Jahii Carson Lifts Arizona State over Stanford in OT; Bucknell Bison Earn a Bid

College Hoops Player of the Day for Wednesday, March 13, Month, 2013

Conference tournaments spanned the countryside on Wednesday with action from the Big East to the PAC-12 on tap.

In one of the most hotly-contested battles of the night, Arizona State's Jahii Carson scored the first five points for the Sun Devils in overtime on a three-pointer and a layup and teammate Evan Gordon sealed the 89-88 ASU victory, making five of six free throws to close out Stanford in the first round of the PAC-12 championship.

Carson, a 5'10" freshman who led the Sun devils in scoring at 18.2 points per game, topped the scoring charts with a career-high 34 points on 14-for-22 shooting, including three of four from three-point range. The diminutive guard was a perfect 3-for-3 from the foul line and added a steal, three rebounds and four assists.

Also in the PAC-12, Colorado advanced with a 74-68 win over Oregon State, Washington edged Washington State, 64-62 and Utah slipped by USC, 69-66.

In the Big East, Syracuse, Villanova, Notre Dame and Cincinnati advanced in second round games.

A full slate is set for Thursday, with the Big 12 and Big Ten opening tourney play. There are 53 games on the college hoops schedule for Thursday.

Bucknell captured the Patriot League title and received the automatic bid with a 64-56 win over Lafayette in the league final.

The Bison were led by Mike Muscala's double-double: 20 points and 11 boards.

Mixup in PAC-10

College Hoops Player of the Day for Friday, January 8, 2010

Sure, it's early, but from the looks of things, the PAC-10 probably won't be sending more than three or four teams to the NCAA tournament this season. Which three or four remains something of a mystery, now that the only ranked team from the conference - Washington, #24 - has lost two straight and probably won't be ranked come Monday afternoon.

After losing to current conference leader Oregon (2-0), 90-79, on January 2, the Huskies traveled to Arizona State on Friday and came up absolutely empty, as the Sun Devils blasted them, 68-51. Not that the Devils are any great shakes - they out-shot Washington, 38%-36% - but their 11-5 record compares well to the best of the PAC-10, including USC (12-5), Oregon (10-4), Washington St. (12-3) and the Huskies, at 10-4.

Friday's win featured Arizona State's Rihards Kuksiks, a 6'6" swingman from Riga, Latvia, who pumped in 27 points to lead the Sun Devils to their first PAC-10 win of the season (1-2). Dropping bombs from all over the court, Kuksiks equalled his season-high, hitting 8 of 14 shots from the floor, including 5-for-8 on 3-pointers. The team's leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per outing, Kuksiks also matched his career-high in rebounds, with 9.