Last five games have been tough sledding for ASU’s Jahii Carson
On December 21, Arizona State point guard Jahii Carson dished out a career-high 13 assists in the Sun Devils’ 76-62 win over Texas Tech.
Since then, things haven’t gone as smoothly for Carson. Case in point, Sunday’s loss to UCLA, when the sophomore had just nine points and two assists while committing four turnovers. It’s just the second time this season and fourth time in his career that Carson hasn’t scored in double figures.
“Let’s face it, when our best player has the kind of night he had (Sunday), it’s going to be hard for us to beat an outstanding team like (UCLA) on the road,” ASU head coach Herb Sendek told Tim Healey and Kyle Dodd on the MidFirst Bank Sun Devil IMG Sports Network following the game. “It just obviously wasn’t his night in any way, and we had to try to overcome that, as well.”
Maybe for the first time in his collegiate career, Carson has found some tough sledding. In the five games since Texas Tech, Carson is shooting .348 from the floor, is averaging 14.2 points a game. And perhaps most alarmingly, has nine assists against 22 turnovers in that span.
“He sure didn’t,” Sendek said when Healey quipped ‘Jahii just didn’t look like Jahii.’
“I mean 4-for-17 with four turnovers, he was in foul trouble from the outset, so that was something we were trying to overcome as well.”
Carson, who has intimated that this will be his final season of college ball, is averaging 18.1 points per game — good for fifth in the conference — and 4.7 assists per contest, which ranks seventh in the Pac-12.
He and the Sun Devils travel to Tucson to take on the top-ranked Arizona Wildcats (17-0) Thursday at McKale Center.
