Carlik Jones


Carlik Jones is an American college basketball player for the Louisville Cardinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference. He played for the Radford Highlanders before electing to transfer for the 2020–21 season.

Early life and high school

Jones grew up in Cincinnati and attended Aiken High School. He competed alongside Jarron Cumberland in AAU play. He was named third team All-Division IV and first-team all-Cincinnati Metro Athletic Conference after 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game as a junior. Jones signed with Radford for college basketball on November 12, 2015. As a senior, Jones averaged 22.3 points and six assists and was named the Cincinnati Enquirer Division IV Player of the Year. He scored 57 points in the sectional final against Hughes STEM High School and led the Falcons to a regional championship and to the State final four.

College career

Jones redshirted his true freshman season. He became a starter for the Highlanders as a redshirt freshman and was named the Big South Conference Freshman of the Year and honorable mention All-Big South after averaging 11.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He made a three-pointer with two seconds left against Liberty in the Big South Conference Championship game to send Radford to the NCAA Tournament. He was named first team All-Big South after averaging 15.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game in his redshirt sophomore season. Jones was selected as the Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year and was again named first team All-Big South as a redshirt junior. He averaged 20 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game as a junior. Since Jones was set to graduate from Radford at the end of the 2019–20 school year, he had the option to transfer to another school for his final season of athletic eligibility without having to sit out a year, and chose to become a graduate transfer rather than return to Radford.
Widely considered to be one of the best available graduate transfers in the nation, Jones announced that he had chosen the University of Louisville to play his final season of eligibility.