Carlik Jones Named Preseason All-American

Mark BlankenbakerOctober 28, 2020

University of Louisville men’s basketball guard Carlik Jones has been named as a 2020-21 Preseason All-America selection by Stadium.

Stadium basketball analyst Jeff Goodman included Jones on the five-person third team preseason All-America team, placing Jones among the top 15 players in the nation.

It was not Jones’ first career All-America recognition. Honored as the 2019-20 Big South Player of the Year as a redshirt junior at Radford University, the graduate transfer was one of 31 players chosen for the 2019-20 Lute Olson All-America team, and was named to the Lou Henson All-America team, a list of 40 top players from mid-major universities.

Noted as the top graduate transfer in the country by ESPN, Jones averaged 20.0 points, 5.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.4 steals as a redshirt junior in leading Radford to a 21-11 record last season and their second straight Big South Conference regular season championship in 2019-20. He is ranked among the top 25 players in college basketball for 2020-21 by ESPN.

Jones was the only player in the nation to average at least 20.0 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists per outing last season, and was one of just 16 players in Division I men’s basketball to do so since the 1996-97 season. His scoring average was 28th in the nation and his assists per game ranked 36th nationally.

Last season, Jones produced 18 games with 20 or more points, including scoring 30 or more on three occasions, and had 16 games with five or more assists, including four with 10 or more. His 175 assists and 641 points were both the third-highest totals in Radford history. He became the seventh player in Big South Conference history to reach over 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists in a career. His 1,552 career points rank eighth at Radford and his 469 assists are the third-highest for the Highlanders.

Jones is a significant member of the Cardinals’ roster which returns three of their top nine scorers (two of its top six), including a pair of late-season starters in senior forward/center Malik Williams and sophomore guard David Johnson. Last season, the Cardinals (24-7, 15-5 ACC) finished the year positioned eighth in the nation in the NCAA’s NET rankings (No. 14 AP, No. 13 USA Today). It was the best overall record through 31 games for a Louisville team in six years and marked the most conference victories for the Cardinals in their six years in the ACC.