WVU Basketball Recruiting Profile: Carlik Jones

Carlik Jones is one of the top college basketball players to recently enter the transfer portal, will the senior end up in Morgantown next season?

The West Virginia men’s basketball team has one scholarship remaining for the class of 2020 as Bob Huggins is pulling hard for Radford grad transfer, Carlik Jones (6-1, 180-lb).

Jones began his playing career in Cincinnati at Aikan High School where he averaged 22.3 points per game his senior season and was also named 2015-16 Ohio Division IV Player of the Year by the Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Cincinnati native chose Radford over some Mid-American Conference schools and redshirted his true freshman season in 2016-17. The next season, Jones notched 11.8 points and 3.1 assists per game. Jones's numbers were enough to garner the Big South Freshman of the Year award.

The guard has progressively improved his game since his freshman year, averaging 15.7 points per game in his sophomore season before totaling 20 points and 5.5 assists a game in his junior campaign while guiding the Highlanders to a 21-11 mark and Big South Player of the year honors. 

The junior then announced he would be entering the transfer portal following the season, possibly looking for a bigger Division I school.

In Jones's 2019-20 season, the junior registered 33 points twice in a win against Hampton on Jan. 25 and in an 86-78 loss to Hampton in the Big South Championship.

Jones could provide more depth in the West Virginia backcourt which already has Jordan McCabe and Miles “Deuce” McBride vying for the starting point guard role.

Several schools have reached out to Jones to discuss his possible transfer destination including Louisville, Maryland, Arizona, Michigan State, Illinois, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga and a number of other programs.

With a global pandemic occurring right now, Jones may have to make his decision without any campus visits before the fall rolls around. No matter what happens through this process, it’ll be interesting to see where Jones ends up for his senior campaign. 

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