The ASU men’s basketball team will play in a postseason tournament. It just isn’t for the National Championship.
The Sun Devils are the No. 3 seed in the NIT. They will play No. 6 Detroit in the first round of the tournament at Wells Fargo Arena on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.
It's ASU's first postseason tournament appearance since the 2009-10 season, when it made the NIT as the No. 1 seed. The Sun Devils fell to No. 8 Jacksonville State 67-66 on a made 3-pointer with 1.9 seconds left.
It was all but guaranteed the Sun Devils’ postseason fate would be in the NIT following their 80-75 loss to UCLA in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament. The Titans went 20-12 this season and finished second in the Horizon League.
The game will present a great matchup between redshirt freshman point guard Jahii Carson and junior guard Ray McCallum. Carson is coming off a first-team All-Pac-12 Tournament selection and continues to pile on to his impressive freshman year. He’s averaging 18.3 points and five assists a game.
While Carson is listed as the 76th best prospect on DraftExpress Top 100, McCallum is 71st on the list. The 6-foot-2 guard averages 18.8 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists a game.
Reach the reporter at mtesfats@asu.edu
