Tre Jones, a 6-foot-2, 175-pound junior point guard from Apple Valley (MN) High, is considered the top player in the state in the Class of 2018. Jones averaged 15.8 points, 6.1 rebounds and 6.9 assists per game last season as the Eagles finished 30-2, winning the third place game of the Class AAAA state tournament.
Jones helped pace the Eagles to a 30-2 mark as he averaged 8.2 points per game as a sophomore. Jones helped lead the Eagles to their second state title in three years as they defeated previously unbeaten Champlin Park 64-61 in the state title game as he finished with 12 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals.
Jones, who is the younger brother of new Minnesota Timberwolves second year player Tyus, picked up an offer from Minnesota last summer.
Gopher Hole caught up with Jones at Cretin Jamboree to learn the latest on his college recruitment and upcoming junior season.
Gopher Hole: You are getting ready for your junior season. What are the expectations for Apple Valley?
Tre Jones: Just try to lead this team as much as I can. We have got a lot of new varsity players and guys who don’t have a lot of experience on the varsity level. I am one of the main ones that does have this varsity experience, so I just want to lead the group as much as I can.
Gopher Hole: Is it weird this season because Apple Valley has had a lot of the same guys for many years like Brock Bertram, who started as a freshman, Cameron Kirksey and Gary Trent Jr. Is it weird not seeing those guys on the court with you?
Tre Jones: Ii is, for sure weird, but all offseason last year, all through the summer and this offseason and the fall, we have just been working and we have got a great group of guys. We mix real well, A lot of good friendships, so it should be a fun year.
Gopher Hole: How much does your role change from your sophomore year to junior season? They are probably going to be counting on you for a little bit of everything, including scoring and rebounding.
Tre Jones: Everything. I have got to do everything more now, In the past years, we’ve had, I’m not saying, we don’t have the good players now, but Gary Trent, top in the nation. We’ve had Brock, D1, going to Buffalo. We had Cam, one of the best athletes in Minnesota lat year, so not having those type of players alongside me this year, I’ll be taking on bigger roles in every aspect of my game.
Gopher Hole: Is that something that you are kind of looking forward to, not only being a little bit more of a leader, but also showing a little bit more of your all-around game?
Tre Jones: Right. I am a little bit. I have had to a little bit in the past and I’ll just have to do it when it is needed.
Gopher Hole: What things have you really been working on to get ready for a big junior year?
Tre Jones: Every aspect, but I am really focusing on my jump shot and also getting stronger, more athletic, more explosive, Things like that.
Gopher Hole: Last year, you were surprised by Hopkins in the playoffs (losing 84-60). A lot of people thought that you were maybe the two best teams in the state. They got you on that day. Maybe another day, you get them. Is that a motivating factor because I’m sure that you thought that would be a close game and that you could maybe make it back to the state championship game?
Tre Jones: It was disappointing end of last year. We got just destroyed by Hopkins in that second half in that semifinal game, but we just have to learn from that. We weren’t as good of a team as a whole as we could have been. We didn’t come together as much as we should have been and I think that Hopkins exploited that from us. We’ve learned from that. We have been trying to improve on little things and hope that we will be prepared from those moments going forward.
Gopher Hole: You obviously have Tyus here. How nice is it to be able to watch him play at the professional level and be able to go to a lot of his games and see him a lot?
Tre Jones: It is a blessing. Just having him home. What are the odds that he would be here? I get to see him a lot. I talk to him almost every day and it is a great thing. Not only, just off-the-court, but on-the-court as well, because he has been through all this. He’s went through it all. He’s learned everything and he is continuing to learn, so the things that he is learning, he is feeding me, too, so that I can be a little more advanced than maybe even he was at this age.
Gopher Hole: How much does that help you, recruiting-wise, because he can probably tell you a lot about what he went through and you can tell him about what you are going through?
Tre Jones: I was with him the whole way through his recruiting process, so I got to see everything. I went on almost all the visits, looking through it all, so I got to learn a lot from when he went through it, so just us talking about things, it is easy to communicate.