The Gophers recently offered rising sophomore Tre Jones.
Tre Jones, a 6-foot-2, 160-pound 2018 point guard from Apple Valley (MN) High, 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 first round draft pick Tyus, paced the Eagles to a 30-2 mark as he averaged 8.2 points per game this past season.
Jones helped lead the Eagles to a strong showing at the recent Minnesota Gopher team camp and picked up an offer from the hometown team.
Gopher Hole caught up with Jones at the recent Minnesota Timberwolves scrimmage to learn the latest on his college recruitment and summer.
Gopher Hole: Obviously Tyus is going play here. What is that feeling like having him so close after being away his freshman season at Duke?
Tre Jones: It is a great feeling. He spent a year away from home. Now he is able to come back and play at home again, so it is a great feeling.
Gopher Hole: How about your own play? You won the state championship and got all your starters back. What are the expectations for you this upcoming season?
Tre Jones: Hopefully to go back to state and win it again. That is the ultimate goal to win state again and also have a great season.
Gopher Hole: You beat Champlin Park in a close game in the championship game. They had beaten you in the regular season. Did that make it even more special to get some revenge?
Tre Jones: It did. They beat us during the regular season and we knew that we could beat them, so coming into the state championship game, we knew that we just had to play our hardest and let everything take care of itself.
Gopher Hole: The last time I saw you play was at the Gopher team camp and you picked an offer from the Gophers. How did you find out about the offer and what was your reaction?
Tre Jones: I was talking to the coaches and Coach Pitino told me there that they were going to offer me a scholarship. I am just extremely blessed and honored to be able to receive an offer from them, from such a great program. They have a bright future. Coach Pitino and the coaching staff over there are really turning the program around and they are headed in the right direction.
Gopher Hole: Does Tyus being around make you think about them even more? Does that change your impression?
Tre Jones: It does because he is right here, downtown. Minnesota is not that far away, right over the bridge, so he is at home and it would be cool to at home, too.
Gopher Hole: What is like to be Tyus’s brother? I know that you hear things and I have been to game that people chant things about you and comparing you to your brother. Obviously you are proud of me, but is it ever tough some times?
Tre Jones: I mean¸ it is what it is. There is good things and there is bad things, but I don’t pay attention to that, really. I always want to back my brother and I never wish that he wasn’t my brother.
Gopher Hole: You obviously have to be pretty proud of his success at Duke, winning a national title and being named the Most Outstanding Player. You have to be pretty proud of what he was able to.
Tre Jones: Yes. He had a great year and led them to the national championship and I was really proud of him and what he did.
Gopher Hole: You played overseas recently with the 16-and-under Team USA squad that won the gold medal. What was that experience like?
Tre Jones: It was one of the most fun basketball experiences I have ever had in my life. To be able to go over to a different country and play against their best players was just a lot of fun and I was just really blessed to get the opportunity to do that.
Gopher Hole: What was it like to represent the United States?
Tre Jones: It was great. Just thinking that you were picked to represent your country to play against other countries. It is crazy to think about that you can represent your country in so many different ways.
Gopher Hole: Did it make the experience a little bit easier having (Apple Valley teammate) Gary Trent Jr. with you? You know each other so well. Did that help knowing someone so well beforehand?
Tre Jones: It made that chemistry that much easier because he knew some people out there already, so it was easier for me to meet those people. Just playing together, we have been playing together since fifth and sixth grade. We have really good chemistry going into USA.
Gopher Hole: I know that it is so early with your recruitment only going into your sophomore season. You have offers from Texas Tech and Minnesota. What other schools are you hearing from besides those two?
Tre Jones: Marquette is showing interest and Arizona.
Gopher Hole: What things have you really been working on to continue to improve yourself as a player?
Tre Jones: Just everything about my game. My jump shot. I am focusing on that a lot.
Gopher Hole: People are comparing you to your brother. Some people are saying that you are going to be better than him. Is that something you hear a lot or think about?
Tre Jones: I hear it a lot, but I just have to ignore all that stuff and just worry about my own game. I can’t pay that too much attention because that can get to you sometimes and I don’t want that to happen, so I just want to ignore those things and just have fun playing basketball.
Gopher Hole: With having so many players coming back next year at Apple Valley, you are going to be the big favorite and a lot of people will be gunning for you. Is that something you have talked about it because everyone is going to give you their best game to try to beat Apple Valley?
Tre Jones: We talked about it a lot. We prepare for those type of things because you just have to be on your “A” game every night. You can’t ever take a night off because that might be the end of your season that night. Everyone gunning for you, it is a lot of fun because you know that the other team is going to play their best, so you have to be on your “A” game.
Gopher Hole: I know being so young that you have a ways to go before deciding about a college. Do you ever talk to Tyus about recruitment? Does he ever tell you what to look for?
Tre Jones: I was with through his whole process, so I know what to look for and stuff, so we really don’t talk about it much. I know what to look for.
Gopher Hole: You have to feel that learning through him that you know a lot more than most kids your own age?
Tre Jones: Yes, I do. I was with him through three years of his recruiting process, so I have got a lot of experience going through that, so I know so many things.
Gopher Hole: Minnesota offered you a scholarship recently. Did you get a chance to watch them much and what do you know about the program?
Tre Jones: They play extremely fast. High tempo. They get after it on defense. I like that a lot. Like I said, their program, they are turning it around. It is headed in the right direction. They are updating their facilities and all those things. They are going up. They are on the up.
Gopher Hole: It seems like your game really improved from last year. Do you feel that you are going to be able to make another jump to continue to improve yourself?
Tre Jones: Yes, sir. I work on my game every day. Everything about my game, I like to work on. Just keeping working hard and things will start paying off. Just never start working hard.
Gopher Hole: You come from a big basketball family. Jadee played college basketball and now is a coach at Apple Valley. I used to play pickup game against both your mom and dad years ago. Is that where you got your love of the game?
Tre Jones: Yes. I grew up always in the gym or always talking about basketball. Always watching basketball. I loved the game ever since I can remember.
Gopher Hole: Years ago, I used to see you and Tyus at the Howard Pulley Summer League games and you two would run out during breaks and halftime and shoot the basketball. Do you remember that?
Tre Jones: Yes. Jadee would be playing and we would run out at halftime or in between games and dribble and go shoot. That was just something that we always did, no matter what games we were at. We would always just go shoot. We just had a lot of fun with it.