MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Jerome Tang continued to build his backcourt for the 2024-25 season with the signing of transfer guard Max Jones (Clearwater, Fla./ Clearwater/University of Tampa/Cal State Fullerton) to a Financial Aid Agreement on Friday afternoon (May 10).
A 6-foot-4, 210-pound guard, Jones arrives at K-State with valuable playing experience, including 2 seasons at Division II University of Tampa (2020-22) in his home state of Florida before 2 seasons (2022-24) at Cal State Fullerton. He has scored nearly 1,400 career points in 84 career games with 81 starts in his playing career, connecting on 43.2 percent (436-of-1009) from the field, including 36.3 percent (134-of-369) from 3-point range, and 79.9 percent (378-of-473) from the free throw line. He has 26 20-point games and 6 30-point games in his career, including a high 39 points at Florida Tech on March 16, 2021, while playing at Tampa.
“It’s always a great day to be a Wildcat and we’re excited to welcome Max and his family to K-State,” said head coach Jerome Tang. “Max is a proven and versatile shot maker. He plays with a chip on his shoulder and is in attack mode on both ends of the floor at all times.”
Jones was the 2021 Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Freshman of the Year, a two-time First Team All-Sunshine State Conference (2021, 2022) as well as a 2022 D2CCA All-Region Team member while at Tampa, where he averaged 22.1 points on 45.4 percent (203-of-447) shooting while playing in just 28 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was selected All-Big West Honorable Mention as a sophomore in 2022-23 at Cal State Fullerton, where he was second on the team in scoring (12.5 ppg.), assists (2.2 apg.), steals (0.9 spg.) and minutes (31.9 mpg.) en route to helping the Titans to a 20-win season and the Big West Championship game.
This past season, Jones upped his scoring average by nearly 3 points per game, averaging 15.3 points on 38.3 percent (103-of-269) shooting, including 38.5 percent (42-of-109) from 3-point range, while playing in 24 games with 21 starts. His scoring average ranked 11th in the Big West, including second on the team. He posted 6 20-point games, including a season-best 30 points at Nebraska on Nov. 26, 2023, that included 5 3-pointers. He also ranked third in the conference in steals (1.7 spg.), posting at least 3 in 6 games.
In his 2 seasons at Cal State Fullerton, Jones averaged 13.7 points on 41.5 percent (233-of-562) shooting, including 39 percent (76-of-195) from 3-point range, and 78.6 percent (224-of-285) from the free throw line to go with 3.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals in 30 minutes per game while playing in 56 games with 53 starts for head coach Dedrique Taylor. He scored in double figures in 40 of his 56 career games.
Jones started his college career at Division II Tampa, which included 7 games as true freshman during the COVID-19 season of 2020-21. Despite playing in just 28 games in his Spartan career, he averaged better than 20 points per game in each season, while posting 18 games of at least 20 points with 5 games with at least 30 points. He turned in consecutive 30-point games against Rollins and No. 17 Barry in January 2022, including 38 points in a 104-98 win over the nationally ranked Bucs, and was named the Division II National Player of the Week.
Jones scored 20 or more points in 5 of his 7 games during the 2020-21 season, including a career-high 39 in the season finale against Florida Tech on March 16. He averaged 22.6 points on 48.2 percent (53-of-110) shooting, including 35.1 percent (20-of-57) from 3-point range, and 77.1 percent (32-of-45) from the free throw line to go with 3.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 steals in a school-record 38.1 minutes per game. He was named the 2021 Sunshine State Conference (SSC) Freshman of the Year, while he was selected First Team All-SSC and to the league’s All-Newcomer Team.
In his first full season at Tampa in 2021-22, Jones posted a team-best 21.9 points per game on 44.5 percent (150-of-337) shooting to go with 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals in 33.0 minutes per game. He scored in double figures in 19 of his 21 games played with 15 games of at least 20 points and 4 30-point efforts. He was named to the D2CCA All-Region Team and was a repeat First Team All-Sunshine State Conference selection. He was twice honored as the Sunshine State Conference Offensive Player of the Week and was the D2SIDA National Player of the Week after his back-to-back 30-point games against Rollins and No. 17 Barry on Jan. 12 and 15, 2022.
A native of Clearwater, Fla., Jones scored more than 1,000 points during his career at Clearwater High School, where he was named the Male Athlete of the Year as a senior in 2020. He was also selected as the Pinellas County Athletic Conference (PCAC) Player of the Year as well as a PCAC and Florida All-Star.
Jones is the sixth player to sign with the Wildcats for the 2024-25 season, including the fifth Division I transfer following Dug McDaniel (Washington, D.C./St. Paul VI Catholic VI/Michigan), Christian (C.J.) Jones (East St. Louis, Ill./East St. Louis/UIC), Brendan Hausen (Amarillo, Texas/Amarillo/Villanova) and Baye Fall (Dakar, Senegal/ Accelerated Prep [Colo.]/Arkansas). The five transfers join top-50 high school prospect David Castillo (Bartlesville, Okla./Sunrise Christian Academy [Kan.]), who signed on Nov. 8.
K-State finished the 2023-24 season with a 19-15 record, including a tie for ninth in the Big 12 with an 8-10 mark, and advanced to the NIT. Among the Wildcats’ 19 victories were 4 over Top 25 teams, including 3 in the Top 10. The team has won 45 games in head coach Jerome Tang’s tenure, including consecutive postseason appearances.