Lazeric Jones officially signs with UCLA

By Jon Gold on April 15, 2010 5:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) |

From UCLA:

UCLA head coach Ben Howland announced today the signing of Lazeric Jones to a National Letter of Intent to attend UCLA in the fall of 2010.

Jones, a 6-foot-2-inch, 195-pound guard out of Chicago, Ill., (Simeon High School), will be a junior next season after transferring from John A. Logan College in Carterville, Ill., where he played for head coach Mark Imhoff.

Jones joins the early signing class, which consisted of Tyler Lamb, a 6-foot-4-inch, 195-pound guard out of Santa Ana, Calif., and Mater Dei High School and Josh Smith, a 6-foot-10-inch, 280-pound center from Kent, Wash., and Kentwood High School.

"I'm really excited about Lazeric Jones joining our basketball program and family," Howland said. "Lazeric is an outstanding point guard and is a good defender on the ball. He is a good playmaker and is adept at penetrating defenses and can also shoot the ball. The great thing about him is that he is a great kid that works very hard and loves to play the game. I think he will be an outstanding addition to our team."

Jones averaged 14.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and led his team in assists (5.7 apg), steals (3.5 spg) and free-throw percentage (77.0%) as a sophomore in 2009-10. He helped lead the Volunteers to a 24-7 overall record and a Great Rivers Athletic Conference title with a 14-2 mark.

Jones is excited about his new career opportunity. He said the rigors and physicality of high-level Division I basketball will force him to perform better.

"I feel I can come in and play at the next level," Jones said. "I'm going to give it all I've got."