UNLV sophomore forward Tyrin Jones will make his season debut Thursday night when the Runnin' Rebels host Missouri in their final exhibition game at Thomas & Mack Center. Jones missed the team's earlier exhibition losses to Utah and BYU while recovering from shoulder surgery.
Jones played all of last season with the injury and still averaged 11.9 points, five rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game as a freshman. "I feel good," Jones said. "Conditioning has been good. My first game since Tulsa (in the NIT). I'm pretty excited to be back." He added that he has felt "one percent better every day" since the procedure.
Coach Josh Pastner said Jones will be on a minutes restriction and will not play more than 20 minutes against the SEC opponent. Jones said he wants to improve defensively this season after getting lost on that end of the floor at times last year.
Senior transfer Sebastian Mack, a former Missouri guard who averaged 25.5 points in the first two exhibitions, welcomed Jones' return. "It's going to be good to get (Jones) back on the floor," Mack said. "He's a great guy on the court and a real good dude off it. It's going to be really fun."
Sources: Las Vegas Review-Journal
Original reporting: Las Vegas Review-Journal →
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