Q&A with Gary Wilkinson

Jaycee Carroll, Utah State Men’s Basketball’s all-time leading scorer, will be honored by USU on Saturday when the Aggies will retire his jersey. The Utah Statesman called former Aggie Gary Wilkinson, who played from 2007 to 2009, to ask about Carroll.

Statesman: What was your first impression of Jaycee?  

Patrick Oden

Gary Wilkinson dunks against Montana State-Northern. The Aggies beat UC Santa Barbara Monday, 61-59.

Wilkinson: That Jaycee was a hard worker. So when I got up here in the summertime between 2007-2008 and I started working out with Jaycee, and he was dedicated and was in the gym every day, getting shots up, working on his game, and that kind of helped me to understand what needed to be done to be successful at Utah State.  

Q: What was your favorite on-court memory with Jaycee? 

A: I think winning in Boise State, which we had to win to clinch the regular season WAC title championship. And so that was a huge moment for us.  

Q: What was your favorite off-court memory with Jaycee? 

A: We were all together, feeding a baby cow, and I remember asking him, like, ‘Hey, did you ever think, wherever you were, at Utah State that we would ever find ourselves in a position where we’re wrapped up together, holding down this cow?’ That was my favorite off-court memory. 

Q: How do you feel about USU retiring Jaycee’s number?  

A: It’s well deserved. If there’s anyone that should have their jersey retired, it should probably be Jaycee. I mean, obviously got Wayne (Estes), and Greg (Grant) and all the others, but Jaycee definitely deserves to be among those Aggie greats.