WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Purdue men's basketball head coach Matt Painter has announced that Lance Jones has joined the program and will be eligible to compete immediately for the Boilermakers during the 2023-24 season.
Jones will take advantage of the extra CoVid year granted by the NCAA after spending his last four years at Southern Illinois University.
"We are excited for Lance to join our program. He brings a wealth of experience having played almost 120 games at Southern Illinois, and is an outstanding two-way player that can really use his speed and quickness as a strength on both ends of the floor," Painter said.
"I am looking forward to joining the Purdue Basketball program and am looking forward to helping the team win another Big Ten championship and compete for a National Championship," Jones said. "I would like to thank my coaches and teammates at Southern Illinois for four great years with them and I am ready to compete in the best conference in America."
Jones, a 6-foot, 1-inch guard from Evanston, Illinois, was a two-time member of the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Defense Team, while earning third-team All-MVC honors as a senior in 2022-23 as well during his sophomore year in 2020-21. As a senior, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, while grabbing 54 steals and making 70, 3-pointers. He helped the Salukis to a 23-10 overall record while posting 24-double-digit scoring game and three games of 20 or more points, including 28 points in a win over Northern Iowa in late February. He made at least three 3-pointers 14 times during the 2022-23 season and had at least two steals in 18 contests.
For his career, Jones has scored 1,514 points with 372 rebounds, 286 assists and 176 steals in 119 games. He has made 205 career 3-pointers and Jones ended the 2022-23 season as one of just seven active players with 1,500 points, 350 rebounds, 275 assists and 175 steals. He earned a pair of MVC Player of the Week honors during his career, including the last one awarded during the 2022-23 season (23.5 PPG, 3.5 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.5 SPG).
The Boilermakers are ranked in the top 5 of every "way-too-early" Top-25 polls, returning (including Edey) six of their top-seven scorers from last year's team that went 29-6, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.
Jones will take advantage of the extra CoVid year granted by the NCAA after spending his last four years at Southern Illinois University.
"We are excited for Lance to join our program. He brings a wealth of experience having played almost 120 games at Southern Illinois, and is an outstanding two-way player that can really use his speed and quickness as a strength on both ends of the floor," Painter said.
"I am looking forward to joining the Purdue Basketball program and am looking forward to helping the team win another Big Ten championship and compete for a National Championship," Jones said. "I would like to thank my coaches and teammates at Southern Illinois for four great years with them and I am ready to compete in the best conference in America."
Jones, a 6-foot, 1-inch guard from Evanston, Illinois, was a two-time member of the Missouri Valley Conference's All-Defense Team, while earning third-team All-MVC honors as a senior in 2022-23 as well during his sophomore year in 2020-21. As a senior, he averaged 13.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game, while grabbing 54 steals and making 70, 3-pointers. He helped the Salukis to a 23-10 overall record while posting 24-double-digit scoring game and three games of 20 or more points, including 28 points in a win over Northern Iowa in late February. He made at least three 3-pointers 14 times during the 2022-23 season and had at least two steals in 18 contests.
For his career, Jones has scored 1,514 points with 372 rebounds, 286 assists and 176 steals in 119 games. He has made 205 career 3-pointers and Jones ended the 2022-23 season as one of just seven active players with 1,500 points, 350 rebounds, 275 assists and 175 steals. He earned a pair of MVC Player of the Week honors during his career, including the last one awarded during the 2022-23 season (23.5 PPG, 3.5 APG, 3.0 RPG, 1.5 SPG).
The Boilermakers are ranked in the top 5 of every "way-too-early" Top-25 polls, returning (including Edey) six of their top-seven scorers from last year's team that went 29-6, earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament and won both the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles.