January 28 – Jordan Burks hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and forced a turnover in the final 34 seconds as UCF rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to pull off a 79-76 Big 12 win over Arizona State on Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla.

Riley Kugel paced the Knights (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Burks added 15 points and three steals while Jamichael Stillwell posted 14 points.

Maurice Odum produced 18 points and six assists for the Sun Devils (11-10, 2-6), who never trailed in the second half until 1:11 to go. Anthony Johnson added 12 points and Bryce Ford had 11.

UCF took its first lead of the second half on Carmelo Pacheco’s 3-pointer with 1:11 to go. Odum answered with a pair of free throws to regain a 1-point edge.

Burks then took a diagonal feed from Kugel and canned the wide-open 3-pointer for a 78-76 lead. After Burks swiped an Odum pass, Themus Fulks tacked on a free throw. Ford’s deep ball at the buzzer was errant to give the Knights the comeback victory.

UCF shot 45% from the floor and held a 40-28 advantage in rebounding. The Sun Devils hit 47% from the field and made 10 of 23 (43%) from deep.

UCF sprinted to a 9-2 lead behind Bol’s layup and dunk, but the Sun Devils battled back and grabbed a 12-11 lead on Johnson’s 27-footer three minutes later.

Nearing the 10-minute mark, Kugel faked a defender, drove to his right and threw down a vicious dunk for a 16-14 lead to bring the UCF crowd to life as part of a 7-0 run.

Allen Mukeba’s tomahawk dunk on a 3-point play put the Sun Devils up 24-22 at the 6:13 mark. Odom’s deep ball at 5:34 gave the visitors their largest lead at 27-22 on the way to a 39-35 lead at the break.

The second half was played tightly over the first eight minutes, with the Sun Devils holding a slim lead that extended to five, 52-47, on Andrija Grbovic’s trey at 11:22.

Grbovic stroked another 3-pointer and Noah Meeusen converted three free throws. Odum’s 3-pointer with 8:26 capped a 9-0 run that pushed the lead to 61-51.

With 6:09 remaining, the lead grew to 70-58 on Massamba Diop’s two freebies — Arizona State’s largest advantage — but the Knights mounted a charge and tied it with 2:39 left on Fulks’ pair of free throws that wrapped an 11-0 run.

–Field Level Media

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Data centers have gotten a bad rap lately, but here’s why we think they are actually good for Arizona. It starts with jobs.

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Arizona data centers have generated a lot of political heat in recent weeks.

At her State of the State address, Gov. Katie Hobbs questioned the social benefit of data centers and signaled an interest in reinstating a sales tax on data center equipment purchases. Neal Carter, a Republican state legislator, agrees with Hobbs. So too might Republican state legislator Leo Biasiucci.

A month ago, the Chandler City Council unanimously rejected a proposed data center despite the lobbying efforts of former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Hundreds of Chandler residents filled the auditorium for the vote, and 256 residents submitted online comments opposing the data center.

In Tucson, the city council unanimously rejected connecting a large data center (Project Blue) to the city’s water system. Attorney General Kris Mayes is now looking deeper into Project Blue, Tucson Electric Power and the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Here at The Arizona Republic, the opinion section published an editorial on Jan. 20 (Arizona data centers bring hidden water risks), and the news section printed an article on Jan. 18 (Gas power plant for data center project stirs concerns in Surprise), both of which cast data centers in a less-than-flattering light.

And earlier this week, handfuls of speakers at the Corporation Commission blamed data centers for proposed APS rate hikes.

Each situation has its own complexities and justifications (and I’ll get into some of them in future weeks). Some opposition is more factually substantiated than others. But they’re all rooted in a suspicion that these large warehouses of computer servers that power the modern world are no longer great things for Arizona.

Arizona data center benefits starts with jobs

If we may be so bold, and to set the stage for future articles here at the Republic, here are a few reasons why Arizona should celebrate our position as a top 10 state for data centers:

• Jobs. It’s not just the people employed by data centers (many of which are high-paying jobs), but the ancillary jobs needed by data centers: contracted electricians, carpenters, pipefitters, HVAC technicians, etc. PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) found that data centers accounted for 81,000 jobs in Arizona as of 2023.
• Taxes.  It’s the start of the state legislative season and, sadly, this is going to be one of those years in which we hear lots about the things we can’t afford.  But data centers help that equation.  According to the same PwC report, data centers generated $2.3 billion in state and local tax revenue from 2017 to 2021.  That means money for schools and roads.  Or lower state income taxes (as happened).
• Tech center. It’s a truism that tech begets other tech. We’ve said this as we’ve celebrated the massive expansions of TSMC and Intel. It’s also true of data centers. And if proprietors of data centers – companies like Amazon and Microsoft – are happy with Arizona as a data center home, they’ll likely consider Arizona a home for other tech investments.
• Buying unwanted power. Normal businesses use power during the day (8 am-5 pm). Homes use power during the evening (5-11 pm). But few users demand power overnight (11 pm-8 am). This means we often have to dump unsold power. But data centers need power around the clock, and they can buy that overnight power, generating revenue for Arizona utility companies that then doesn’t have to be generated from Arizona households.

The top-ranked Arizona Wildcats hit the road for a Big Monday matchup against No. 13 BYU. The Wildcats won in Provo last season.

Here’s all the info you need to watch, listen to or follow the game online. Come chat with us!

Arizona-BYU game time, details:

How can I watch Arizona-BYU?

Arizona-BYU will be shown on ESPN. Jon Sciambi (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) will be calling the game.

How can I stream Arizona-BYU online?

The stream of Arizona-BYU can be viewed on ESPN.com.

How can I listen to Arizona-BYU on the radio?

How can I follow Arizona-BYU?

Arizona-BYU pregame coverage: