Tyson Jolly, eyeing big senior year, talks leadership, expectations

The night before July 6, an amped Tyson Jolly couldn't sleep. Too much was going through his head.

July 6 was the day SMU's next batch of student-athletes would be allowed to return to campus. It would be the day where Jolly and several other athletes would attempt to regain some sense of normalcy in what has been the most unprecedented year of his young life.

That Monday, the SMU basketball standout arrived on campus. Alert. Excited. Hungry.

But more importantly, content.

"I took some time off, but being back, it really felt comfortable," Jolly told The HillTopics in an exclusive interview. "I was ready to come back, and it's a great feeling to be back, seeing everybody and talking to everybody. I'm just ready to be back doing something every day with a schedule."

It's nearly a month later, and the Muskogee, Oklahoma, standout, a 6-4 guard, is back on the Hilltop as a senior leader. Still in the back of his mind is a 19-11 finish last season and a missed opportunity -- because of COVID-19 -- to show that the Mustangs were better than their record indicated.

Jolly admitted that last season's finish -- SMU lost five of its last six games -- left a sour taste in his mouth, particularly with the opportunity not to right the regular-season wrongs with a strong finish in the American Athletic Conference Tournament.

But it all comes with a message for the upcoming season.

"A blessing in disguise," Jolly said. "When it all happened, it was kind of an eye-opener. I felt we could have won that [AAC] tournament and turned our season around.

"But for us as a team, I feel like this is more of a learning experience, as far as how to approach next season. It can teach us how it can be taken away so easily."

Jolly views last season as motivation for the upcoming season -- for his team and for himself. Individually, he led the team in scoring, averaging 14.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 2.3 assists for the Mustangs. He shot 46% from the field, 38% from the 3-point line and 78% from the free throw line.

Jolly finished the season with third-team all-AAC honors. He now enters his senior year with an SMU team nearly returning all of its players from last season.

Nearly.

Isiaha Mike, the team's third-leading scorer, has signed to play pro basketball in Germany and won't return. CJ White, a reserve point guard, has transferred to Little Rock and will play for his hometown school.

The Mustangs return the majority of the nucleus of Tim Jankovich's regular rotation, and that's enough to keep Jolly in a good mood.

"We lost some key pieces, but I feel like there will be areas where we can pick it up," Jolly said. "Others will have to step up. We'll have to figure it out, but I feel we have enough to do it."

Ask Jolly, and he'll tell you it all starts with him. As a premier guard in the conference. And as a leader on the team.

He walks between the locker-room walls of Moody Coliseum and he sees all the pictures from past-success stories. He knows what guys like Nic Moore, Shake Milton, Jarrey Foster and Semi Ojeleye brought to the program.

In his final year, Jolly is ready for his team to put everything together and put all of the teams in the AAC -- and throughout college basketball nationwide -- on notice.

"Our ceiling is so high," he said. "A lot of things we struggled with, I feel like now we have a chance to sit back and look at it. Now we can just go into grind mode.

"Everyone knows what it is. It's already understood the level of which we have to compete and hold each other accountable."