GREENBURGH, N.Y. –– The way Tu Holloway sees it, Arizona now has the second-best player in the Atlantic 10 Conference after adding Xavier transfer Mark Lyons.
“Mark Lyons is really good,” Holloway told SNY.tv following his workout with the Knicks Wednesday. “I feel like he was the second-best player in the A-10 behind myself.”
For the record, St. Bonaventure forward Andrew Nicholson was named the A-10 Player of the year, while Holloway made the first team and Lyons the third. Like Holloway, Nicholson is now draft eligible.
Earlier this month, Lyons announced that he would spend his final year at Arizona in part because of his comfort level with head coach Sean Miller and assistant Book Richardson, who recruited him to Xavier.
A 6-foot-1, 188-pound junior from Schenectady, N.Y., who averaged 15.5 points and 3.4 rebounds last season, Lyons will be eligible right away.
With the departures of Josiah Turner (SMU) this year and Lamont “Momo” Jones the year before (Iona), Lyons can step in right away and play the point.
“He’ll be the point guard there because I was [at Xavier],” Holloway said. “But he’s a lead guard. He can play the one or the two. It will be a great opportunity for him to play point guard for the first time in college.”
Arizona will add Lyons to the ESPN.com No. 3 recruiting class in the nation that includes bigs Kaleb Tarczewski, Brandon Ashley, Grant Jerrett and Matt Korchek and guard Gabe York. Lyons also has a relationship with New York wing Kevin Parrom, whom Lyons hosted on Parrom’s visit to Xavier.
“He’s really good,” Holloway said of Lyons, “and Coach Miller has a born leader who’s going to a Top 15 team in the country.”
