SEC Basketball: Ranking of 25 best players from last decade (2013-23)
By Joey Loose
24. Mason Jones
Though he rose to stardom in the SEC, Jones actually began his collegiate career at Connors State, a junior college in Oklahoma. After a single season, he caught the eye of D1 coaches and transferred to Arkansas. Jones would play a year apiece under head coaches Mike Anderson and Eric Musselman before moving to the professional level in 2020.
His sophomore season, that first year with the Razorbacks, saw Jones fit nicely into the system, averaging 13.6 points per game while making nearly 37% of his 3-pointers. Arkansas didn’t have the greatest season. Under Eric Musselman, he’d drop 32 points on opening night against Rice and would later have a 41-point outing in a win over Tulsa. In what would become a 20-win season for Arkansas, Jones would average 22.0 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in a breakout campaign.
Jones was the nation’s leader in free throws made in that final season, earning First Team All-SEC honors after leading that conference in scoring. He took major steps forward in his collegiate career once he arrived at Arkansas. He wasn’t still around the following years when the Razorbacks had those deep runs, and his junior season was shortened by the pandemic, but Jones still made a certain impact during his time in the SEC.