STAR

By the time Sunday morningrolled around, the Arizona Wild-cats had already enjoyed a day ofsleeping and watching collegefootball, and their hangover reallydidn’t feel so bad.

“Iwasreadytogetgoingagain,”UAguardNick Johnsonsaid.“Ev-erybody had been talking aboutDuke. But we were pretty muchover that.We justwanted tomoveforward.”

So, after Arizona beat Duke onFriday and jumped to No. 2 in the

national polls, they moved on.Quickly. As in a 10-0 lead overTexas Tech early en route to a 79-58win atMcKaleCenter.

It wasn’t perfect, by anymeans— theWildcats (8-0) had 11 first-half turnovers — but it was morethan enough to keep coach SeanMiller happy after what couldhave been one of those too-com-mon coaches’ nightmares knownas the letdown. With point guard

T.J. McConnell keeping UA fo-cused, Aaron Gordon, BrandonAshley and Johnson combined for55points to lead theway.

Not only had Arizona beatenDuke on a huge stage, at MadisonSquare Garden and on ESPN, butthe Wildcats also suffered a gru-eling return flight on a regionaljet that stopped twice and tookabouteighthours to reachTucsonby sunrise Saturday.

So there was a combination ofphysical and emotional fatiguethat hovered over them as theyturned around quickly to host ahungry, nothing-to-lose TexasTech team that is attempting torebuild under first-year coachTubbySmith.

“I was really worried about

tonight’s game,” Miller said. “Toplay twoverydifficult gameswitha lot of pressure and then on Fri-day evening … we flew all night.I wish this game had been a daylater. I was just hopeful that ourteam could move from that tripand comehere andplay.”

Once the game began, though,Miller never really had to worrymuch. TheWildcats did see theirlead cut to just five points sever-al times in the first half and to 15several times in the second, butthe Wildcats were never really in

Noletdown:WildcatseaseMiller’sworries

WILDCATS BASKETBALL: NO. 2 ARIZONA 79, TEXAS TECH 58

Greg Hansen

T exasTechdistributed a32-page packet of notesand statisticsTuesday

night, all under the bold headlineFEARLESS.

How’d thatwork?TheRedRaiders trailed 10-0.Theywereshaken and stirred, testament tosix years of turbulence inwhichthey’ve gone throughBobbyKnight,PatKnight,BillyGillispieandChrisWalker, and are nowoperating behind re-re-retreadTubbySmith.

Smith didn’t get tooworkedupon theTexasTechbenchduringArizona’s 79-58 victory.Hedidn’trail at the refs or stomp inprotestwhenhis players leftNick John-sonopen for a series of three-point drainos.

Fearless?HowaboutDOOMED?

Arizonawas playing its firstgame as the nation’sNo. 2 teamsinceMarch 29, 2003, amourn-ful afternoon inwhich itwaseliminated a step shy of the FinalFour byKansas, but neverthelessa period inwhich being rankedNo. 2 seemed routine.

Now,more than 10 yearslater, being rankedNo.2 ismetby a greater appreciation and isneither an expectationnor justanother day at the gym.

Now,each of the 14,545 in theseats atMcKaleCenter is thinkingthe same thing:Wouldn’t it besweet to beNo. 1?

Wouldn’t it be a kick ifNorthCarolina choppeddownNo. 1MichiganState tonight?

“It’s a healthy thing to talkabout,” saidMiller,who, to hiscredit, didn’t play the one-game-at-a-time coach’s card.“Some-time, in your sporting life, anopportunity knocks that doesn’tcome aroundvery often, if ever.

“Tohave a chance to be rankedas theNo. 1 team in the nation issomething I think all of uswouldfeel very good about. It’s not ourend-goal…butwhenyou’re try-ing, in a sense, for the rarified air

AsthenewNo.2,Catskeep footonpedal

mcconnell helps Uastay focused vs. Techafter bigW over duke

See HANSEN, B4

MIKE CHRISTY / ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Arizona forward Aaron Gordon works down low against Texas Tech guard Robert Turner (14) and forward Jaye Crockett (30). Gordon led the Wildcatsin scoring with 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds. The freshman could have had more points, but he made only 4 of his 12 free throws.

On StarNet:Viewmore photosof the Arizona-Texas Tech game

at azstarnet.com/gallery

UP NEXT•What: UNLV at No. 2 Arizona•When: 3:15 p.m. Saturday• TV: ESPN2• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM, 990-AM (Spanish)

SeeWILDCATS, B4