BOISE — For a while early in his career, Utah State's Jaycee Carroll thought he was normal.
He thought it was necessary for him to take 500 jump shots a day during his summers to keep up with the competition.
In reality, however, Carroll wasn't keeping up, he was setting himself apart.
Following his senior year at Evanston, Wyoming, when he earned his second consecutive Wyoming Gatorade Player of the Years honors, he realized he was different.
"I thought everyone did it," Carroll said of his active summers. "I've been rewarded for it."
Carroll averaged 39.4 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.6 steals during his senior season at Evanston. He scored a career-high 56 points in a game on 14-of-16 shooting from the 3-point line.
One year earlier he averaged 27.4 points, 3.3 steals and 2.8 assists.
He was a two-time all-state selection and a three-time all-conference honoree.
He earned a scholarship at Utah State.
"To begin with, I enjoyed being in a gym. I enjoyed playing basketball wherever I could," he said. "My dad was a basketball coach, and he let me shoot 15-foot jumpers and told me what to fix and what to do better . . . After learning to shoot properly, it was a matter of doing it."
Five hundred shots a day, four days a week.
"Game shots, game spots, game speed," Carroll said. "I always had that in my mind."
His shooting ability and athleticism drew the attention of Utah State coach Stew Morrill.
"The fact that he could make shots at that level (high school) and is athletic means he has a shot of doing it at the next level," Morrill recalled during his recruiting process of Carroll.
"I told my assistants if a guy gets 52 (points) I don't care if he's playing in city league, ward league, we'd better keep watching."
Carroll selected Utah State over home-state Wyoming.
Carroll put his game on hold for two years while serving an LDS Church mission to Chile. By choice, he played basketball only sparingly, focusing rather on teaching the Chilean people about his faith.
Other than having his appendix rupture one year into his two-year stint, Carroll remained healthy but fell out of basketball shape.
He returned home in the summer of last year and picked up the same regime he did in high school, and he is again reaping the rewards.
"One of the first things I did was getting into a gym and doing a regular shooting routine," he said. "I came down here (Logan) and did the strength and conditioning program . . . I tried to push myself in those things and tried to keep up with everyone else and have everyone else keep up with me."
In his first collegiate game — an exhibition game against Puget Sound — Carroll poured in 29 points in 12 of 15 shooting from the field, including 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
For the year, Carroll ranks second on the team for minutes played and 14.6 points a game, while grabbing 4.3 rebounds and hitting 52.7 percent of his shots. He also had 47 assists and 28 steals.
For a time he was ranked second in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage before slipping out last week.
His 452 points are an all-time record for a Utah State freshman, and he is one-tenth of a point behind Greg Grant's freshman average record of 14.7 points.
Carroll will have at least one more shot of catching Grant as the Aggies play the University of Arizona Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Boise. Game time is set for 5:20 p.m.
He scored a career-high and all-time freshman record 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting (8-of-12 from the 3-point line) in a 80-70 win over Santa Barbara.
He has scored in double figures 23 times (11 straight at one point); scored 20 points or more seven times, and he led the team in scoring 13 times.
Just last Saturday, Carroll scored 22 points in leading the Aggies to a 65-52 win over nationally ranked Pacific in the Big West Conference tournament and was the first freshman ever named the tournament MVP.
Early last week he was named the BWC Freshman Player of the Year, as well as a member of the All-Freshman team and member of the second-team. He was also named to two separate, freshman all-American teams.
"He's amazed me all year long," Morrill said. "I had never coached a returned missionary until I came to Utah State (seven years ago), and they always needed a year. He's bucking the norm, and it's something that is highly unusual — to come back and play this year."
Carroll, who plays guard, looks like the Energizer Bunny on the offensive end — always moving trying to create open looks.
"We have such a good team and such an unselfish team to be willing to let a freshman make some baskets and be willing to let a freshman be a part of the offense," Carroll said.
Now that Carroll's a proven scorer, Morrill is hoping for even bigger and better things.
"He can get so much better in terms of ball handling, passing, and defensively he works hard but can become so much better in terms of discipline," Morrill said. "My job is to make him a better all-around player . . . he'll do that because he wants to be (a better player)."
USU faces AU Wildcats
No. 14 Utah State (24-7) vs. No. 3 Arizona (27-6)
First Round NCAA Tournament
Thursday, 5:20 p.m., Taco Bell Arena (Boise)
TV: Ch. 2
Radio: 610 AM (Logan), 98.3 FM (SLC), 1280 AM (SLC)
E-mail: jhinton@desnews.com