By Jordan Divens

You can watch Tre Jones and the Howard Pulley squad at the Howard Pulley Invitational exclusively on FloHoops from May 6-8.

2018 6’ 2” Howard Pulley point guard Tre Jones doesn’t live in the shadows of his brother Tyus Jones, he has carved his own path with his high level of play. “Tyus doesn’t usually influence my decisions too much, he gives me pointers sometimes but he really tries to let me make my own choices. I got to see him growing up on and off the court and I learned a lot from just seeing him and how he handled things.” Jones said. 

His brother, Tyus Jones won a state championship at Apple Valley, was selected to the McDonald’s All American, won a national title as the starting point guard at Duke, and just finished up his rookie year with the Minnesota Timberwolves in the NBA. His brothers successful career makes expectations high, when asked if there was a lot of pressure on him to play at the level of his brother, Jones said “A little bit, but I try not to think about it too much. I worry about being the best I can be and try to concentrate on that.”

Tre Jones is playing up one age group in Nike EYBL play, playing for 17U Howard Pulley who are 7-0 in EYBL play. Jones is the teams best set up man, leading the team in assists averaging 3.9 assists per game along with 6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game. When asked about his goals for EYBL play Jones said “I am trying to be a leader for our team and bring it on defense every possession. I also want to work on improving my jump shot, getting stronger, and improving my all-around game.” Although Jones isn’t putting up any crazy numbers in EYBL play, he is the starting point guard for the only undefeated team in the best circuit in the nation playing an age group up and that accomplishment alone is impressive.


When asked where he would rank this year’s Howard Pulley squad in program history Jones said “I would say we are top 5, our coach loves this team but I know there were a couple of really good teams that I didn’t see so I would say we are in the top 5.” His brother’s team may be one of those top 5 teams as it featured Tyus Jones, Stanford big man Reid Travis, Marquette guard Sacar Amin, and Minnesota guard Javis Johnson, going 12-6 in Nike EYBL play.

Tre Jones has taken visits to three schools “I have taken visits at Duke, Minnesota, and Arizona. I want to play somewhere with a great coach, a beautiful campus, and a rich history. Duke obviously has a great staff and one of the greatest coaches every in Coach K and the atmosphere is great. I have been down to Minnesota a couple of times, for a couple football and basketball games, their crowd is always live they really seem to have a strong fan base. I love Arizona’s campus and they also have a great coaching staff with extremely passionate fans.” Jones said.

The 6’ 2” point guard Tre Jones will play at Apple Valley for the fourth year this season as a junior, beginning when he was in 8th grade, much like his brother. The comparisons may linger, but Jones has worked hard to carve his own path in basketball and continues to excel for two winning programs in Apple Valley and Howard Pulley. Look for this young guard to continue to compete on every possession on the AAU circuit.