Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Top Departing Players #16: Ray Jones

With the throes of the offseason all around us, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the 20 best players that are departing from the Big Sky, either due to graduating, declaring for the draft, or transferring.

I will be honest... there is a good chance that Ray Jones would have been higher on this list if I have seen him play as often this year as I did the other players in the Big Sky. He played a big role for Southern Utah this year, logging the most minutes on the team (a robust 32.8 per game).

Jones was efficient from the floor, shooting over 58% from two-point range and 35% from downtown. Those are really good numbers, as he showed a lot of improvement from his junior to his senior seasons. He was also pretty solid at getting to the line, and made a good percentage there.

He looked to get others involved first, as he averaged 4.5 assists per game with a nice assist rate of 27.6. He turned it over a little more than you would like, but he did cut down a bit from his previous season. He helped out on the glass, with decent rebound rates for a guard, pulling down 4.0 boards per game. Defensively, he made enough steals that he made you be careful.

Like Rod Singleton, Jones was a senior leader at the point guard spot, which is always very valuable. With his departure, it will make new coach Nick Robinson's job just a little bit harder. Jones contributed a little bit of everything for the Thunderbirds last season.

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