Former Thunderbird Goes Pro

In Slovakia. Former Southern Utah guard Ray Jones Jr. has signed a professional contract with a Slovakian team.

Jones (Little Rock, Ark./Hall HS), who was named Southern Utah's Male Athlete of the Year for 2011-12, led SUU in assists, steals, field goal percentage and minutes played last season. He averaged 4.5 assists and 1.2 steals and finished the season with a .348 field goal percentage from 3-point range. He played an average of 32.8 minutes per game and scored at a 9.9 points per game clip. Jones also pulled down 4.0 rebounds per game, which ranked third on the team.

In an ideal world, lots of Big Sky players would turn pro in the NBA. However, that's not the type of league the Big Sky is. But it is great to see guys getting pro contracts overseas, because that is still a pretty darn good way to make a living.

Kudos to Southern Utah for preparing Jones for pro basketball, and hopefully he has a long and successful career.

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