Arizona Basketball

Arizona Wildcats’ Johnson, rival Carson deliver career performances on same night


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WHAT IS PRODUCTIVITY RATING?:
PP: Productivity Points (Points, assists, rebounds, steals, blocked shots, FGs made, FTs made added together and then subtracted by missed FGs, missed FTs, personal fouls and turnovers)
MIN: Minutes played overall
PR: Productivity rating per minute played (Productivity points divided by minutes played)

ARIZONA 87, RHODE ISLAND 59
PRODUCTIVITY RATING

* — STARTERS
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Nick Johnson

Nick Johnson

On the evening his friend and rival Jahii Carson of ASU scored a career-high 40 points, Arizona Wildcats shooting guard Nick Johnson came only four assists from a triple-double.

Johnson recorded his first career double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds last night. He finished with six assists in the Arizona Wildcats’ 87-59 victory over Rhode Island in the NIT Season Tip-Off. The UA advances to play Drexel in the tournament semifinal Nov. 27 at Madison Square Garden.

Jahii Carson

Jahii Carson

Carson scored 40 points with seven assists in ASU’s 86-80 win at UNLV.

The careers of Carson and Johnson have paralleled each other since their early high school careers in the Phoenix area. They competed in countless AAU tournaments while in high school and now they play for rival programs in college. With the way each is playing, we will see them at the NBA next season.

NBA scouts want to see how Johnson can handle the point guard position because of his size (6’3″ and 200). His near triple-double last night should answer some of their questions. He leads the Wildcats with 16.8 points per game.

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“I saw that,” Johnson told reporters about his possible triple-double. “I mean, who wouldn’t want a triple‐double? I tried, but it just wasn’t tonight.”

An Arizona player has not posted a triple-double since Andre Iguodala accomplished three in the 2003-04 season.

Johnson’s last three games against San Diego State, Fairleigh Dickinson and Rhode Island are Iguodala-like on the epic scale.

He has posted 89 productivity points in 77 minutes in those games, a phenomenal productivity rating of 1.156. A rating of .800 or better is Pac-12 Player of the Year caliber. Overall, his productivity rating is a team-best .993.

In terms of productivity, Arizona is as solid as a team with its top seven as any in the country as they prepare for Drexel and a potential showdown with Duke next week at New York City. Top reserves Gabe York and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson are two of the more productive players on the team.

Hollis-Jefferson ranks second to Johnson with a productivity rating of .851, while York is fifth with a .757 rating. Forward tandem Brandon Ashley (.785) and Aaron Gordon (.762) have also produced impressively through the first five games.

“He’s pretty much doing everything,” point guard T.J. McConnell said in the postgame press conference. “He’s hitting outside shots. He’s rebounding. He’s passing. He’s pretty much doing everything for us.”

Who is he talking about? Ashley. But the same can be said of many of his teammates. 

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ARIZONA OVERALL PRODUCTIVITY RATING
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ARIZONA PAC-10/12
PLAYERS OF THE YEAR:
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ARIZONA SCHEDULE/PRODUCTIVITY RESULTS
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WILDABOUTAZCATS.net publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report, Lindy’s College Sports and TucsonCitizen.com.

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