Thomas joins recruiting class

IC Staff

The University of Toledo men’s basketball team has added their third addition to the 2010 roster with recruit J.T. Thomas.

“J.T. is an important piece to our puzzle because he is a guard and we obviously were lacking in that area,” Kowalczyk said.

“We are extremely excited that J.T. has made the decision to join our Rocket family.” He’s a talented guard who possesses all the intangibles we’re looking for. J.T. has a very good feel for the game and is someone who plays with toughness, can score in a variety of ways and possesses the athleticism needed to become a good defender.”

Thomas, a 6-1, 180-pound guard from New Orleans, La., averaged 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists for the IMG Academy in Bradenton Fla. last year. He played in 16 games before breaking his foot in September.

“J.T. possesses a very high basketball IQ and has played against a high-level of competition in high school and AAU play,” IMG Post-Graduate Coach Dan Barto said. “He’s very good at getting shooters the ball in good position and he was able to make our team more competitive and overachieve.”

Thomas will join guard Reese Holliday and forward Delino Dear to make up Toledo’s 2010 recruiting class. They will be added to a Rockets squad returning eight players from last season, including senior forwards Mouhamed Lo and Justin Anyijong, junior guards Drew Rodriguez and Jay Shunnar, sophomore guards Malcolm Griffin and Kevin Rohner and redshirt freshmen forwards Hayden Humes and Devin Russell.

The Rockets finished last season with a school-worst 4-28 season, including a 1-16 mark in the Mid-American Conference.

UT will have to replace six transfers from last season including their leading scorer in freshman guard Jake Barnett (12.9 ppg) and starting forward Jordan Dressler and point guard Larry Bastfield.