Why this Coastal Carolina basketball star won’t play in Conway if he returns to college
If DeVante Jones continues his collegiate basketball career, it won’t be at Coastal Carolina. (It will be at Michigan, he has announced).
The reigning Sun Belt Player of the Year announced on Twitter that he has entered the NCAA transfer portal.
Earlier this month, Jones declared for the NBA Draft but did not hire an agent so he retained his ability to return to school. CCU has never had a basketball player drafted.
Jones has two years of eligibility remaining as a redshirt junior. The NCAA granted all winter athletes an extra year of eligibility this season.
“I basically just wanted to bring my talents to a higher platform and join a winning culture,” Jones told The Sun News on Tuesday. “I really want to play for a national championship team. That was the key factor, and also being prepared for the NBA level if I was to come back to school.”
He said Texas, Michigan, Oklahoma State, TCU, Memphis, Texas Tech, Cincinnati and Virginia Tech are among the teams that have already reached out to him.
On Twitter, he stated: “Although things have changed my love and appreciation for you guys remain the same. Conway is a very special place and I appreciate you guys for letting me be apart of it. My ultimate focus right now is getting ready for the upcoming NBA Draft, while going through this process I will be entering the transfer portal as a grad-transfer.”
Jones reportedly entered his name in the transfer portal last week then withdrew it a couple hours later. He told ESPN it was a miscommunication between him and the CCU coaching staff, and also cited graduating next month and assistant coach Patrice Days leaving CCU coach Cliff Ellis’ staff for a job at East Tennessee State as reasons for seeking a transfer.
Days was the coach who primarily recruited Jones to Coastal. Jones will graduate with a communications degree.
Jones declared for the NBA Draft on April 6.
“After a difficult season facing the pandemic, it was nothing but amazing with this group of guys,” Jones told The Sun News in early April. “With the help of my teammates I was able to have probably my best season at Coastal so far, giving me the opportunity to test the NBA waters, which has been a dream of mine since I could remember.”
On March 24, Jones was named a finalist for the 2020-21 Lou Henson National Player of the Year Award, which is presented annually to the top mid-major player in NCAA Division I college basketball.
Jones led the Chanticleers in scoring by six points per game this past season with 19.3 ppg while shooting 49 percent from the field, 37 percent from the three-point line and 86 percent from the free throw line, and averaged 32.8 minutes to lead the team by more than 6 minutes per contest. He finished third in the nation in steals per game with 2.81.
Jones, who is 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, has played three seasons at CCU and is 12th in points scored in men’s basketball program history with 1,397.
“Coastal has been nothing but amazing,” Jones said. “I’ve met some amazing people such as the coaching staff, players, managers, teachers, other students, etc., and the coastal community welcomed me with open arms and they believed in me every step of the way and I’m forever grateful for the best community in the country.”
Jones, from New Orleans and St. Augustine High, redshirted as a true freshman after he was not admitted to the university for the 2017 fall semester.
He averaged 14.6 points while starting 20 of his 22 games in 2018-19 to be named the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year despite missing 12 games due to an injury in his redshirt freshman season.
He was named 2019-20 Second Team All-Sun Belt after increasing his points per game to 17.4 and shooting nearly 49 percent from the field and 87 percent at the free throw line.
Jones led Coastal to an 18-8 record this past season, but the Chants fell just short on a couple occasions.
After going 9-5 in the Sun Belt regular season, CCU lost in overtime to eventual champion Appalachian State in the conference tournament semifinals. The Chants then won two games in the College Basketball Invitational but fell to Pepperdine 84-61 in the postseason tournament’s championship game on March 24 at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, Florida.
“Without question he can play European basketball and I think he’ll get some [NBA and G League] looks and get some workouts when the time comes,” Ellis said in February. “Certainly he’ll be playing somewhere.
“. . . He’s developed his game to be able to score at all three levels. He’s got strength. He can go to the rack, he’s got a mid-range game, he’s got a three-point game and he shoots free throws and he defends. He’s gotten stronger in the weight room. He’s done all the things that needed to be done to make him the player that he is.”
This story was originally published April 6, 2021 at 5:04 PM.
