ASU’s Jahii Carson is more than lucky in Las Vegas
Mar 12, 2014, 4:48 PM | Updated: 4:54 pm
Arizona State sophomore guard Jahii Carson has played only five of his 66 collegiate games in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Unlike most people who venture to Sin City, Carson has come up a big winner.
The Mesa High product has four career games of 30 or more points — three have them have occurred in Vegas. Of course, this bodes well for Carson and the Sun Devils as they’re about to participate in the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
The Sun Devils, the number-three seed, will play either Stanford or Washington State in their first game Thursday night.
Carson scored 19 points in an 83-68 win over Arkansas in the Las Vegas Invitational at Orleans Arena in November of 2012. But he was just getting started.
In a loss to 14th-ranked Creighton the next night, Carson poured in a then-career-high 30 points while dishing out seven assists in an 87-73 loss.
Four months later, Carson and the Devils would return to Vegas, and the freshman picked up right where he left off. He scored five of his 34 points in overtime, helping ASU to an 89-88 first-round win over Stanford in the first round of the Pac-12 Tournament. It was the highest scoring game ever by a freshman in the tournament’s history.
The next day, Carson pumped in 21 points while adding six rebounds and seven assists, but ASU fell short in their upset bid against top-seeded UCLA, 80-75.
This season, Carson has played just one game in Vegas — November 19 against UNLV at Thomas & Mack Center — and it was a performance for the ages.
The 5-foot-10 guard hit 16-of-25 shots in a 40-point explosion that led to an 86-80 win over the homestanding Rebels.
In his five games in Las Vegas, Carson has hit 60 percent (53-of-89) of his shots, 58 percent of his three-pointers and 79 percent of free throws while averaging 28.8 points, four rebounds and 5.4 assists.
The third-seeded Sun Devils are hoping that Carson has more than a few lucky rolls of the dice left.
2014 Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament
Wednesday, March 12
Game 1 – #8 Utah Utes vs. #9 Washington Huskies – 12:06 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 2 – #5 Colorado Buffaloes vs. #12 USC Trojans – 2:36 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 3 – #7 Oregon Ducks vs. #10 Oregon State Beavers – 6:06 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 4 – #6 Stanford Cardinal vs. #11 Washington State Cougars – 8:36 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Thursday, March 13
Game 5 – Utah/Washington winner vs. #1 Arizona Wildcats – 12:06 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 6 – Colorado/USC winner vs. #4 California Golden Bears – 2:36 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 7 – Oregon/Oregon State winner vs. #2 UCLA Bruins – 6:06 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 8 – Stanford/Washington State winner vs. #3 Arizona State Sun Devils – 8:40 p.m. PT (Fox Sports 1)
Friday, March 14
Game 9 – Semifinal #1 – 6:06 p.m. PT (Pac-12 Network)
Game 10 – Semifinal #2 – 8:40 p.m. PT (Fox Sports 1)
Saturday, March 15
Championship Game – 3:02 p.m. PT (Fox Sports 1)
