Jason Terry’s career with the Arizona Wildcats: By the Numbers
Feb 19, 2015, 2:00 PM | Updated: 2:00 pm
Before he was an NBA champion and Sixth Man of the Year, he was an NCAA champion and Player of the Year.
Thursday, former Arizona Wildcat guard Jason Terry will become the fifth men’s basketball player to have his number hoisted up the McKale Center rafters by UA, joining Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Jason Gardner and his former teammate, Mike Bibby.
Alongside Bibby and Miles Simon, Terry guided the Wildcats to their first and only NCAA men’s basketball championship in 1997, capping an improbable tournament run that included wins over three No. 1 seeds.
In 1999, Terry was a consensus first-team All-American and earned NCAA Player of the Year honors from CBS and Sports Illustrated.
Terry went on to have a successful NBA career — a career that’s not over yet. Only eight current NBA players are older than Terry, who has averaged seven points in 50 games this season with the Houston Rockets.
And yet, Terry still found time to achieve an academic goal he didn’t get the chance to finish during his collegiate career.
God is good it's official #BearDown http://t.co/aXRsXnanqQ pic.twitter.com/bJBLKKztQf
— Jason Terry (@jasonterry31) February 16, 2015
Terry is the only Arizona Wildcat to win an NCAA championship and an NBA championship. He got himself a ring in 2011 with the Dallas Mavericks, who needed six games to upend LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
Terry is averaging 15 points and 4.3 assists per game in his 16-year NBA career, following up averages of 13.8 points and 3.8 assists per game during his four years as a Wildcat.
Here’s a closer look at Terry’s time in Tucson — with an emphasis on his remarkable senior season — by the numbers:
2.8
Terry led the Pac-10 in a number of statistical categories in his final collegiate season, including steals. His 2.8 thefts per game in 1998-99 topped his mark of 2.5 in his sophomore campaign.
5
Terry was more of a role player during the Wildcats’ championship season, but he played a key part in the ’97 title game against Kentucky, dishing out a team-high five assists in UA’s 84-79 overtime win.
