Tyus Jones’ Big Summer Includes Gold Medal, UK Offer

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — This has already been a huge summer for Minnesota junior point guard Tyus Jones.

Earlier this month, he helped the U.S. U17 team win a gold medal at the FIBA U17 World Championship in Lithuania.

The New York Post recently listed him as a potential point guard on the 2016 U.S. Olympic team should the Olympics move to a U23 format for the Rio de Janeiro Games.

And Jones also picked up an offer from defending NCAA champion Kentucky.

Not a bad few weeks.

“It’s been great, it’s been great,” Jones told SNY.tv after putting up a game-high 30 points to go with 6 rebounds and 4 assists as his Howard Pulley AAU squad lost to Andrew Wiggins (22 points) and CIA Bounce, 83-69, Thursday night at the Peach Jam.

“Playing for your country is a great honor. Winning the gold and standing on the podium with a gold medal around your neck listening to the National Anthem is an unbelievable feeling.”

Jones, out of Apple Valley (MN), comes from a basketball family. His mother and father, Debbie and Robert Jones, both played college ball and Tyus’ brother, Jadee Jones, played  for Furman University and Mankato State University.

Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky, Kansas, Baylor, Indiana, Ohio State, Minnesota and Nebraska were among the schools who reached out to the 6-foot-1 Jones beginning June 15.

Still, Robert said his son is just 16 and “he’s still going to be a kid and do what he wants to do.”

“It’s not us, it’s Tyus,” Robert said of the recruiting process. “He has to make the decision. He’s the one that’s going to have to be on the campus and take the classes, so he can’t have any regrets and he can’t have any resentment towards anyone.”

Said Tyus: “I’m open to everything right now. I haven’t tried to cut down my list at all.”

Last week he landed an offer from Kentucky.

“Yes, sir, last week,” he said. “It was a great feeling, especially with them being the national champion. They’re the top school right now. It’s a good feeling and it makes me want to work that much harder.

“Oh, yeah, most definitely I’m considering them,” he added. “They got a great system. Coach [John] Calipari’s a phenomenal coach. He’s always had great point guards and he knows how to coach point guards so that’s definitely a positive.”

Indeed, Calipari’s recent run of point guards has includes first-round NBA Draft picks Derrick Rose, John Wall, Brandon Knight and Marquis Teague.

Jones poured in 21 points in the first half, but ultimately succumbed to the 6-7 Wiggins, arguably the best high school prospect in North America, and his CIA Bounce teammates.

“He’s a great player,” Jones said. “He has a great motor. He’s a unbelievable talent. He’s a freak athlete. He gets to the rim at will. And he’s a great player overall.”

Since Wiggins told SNY.tv exclusively that Kentucky and Florida State are coming at him the hardest, what would it be like for Jones to join with Wiggins at Kentucky in 2014?

“I think it would be great,” Jones said. “I think me being a point guard, I think I could set him up well with him being the scorer that he is. I think it would be good.”

Down the road, Jones is being touted as a potential future point guard for Team USA in the Olympics, potentially in 2016 if the Games moves towards the U23 model that NBA Commissioner David Stern and associate commissioner Adam Silver are pushing for.

“That would be very exciting, especially if I would potentially get better and improve to where I could be possibly on that list,” Jones said. “But that’s definitely a little ways down the road so I’m not going to try to look forward to that if that even ends up happening.”

Photo: USA Basketball