The Arizona Wildcats had just defeated Arizona State in a game probably best remembered for Kevin Parrom's hard foul.
With 8:35 left Jan. 23, Parrom hammered Ty Abbott as he drove the lane for a layup. Minutes after the game, the UA freshman posted a message to his Twitter account.
"ASWho?!?!?" it read. "I'm from tha Bronx, New York. No Easy Buckets."
In the month since, Wildcats fans have printed T-shirts with the phrase; Parrom has even tried one on himself.
Abbott hears about it, too.
"A lot of people saw it," he said. "The people that are from around here, they're supportive. They ask me about it."
The Sun Devils' junior guard said he hasn't spoken to any UA player about the foul, and that his opinion of the play hasn't differed since he jumped up in anger.
When the Sun Devils come to McKale Center on Sunday, Abbott said he won't be focused on Parrom's foul.
"As far as a team goes, I think it would be pretty selfish for me to have that in the back of my head, as my only motivation, thinking about that and trying to get revenge," he said.
Teammate Jamelle McMillan called the foul "part of the game," even in a rivalry matchup.
"At this level, in Pac-10 basketball, those kinds of plays happen," said McMillan, who missed that game with an injury. "It's something you play through and you move on from. It's not unheard of, or far-fetched. It's a tough play on the ball."
While UA fans might know Abbott as a footnote to a controversial play, he's also emerged as the Sun Devils' best player. Abbott is fully recovered from a torn meniscus in his right knee fixed by October arthroscopic surgery.
In his past 11 games, the Phoenix native is averaging 16.9 points and 6.8 rebounds. He's made 41 of 91 three-pointers during that stretch, in which he's scored in double figures all but once.
"He's an every day guy, he works hard, he's a great leader," coach Herb Sendek said. "He stays with the process.
"Guys that do that have the best chance of improvement, and he's obviously having a terrific season for us."
Entering this week, Abbott was tied for eighth in the Pac-10 in conference scoring, with 15.5 per game. His 6.5 rebounds put him in eighth.
Last year, he averaged only 2.9 points and 3.7 rebounds in Pac-10 play.
"I think it's just a combination of me getting closer to full recovery from that knee surgery that I had, and I'm also kind of getting the feel of things," he said. "I was able to get up to the speed of the team."
The Sun Devils' switch to a faster-paced offense the first week of the year helped, too.
"That's kinda a player's dream," he said. "It's like you're playing however you did in high school, but more structured.
"It does better suit me. I don't find myself stuck in one spot. There were times in our older offense where there was a set play - 'You go here, that person goes there.'
"Now it's move around and read defense and create for each other. When you have the opportunity to create for yourself and for others, it works for everybody."
The Sun Devils shot 30.2 percent in the last rivalry game. Abbott said they can't do that again.
"Really, the biggest thing is to make shots early," he said. "Especially on the road, you want to make shots early and get a little comfort zone, so you know things aren't going to be as bad.
"When you go into an atmosphere like down at McKale, it's a lot harder to get going by yourself because of the things against you."
The UA making 75 percent of its second-half shots doomed ASU then; the Wildcats outscored the Sun Devils 52-31 in the second half to win by 19.
That brought more pain than the foul. Abbott wants a repeat of neither.
"It's really going to come down to our commitment," Abbott said. "If we're playing well on defense, then we know we'll be able to make enough shots in the end."
On StarNet: See video of Arizona coach Sean Miller previewing Sunday's game at azstarnet.com/wildcats
Up next
• What: ASU at Arizona
• When: 3:30 p.m. Sunday
• TV: FSAZ
• Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM, 990-AM (Sp)
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