UNO hopes it has landed an overlooked recruit in point guard Steve Jones.

Jones, who didn’t play basketball last season while attending Wiley (Texas) College, was a preseason National Junior College Athletic Association Division I third-team All-American two seasons ago.

“We think he has a chance to help us, and we felt like we needed another point guard with no one coming back at that position,” UNO coach Derrin Hansen said. “Steve, Caleb (Steffensmeier) and Isaiah (Gandy), in no particular order, can make that an effective position for us. And Tyler Bullock has shown he can be productive for us there, too.”

Steffensmeier is a true freshman from Omaha Creighton Prep, while Gandy is a transfer from Des Moines Area Community College who played high school basketball at Boys Town. Bullock is the Mavs’ leading returning scorer and an all-conference player on the wing.

“I’m taking nothing for granted,” Jones said. “I know I have to come in and work for my spot. I know I have good teammates here, and some of them have been here for a long time. I’m going to work hard and try to take a spot if one is open.”

The Mavs are trying to replace four-year starter Andrew Bridger, who helped lead UNO to the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association tournament title and a trip to the Division II tournament.

Jones, listed at 5-foot-11, said he slipped through the recruiting cracks two seasons ago after his coach at Black Hawk (Ill.) College-East had serious health problems following a heart attack. Jones said some Division I schools, including Indiana State and Valparaiso, had shown interest, and Division II Wayne State had also contacted him. But calls to his coach weren’t acted upon, and schools began looking in other directions, Jones said.

“Coach was really sick, and it was just hard for the coaches calling him to get ahold of him,” Jones said. “I was kind of upset, but I know how the recruiting thing can go.”

Jones said statistics were also a sketchy proposition at Black Hawk. A preseason All-America list showed him as averaging 14 points as a freshman, but Jones said he averaged 12. He said he averaged 16 to 18 points as a sophomore.

After landing at Wiley, Jones quickly decided the program wasn’t a good fit for him.

“Really, the program was OK, but I just wanted to go to a bigger school,” Jones said. “And it didn’t seem like we were going to have any big men in our program, and I didn’t like that.”

Jones said he stayed in school but didn’t practice with the team. He returned home to Chicago for the summer and attended a camp in Kankakee, Ill., for transfers and high school players hoping to attract late recruiting attention.

UNO assistant Todd Lorensen liked what he saw, and Jones committed to the University of Nebraska at Omaha earlier this month. He said he likes the program and the diversity of the campus.

“I’m a city kid who lived in a poverty neighborhood,” Jones said. “I went to a predominantly black high school (Austin Community Academy), and Wiley is a historically black college.

“I think it’s a good experience for me to be in a different culture and with different people. Most people where I’m from don’t get the chance that I’m getting, so it’s a blessing.”

UNO also added two other players recently in 6-4 wing Tyler Egli and 5-11 guard Dee Wallace.

Egli, from Ankeny, Iowa, played two seasons for Division II North Carolina-Pembroke, averaging 3.7 points and 2.8 rebounds in 25 games last season. He started twice for a 9-17 team coached by Iowa native Ben Miller. Egli will redshirt this season.

“That will give us more experience back on the wing next year after we lose several players there,” Hansen said.

Wallace played high school basketball in Oxford, Miss. He is the son of Thomas Wallace, UNO’s new associate vice chancellor for student affairs. He joins the program as a walk-on.

Contact the writer:

444-1027, rob.white@owh.com

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