Carroll’s leadership guides Aggies
USU junior guard Jaycee Carroll started the season strong and continues to be the best scorer on the men’s basketball team.
Averaging 21.6 points a game and already scoring a total 626 points this season, he is a key part to the success of the team. Other than being born with amazing basketball talent, there are other factors in which he attributes his success.
First of all, USU’s advanced coaching staff is able to “help individual players get better inside a team system,” Carroll said. Coaches play an integral part in the team’s success by not only calling good plays, but by also being mentors to the players.
The team itself has also helped Carroll get to where he is today.
“My teammates set good screens for me,” he said. “They pass me the ball when I’m open, and they have confidence that I can score the ball and contribute to this team.”
The 6-foot-2 guard wouldn’t be as advanced as he is today without the extra efforts he put in this summer. Carroll spent numerous hours in the gym training and practicing to get ready for the season.
Carroll started every game this season, playing a total of 1,019 minutes. He’s made 125 free throws already, which is a huge improvement from last year’s 60. His free-throw percentage was boosted in the home game against the New Mexico State Aggies, where he shot 15-for-15 from the charity stripe.
Beating NMSU was Carroll’s best game statistically as well as his favorite.
“We beat the second-place team in the conference pretty handily,” Carroll said. “And I was able to play a good game.”
He didn’t only have a perfect free-throw game against NMSU, but he also had an almost flawless scoring game. Carroll was 12-of-16 from the field, and he net a career-high 44 points.
As for the WAC Tournament, the team is expecting only the best.
“I’m planning on doing extremely well in the WAC Tournament as a team, and I hope everyone has that same mindset,” he said.
Carroll has one more year at USU, but he said he doesn’t want his basketball career to end at graduation.
“We need to find someone in the NBA that thinks I can play for them, and I’ll definitely take a shot with it,” he said. “If there’s an opportunity, I’ll go for it.”
-bfairman@cc.usu.edu