LOS ANGELES — Arizona State’s turnovers are no longer confined to the court.
Starters Keala King and Kyle Cain and reserve Chris Colvin were suspended for the Sun Devils’ trip to Los Angeles this weekend for “unacceptable conduct,” an ASU spokesman said Thursday afternoon, hours before ASU (4-9) was to play Pac-12 opponent USC.
The Sun Devils will have six scholarship players available this weekend, not a recipe to make a dent in their average of 16.5 turnovers a game and negative-4.9 turnover margin.
ASU coach Herb Sendek said on his pregame radio interview that the suspensions are for this weekend as of now, but he plans to evaluate the length further based on how the suspended players respond. He also said the rest of the team seems supportive of the suspensions.
"I think the guys that are with us really agree with what was done," Sendek said. "I think they feel good about it, and I think they're ready to compete and play."
King, a 6-foot-5 guard, is ASU’s leading scorer, averaging 13.7 points a game, but has been a reluctant distributor at point guard, a position he was forced into when freshman Jahii Carson could not get eligible and Colvin, junior-college transfer, proved a bad fit.
Cain, a 6-foot-7 forward, is the Sun Devils’ second-leading rebounder (6.5 per game) and fourth-leading scorer (8.5). Colvin was suspended for one game for a violation of team rules before the holiday break, and after starting the first five games, he has since seen his playing time diminish. Colvin also was suspended for a month while at Iowa State for insubordination in January 2010.
Walk-on Max Heller, a 5-foot-9 freshman from San Diego's Torrey Pines High, is the only point guard on the roster. He has played only 17 minutes in five games this season, and it is unclear if the Sun Devils will turn to him or use small forwards Trent Lockett and Carrick Felix as principal ball-handlers this weekend. When King and Colvin were off the floor for short periods in recent games, Lockett brought the ball up.
King was removed in the early stages of the 68-51 loss to Arizona in Tucson last Saturday when ASU was unable to get into its offense. King committed a turnover and a foul and missed a jump shot before being replaced 2:15 into the game.
“Based on what I saw in terms of his play, I thought we needed to make a substitution,” Sendek said before the trip.
King finished with eight points, five turnovers and three assists in 29 minutes.
Freshman forward Jonathan Gilling, a native of Denmark, is the only player on the team with more assists than turnovers, although he has played only 149 minutes.
"It really wasn't (a difficult decision)," Sendek said of the suspensions. "If you're trying to do the right thing, it's not as hard as it may appear. It's difficult, obviously, from the standpoint that obviously we're going to have to play with a limited roster."
FOXSportsArizona.com's Tyler Lockman contributed to this report.
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