Sept. 1, 2012

USC junior guard Maurice Jones will miss the 2012-13 men's basketball season due to academic reasons but will return for the 2013-14 season, it was announced today (Sept.1) by head coach Kevin O'Neill.

"Maurice Jones has been nothing short of magnificent for us for two years," said O'Neill. "Mo has been a great guy and great player and we want him to graduate from USC. I support him 100 percent in all that he does."

The 5-7 junior Jones appeared in 66 games in his first two seasons, including making 57 starts and averaging 11.4 points per game. Last season he led USC in points scored (416), points per game (13.0), assists (111), steals (56) and three-pointers made (52). Jones led all Pac-12 players by averaging 38.2 minutes per game and ranked highly among conference players in scoring (T-14th), assists per game (10th), steals per game (5th) and three-pointers per game (12th). He scored in double figures in 23 of 32 games with a season high of 28 points vs. South Carolina on Nov. 26 at the Las Vegas Invitational. In that game, Jones went 7-for-7 from three-point range to set the USC record for most makes from beyond the arc in a game without a miss.

Jones has 125 career steals which rank ninth on USC's all-time list and his 93 career three-point baskets ranks 20th all-time by a Trojan.