SPRINGFIELD – After helping his team to a 52-48 victory over Prime Prep of Dallas Saturday at the Hoophall Classic, Huntington Prep point guard JaQuan Lyle said he’s still not ready to narrow down his list of potential destinations to play college ball next season.
Lyle, the 22nd-ranked player in the class of 2014 according to Rivals.com, is one of just three players in the site's top 75 athletes yet to commit to a collegiate program.
Saturday night at Blake Arena, the 6' 4" point guard showed both the patience to get his teammates involved in the offense, as well as the size and strength to finish in traffic.
Lyle scored 11 points in the game, including two three-pointers and a soft runner in the lane late in the game that gave his team a 47-44 lead with two minutes to play, a lead the Irish would hold onto to preserve the win.
The Evansville, Ind. native said his list of schools remains mostly unchanged, and still includes Connecticut, Memphis, Kansas, Providence College, West Virginia, Oregon and Florida State.
However, Lyles said recently Oklahoma State has made a strong push to become involved as well.
The Cowboys are likely to have an opening in the starting backcourt vacated by Marcus Smart, who is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2014 NBA Draft.
Lyles has made official visits to Connecticut and Memphis, and was scheduled to visit Kansas last week as well. However, the Kansas City Star reported Lyles was forced to postpone the visit because his mother would not have been able to join him after the birth of his nephew.
Lyles said his time-table to make a decision was not altered by the postponement.
"I wasn't thinking I was going to commit when I got there anyway," he said. "I'm going to take my time, take all my official visits and when it's time to make my decision I'll make it."
Players are allowed a total of five official visits under NCAA rules.
Cliff Alexander and Kelly Oubre, both top-12 players according to Rivals, have already committed to the Jayhawks. Lyle said he could see himself fitting in nicely on the court with Alexander, a strong power forward with excellent rebounding and finishing skills.
"Cliff is what he is, if he catches the ball, he's going to dunk it. As a point guard, that's what you want to see. It's an easy assist, it makes you look better and you make each other better – that's the big thing," Lyles said.
Both Alexander and Oubre will be in action Monday at the Hoophall Classic. Alexander's Curie (Ill.) High School team will take on Montverde Academy (Fla.), while Oubre's Findley Prep (Nev.) squad faces off against North Carolina's Wesleyan Christian School.