It’s not quite 40, but it didn’t need to be.
Redshirt sophomore point guard Jahii Carson followed up his 40-point performance against UNLV by scoring 19 points and leading the ASU men’s basketball team to a 70-58 win over the Bradley Braves on Friday night.
Carson was active in other parts of his game, however. He collected a season-high seven rebounds and had five assists.
The Braves (4-2) outrebounded the Sun Devils (5-0), 11-3 in the first seven minutes of the game, but ASU bounced back to finish with a 33-29 edge. Carson’s work on the glass contributed to the improvement.
“Most of the time on the defensive glass … the point guard stays back,” Carson said. “I try to sneak in there and get as many (rebounds) as I can.”
Senior center Jordan Bachynski and junior forward Jonathan Gilling joined Carson in double figures, scoring 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Gilling’s offense made up in part for an off night from senior wing Jermaine Marshall, who had five points, something that didn’t go unnoticed by Head coach Herb Sendek.
“The more guys you have who can step up and contribute, obviously, the stronger your team is going to be,” Sendek said. “To have a good team, you have to have guys do that.”
Gilling made all four of his shots in the first half, and made five of his eight attempts, overall. He said his confidence wasn’t shaken after shooting 0-8 at UNLV.
“I know I can make shots,” Gilling said. “I’ve made thousands and thousands of shots in my life … it was just a matter of making them fall.”
Gilling scored 11 of his 14 points in the first half and had five of ASU’s first seven points. Carson said he felt like it was his duty to help Gilling get back on track fast.
“It’s one of my duties to get Jon more shots,” Carson said. “He wasn’t hitting shots before this like we knew he can, so my job was to get him wide open shots to try to get him his touch.”
Sendek changed his starting lineup for the first time this season, substituting freshman forward Egor Koulechov in for senior wing Shaquielle McKissic.
“We felt like Egor earned the start with his amazing hustle at UNLV,” Sendek said. “But obviously, much of the same guys were involved in a very similar rotation.”
Despite not getting the start, McKissic notched seven assists with no turnovers, as Sendek was quick to point out.
The Sun Devils face the No. 25 Marquette Golden Eagles (2-1) on Monday, but they didn’t overlook Bradley.
“When you’ve got UNLV, and then you’ve got Bradley and then you’ve got Marquette, sometimes, most of us overlook (Bradley),” Carson said. “But this is one of those games where we felt we had to take care of business.”
ASU and Marquette will tip off at 7:00 p.m. MST at Wells Fargo Arena.
Reach the reporter at ewebeck@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @EWeebs
