page_title: Tyus Jones
section_title: College career
hierarchical_section_title: Tyus Jones / College career
caption_attribution_description: English: President Barack Obama greets Quinn Cook and Tyus Jones during a White House event honoring their 2015 NCAA Men's Division I National Championship. Matt Jones, Grayson Allen and Coach Mike Krzyzewski are seen in the background
context_page_description: Tyus Robert Jones Sr. is an American professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association. He previously played for his hometown team the Minnesota Timberwolves for 4 seasons before signing with the Memphis Grizzlies in the 2019 offseason. He played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils in his freshman season as part of the 2014–15 National Championship team. He was ranked among the top 10 players in the national high school class of 2014 by Rivals.com, Scout.com and ESPN. He was a Minnesota State High School League Class 4A state champion, three-time Minnesota Associated Press Boys Basketball Player of the Year and three-time Minnesota Boys Basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for Apple Valley High School. He played in the 2014 McDonald's All-American Boys Game, 2014 Jordan Brand Classic and the 2014 Nike Hoop Summit. He won the skills competition at the 2014 McDonald's All-American Game and posted the only double-double in the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic.
  He committed to the Duke University men's basketball team as a package with Jahlil Okafor. He was a 2014 USA Today second team All-USA Boys Basketball Team selection.
context_section_description: As he entered his freshman season at Duke, he was expected to battle with senior point guard Quinn Cook and junior guard Rasheed Sulaimon for playing time following the graduation of Tyler Thornton. Well before the season there were expectations that Jones would win the starting point guard position. Thus, he was selected by USA Today to its Preseason All-American second team and by CBS Sports to its Preseason All-American third team. In its preseason top 100 player ranking, Jones was listed at number 45 by ESPN. Jones was named to the 36-man Bob Cousy Award Preseason Watch List. He was also listed as a John R. Wooden Award Preseason Top 50 candidate and a Wayman Tisdale Award Watch List selection. Jones was also included in the early December Naismith Award top 50 watch list.
  Jones began the season starting alongside Cook, with Sulaimon coming off the bench. On November 14, he debuted with 15 points and 7 assists against Presbyterian. He posted 17 points against #19 Michigan State on November 18 in the 2014 State Farm Champions Classic. On November 30, Jones posted a season-high 10 assists along with 16 points for his first career double-double against Army. In the ACC–Big Ten Challenge against #2 Wisconsin, Jones led the way to an 80–70 victory with 22 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, which were all team highs. For his performance, Jones earned ACC Rookie of the week and Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week award. He was named to the John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list on January 14. Jones tied his career high on January 19 with 22 points against Pittsburgh in Mike Krzyzewski's 999th career victory, and on January 25 he also had 22 points against St. John's in Krzyzewski's 1000th career victory. As a result of these two performances, Jones earned ACC Co-Rookies of the Week honors along with Xavier Rathan-Mayes. Jones posted a season-high tying and game-high tying 22 points as well as 8 assists against North Carolina in his first Carolina–Duke rivalry game on February 18. He scored the team's final nine points in the final 1:25 of regulation to force overtime and became the first player in the rivalry to score tally 22 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds since assists became official stats in 1983-84.  As a result, he earned both ACC Rookie of the Week and Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week recognition. On March 9, Jones earned his fourth ACC Freshman of the Week honor after a week that included a new career high with 24 points in the rematch against North Carolina on March 7.
  Following the 2014–15 Atlantic Coast Conference men's basketball season, Jones was named to the All-ACC third team and was among a trio that was the first to be selected to the All-ACC Freshman first team (along with Okafor and Winslow). He was also recognized by the Associated Press as an honorable mention selection for its All-America team. He earned NCAA Basketball Tournament Most Outstanding Player by scoring 23 points with 5 rebounds in the championship game of the 2015 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. In 2015, the mayor of his hometown in Apple Valley pronounced April 22 as "Tyus Jones Day".
caption: Jones meeting President Barack Obama with Duke teammates in 2015
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