FAYETTEVILLE -- Former University of Arkansas, Fayetteville basketball players C.J. Jones and Darious Hall have found new schools.
Jones is going to a program that has risen to the top of Conference USA. Hall is going to a program that has fallen to the bottom of the Big East.
Jones, a 6-5 guard from Birmingham, Ala., is transferring to Middle Tennessee State.
Hall, a 6-6 forward from Mills, is transferring to DePaul University in Chicago.
Jones and Hall both announced their transfer decisions via their Twitter accounts Wednesday. Neither returned a call seeking comment.
Middle Tennessee State has won five Conference USA regular-season championships in the past seven seasons along with conference tournament titles in 2013, 2016 and 2017 when the Blue Raiders played in the NCAA Tournament. They won the Conference USA regular-season title this year, but lost in the conference tournament and played in the NIT.
DePaul finished 11-20 this season, including 4-14 in the Big East. The Blue Demons haven't won more than 12 games in any of the previous 11 seasons and are 111-236 in that span, including 31-167 in Big East games.
DePaul's last winning record was during the 2006-2007 season when the Blue Demons were 20-14 overall and 11-7 in the Big East. DePaul's last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2004 when it was in Conference USA.
Jones averaged 6.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 14.8 minutes for Arkansas as a sophomore while playing off the bench in 35 games. He had career-highs of 19 points against Connecticut and Colorado State, and 15 against Oral Roberts University and 12 against North Carolina, but he cooled off after a hot start.
After hitting 25 of 45 three-pointers in the first 10 games, Jones was 18 of 81 (22.2 percent) the rest of the season. He had 14 assists and 13 turnovers. He had five assists in SEC play.
Hall averaged 5.1 points and 3.1 rebounds in 14.8 minutes in 35 games as a freshman, including five starts. He had 10 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocked shots in his first start against Missouri to help the Razorbacks beat the Tigers 65-63 in Walton Arena. He matched his season-highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds at Ole Miss when Arkansas won 75-64.
Other big games for Hall included at Texas A&M (13 points, 7 rebounds), at home against California State University, Bakersfield (14 points), and against Tennessee (11 points, 7 rebounds) in the SEC Tournament.
Jones and Hall both must redshirt next season in accordance with NCAA transfer rules, then Jones will have two seasons of eligibility remaining and Hall will have three seasons.
Jones will play at Middle Tennessee State for Coach Nick Devitt, who was hired from North Carolina-Asheville after the season when Kermit Davis left MTSU to go to Ole Miss.
Jones is the second former Arkansas player to transfer to Middle Tennessee State since 2015. After Jacorey Williams was dismissed from the team by Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson before the 2015-2016 season, he transferred to Middle Tennessee State.
Williams redshirted, then became the 2017 Conference USA Player of the Year in his one season there.
Hall will play at DePaul for Coach Dave Leitao, who is 29-65 in the past three seasons in his second stint with the Blue Demons. Leito also has been a head coach at Northeastern and Virginia.
Sports on 04/26/2018