NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of Connecticut of last decade
By Joey Loose
6. Tyrique Jones – Xavier
A four-star prospect from Bloomfield, Jones found his way to Xavier back in 2016, spending four years playing for the Musketeers. He was a talented forward prospect and was part of an impressive run to the Elite Eight in his freshman year. Jones worked his way into Xavier’s starting rotation and was an important frontcourt piece.
For his first two seasons, Jones was an important role player, hitting more than 60% of his field goals, but getting limited opportunities. He was a full-time starter his last two seasons, really breaking out during his senior year. As a junior, he had a 19-point, 20-rebound game against Evansville before averaging 14.0 points and 11.0 rebounds per game as a senior, racking up the double-doubles.
Jones was Second Team All-Big East for that impressive senior year, leading the entire nation in offensive rebounds and leading the conference in field goal percentage. He played in six NCAA Tournament games, with a 14-point effort against Florida State, and was certainly one of the impact players during that 2020 campaign. Since leaving Xavier, Jones has continued his basketball career overseas, recently playing in both Israel and Italy.