University of Arizona Athletics

#22 Position: Guard   Class/Experience: Sophomore/1L Height: 5-10 Weight: 178 Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.    High School: North Central HS

General: In just his second season of collegiate basketball, he will enter 2000-01 as one of the country's premiere point guards... Named the National Freshman of the Year last season by the United States Basketball Writer's Association, Basketball Times and Basketball News, ESPN.com and Dick Vitale... Became the first Arizona freshman to be named to the All-Pac-10 first team... Extremely quick and shines when in the spotlight... Some of his best games last year came against top opponents... Joins another sophomore, Gilbert Arenas, to form one of the best one-two backcourt combos in the country... CNNSI.com put him on its list for an early guess at next year's preseason All-Americans back in May... Joined teammate Loren Woods on that squad... An iron man who played all 40 minutes eight times and led the team in minutes with a 36.6 mpg average... Can stop on a dime for a quick pull-up jumper... Yet another in the long line of terrific Arizona point guards... Third of three former McDonald's All-Americans on the Arizona roster (Richard Jefferson & Loren Woods).

1999-00 (Freshman): Started every game but one at point guard and averaged 12.6 ppg, 4.8 apg and 3.7 rpg... Basketball Times Freshman All-America first team... Named to its All-America third team as well... In addition to being selected to the All-Pac-10 first team, he was also an All-Pac-10 Freshmen first team performer... NABC All-District 15 second team... His 70 three-pointers were the eighth-best single season total at the UA... His 193 three-point attempts were sixth-most... Scored in double figures 25 times with a career-high 25 points coming at USC... Came up big in the biggest games... Scored 22 points in the win at No. 1 Stanford... Netted 20 at home against then-No. 5 and eventual national champion Michigan State... 20 points, six assists, four rebounds in the win at UCLA... Scored 18 points at No. 9 Texas... Had a double-double against UCLA in Tucson with 16 points and 11 assists... Also had a career-best seven steals in that game... All seven steals came in the first half... A fine all-around game at Arizona State, scoring 16 points to go with seven assists, four steals and four rebounds... Played a part in the defensive scheme that held ASU's Eddie House to only eight points... Played all 45 minutes in the overtime game at Oregon State... Came back two days later and scored 22 points at Oregon, even though he missed the morning shootaround due to an upset stomach... At one point during a six-game span in Pac-10 play, he saw action in 223 of a possible 240 minutes and committed just six turnovers... A member of the Preseason NIT All-Tournament team... Scored 10 points with four steals, three assists and three rebounds in the title game in over Kentucky... Made 18 consecutive free throws before missing (at UCLA to at LSU).

High School: Came to Arizona after winning the prestigious Mr. Basketball award for the state of Indiana... McDonald's All-American and second team Parade All-American as a senior... Led North Central High School to the Indiana State 4A Championship and the Indiana Tournament of Champions title as well... The 4A division is the top level of high school athletics in Indiana... Averaged 22.6 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.0 apg, 3.0 spg as a senior... Also named the Indianapolis city Player of the Year by the Indianapolis Star and Indianapolis News... In the state semifinal game of his senior year, he scored 29 points with eight rebounds, four assists a hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to send the game into overtime... Three days later he played in the McDonald's All-American game and then returned to Indianapolis for the state title game two days later... He scored 24 points and had five assists as North Central beat Elkhart Central in the RCA Dome for the championship... He added 49 points in the two games of the Tournament of Champions, which pits the four teams who won the Indiana 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A titles... Two-time Gatorade Circle of Champions Indiana Player of the Year (1998 & 1999)... As a junior, he was the Indiana state player of the year by USA Today and Gatorade Circle of Champions after averaging 21.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and 2.4 apg... Shot 50% from the floor and 40% from the three-point line... Parade fourth-team All-America as a junior, as well as a Associated Press All-State third team selection... Scored 20 or more points in 13 of the team's 21 games...  A member of the honor roll during high school... Named the Indianapolis Star Player of the Year as a sophomore after averaging 15.3 ppg, 4.2 apg, 3.1 rpg and leading his team to a 22-4 record... Started every game for North Central HS since his freshman season... All-time leading scorer at North Central High School (1,699 pts) and set five other school records...  A teammate of current Wildcat Michael Wright when the two were members of the gold medal winning USA Basketball Junior World Championship Qualifying team in the summer of 1998... High school coach, Doug Mitchell, was an assistant at Butler University with current UA assistant coach, Jay John.

Personal: Jason Corey Gardner... Born 11-14-80 in Indianapolis, Ind... Majoring in business management... Son of Stephanie Gardner &  James C. Gardner, Sr... Father, who is a supervisor with General Motors, attended Miami of Ohio on a wrestling scholarship ... Mother graduated from Indiana University... Has a brother, James, who plays basketball at Marion College in Indianapolis ... Older sister, Treci, graduated from Ball State University ... Picked Arizona over Duke, Kansas, Purdue and Indiana... Said one of his main reasons for picking Arizona was the program's history of developing quality guards... Consulted former UA All-American Damon Stoudamire during the recruiting process... When Arizona won the NCAA championship at Indianapolis in 1997, the Cats practiced at his high school gym, but he was kept away from the gym by school security... Lists his hobbies as collecting sports cards and sports memorabilia.
 

Gardner's Career Statistics

Postseason Statistics