PHOENIX (AP) – Arizona State point guard Jahii Carson will play at least another season for the Sun Devils.
Carson filed paperwork last week to be evaluated by NBA executives, but announced on Tuesday that he’s returning for his sophomore season at Arizona State during an on-campus news conference that included a DJ, a slide show and was attended by season-ticket holders.
“At this time it is in my best interest to continue my career at Arizona State,” Carson said in a statement.
“ASU has been very good to me and I enjoy my teammates and coaching staff, and that was a big part of my decision. The option to try the NBA was there, but all my energy is now invested in being the best Sun Devil I can be and lead our team to a great season.”
Carson was one of the most heralded in-state recruits in Arizona State history and lived up to the hype after sitting out last season for failing to meet NCAA academic standards.
The 5-foot-10 guard had no trouble adjusting to the college game, playing with confidence and using his quickness to beat some the conference’s best defenders off the dribble.
Carson led the Sun Devils in scoring at 18.5 points per game, second-best in Arizona State history for a freshman to Ike Diogu’s 19.0 in 2002-03 and seventh all-time by a freshman in Pac-12 history. He also led Arizona State with 5.1 assists and his 177 assists were most by a freshman in Sun Devils history, sixth all-time in the conference.
Carson set numerous other school freshman records, including points (647), field goals made (231) and attempted (488), assists (177), minutes (1,303) and 20-point games (18).
He also scored a freshman-record 34 points against Stanford in the Pac-12 tournament and was the conference’s co-freshman of the year with UCLA’s Shabazz Muhammad.
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