Dillon Jones named Big Sky Player of the Year

OGDEN, UTAH (ABC4 Sports) – It really was a no-brainer. Weber State guard Dillon Jones is the only player in the entire country to lead his conference in points, rebounds and assists, so it came as no surprise that Jones was named the Big Sky Conference Player of the Year on Thursday.

“I don’t ever try to get too caught up in the awards and this and that because the last year I was on a flip side of when it didn’t go my way,” said Jones, who averaged 20.8 points, 10.1 rebounds and 5.2 assists for the Wildcats. “So, I appreciate it, obviously. But, I credit to my team because if we weren’t a good team, I wouldn’t have been a consideration.”

Jones is the first Weber State player to win the award since Joel Bolomboy won it in 2016.

After a great season last year, Jones could have transferred to a bigger name school or entered the NBA draft. But he decided he had unfinished business at Weber State and returned for a fourth season.

“My decision wasn’t about money,” Jones said. “What I was maybe going to achieve in the NBA or what I was going to be doing, it wasn’t worth giving up what I have got here.”

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“He could have left us,” said Weber State head coach Eric Duft. “He could have left us to transfer, or he could a left us to go to the draft last year. Both those things were real possibilities, but he wanted to be a legacy player here like some of our greats.”

Speaking of Weber State greats, Jones is expected to become the first Wildcat to be drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft since Damian Lillard in 2012. Jones and Lillard have become good friends over the last few years.

“For me, trying to go somewhere that I’m trying to go, I think Dame is a great resource to have,” Jones said. “You know, he’s able to, you know, tell me things and give me pointers not only at what to expect at the next level and what’s going to help me stick there, but how to help me be a great player here.”

“I went to the combine last year when he was invited there and it was apparent that he belonged on that floor,” Duft said. “I think his skill set as smart as he is, his body, he is going to be a very, very good NBA player, I think, for a long time.”

At 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, Jones has the physicality and leadership skills to make it at the next level. He does need to improve his 3-point shooting to even approach the level of Lillard.

Like Lillard, Jones wasn’t highly recruited coming out of high school growing up in South Carolina. But the last four years of Weber State have meant the world to him, which is why he kissed the floor in his final game at the Dee Event Center.

“I didn’t think about it either,” Jones said. “I didn’t plan it. I just did it. It was a bittersweet moment. I was emotional before the game. This place has became a vital part of my growth as a player and person. This place has no option but to be in my heart forever, and I’m grateful that I came here. I wouldn’t want it anywhere else.”

Jones can’t think of a better ending to his Weber State career than winning the Big Sky Tournament and getting the Wildcats back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in eight years.

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“It’ll mean a lot,” Jones said. “Everything you go through in a year, highs and lows, ebbs and flows, to finally just crossed that line. Everything you work for in the offseason, you come here in the summer and you miss a lot of time with family and things. So it would mean a lot to make it there.”

Weber State is fourth seed and plays Montana State Monday in the Big Sky Tournament quarterfinals at 5:30 p.m.

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