NCAA Basketball: 10 best players from state of New Mexico of last decade

10. Ryan Jones – UMass Lowell

Today’s proceedings begin with a 6’3 guard from Rio Rancho who traveled a long way to play his collegiate ball. Jones spent all four of his college season at UMass Lowell, starting regularly during his entire stint with the River Hawks. UMass Lowell is still relatively new to D1 and hasn’t exactly been thriving, but Jones was a solid contributor for most of his career.

Jones’s best season offensively with the River Hawks was his sophomore season, where he averaged 13.4 points per game and played the most minutes of his career. He had a career-high 32 points against UMBC late in that season, one of four late 20+ point efforts. He averaged at least 3 assists per game as both a sophomore and junior and was certainly a consistent piece across four decent seasons for the River Hawks.

The kid from New Mexico fit in well in Massachusetts, with that sophomore season finding him among the America East leaders in a number of offensive categories. Jones put up solid assist numbers in his final seasons and rated as a decent piece on both sides of the ball. Obviously, UMass Lowell wasn’t exactly great during his tenure, but he still left his mark and was one of the more important players in the River Hawks’ early D1 years.