{"id":134631,"date":"2026-01-28T07:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/134631\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:17:19","slug":"former-usf-standouts-making-their-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/134631\/","title":{"rendered":"Former USF standouts making their mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/a>Courtney Williams brings the ball up center court while surveying the defense. ORACLE FILE PHOTO<\/p>\n

USF<\/a> has seen its share of men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball talent rise through the Bulls\u2019 programs over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former players like Chris Youngblood, Courtney Williams and Dominique Jones have carried their impact beyond Tampa and into professional basketball around the respective leagues.<\/p>\n

And for each, their achievements helped open doors and set a blueprint for future generations of USF players.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: USF men\u2019s basketball\u2019s second-half surge fuels victory over FAU<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Chris Youngblood<\/p>\n

Youngblood, a reserve guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, capped his brief USF career as one of the team\u2019s premier offensive weapons.<\/p>\n

He started his collegiate career with Kennesaw State from 2020 to 2023, before following former coach Amir Abdur-Rahim to South Florida.<\/p>\n

In his one-year stint with the Bulls, he led the team in scoring with 15.3 points per game.<\/p>\n

His efforts helped lead USF to its first-ever American Conference regular-season title. Youngblood was also named the 2023-24 conference player of the year.<\/p>\n

He still is tied at No. 1 for program records for free-throw percentage in a game at 1.000% and made 3-pointers in a conference game, with six.<\/p>\n

Following the record-breaking season, he transferred to Alabama for one year. He averaged 10.3 points and 2.3 rebounds for the Crimson Tide.<\/p>\n

After going undrafted in the 2025 NBA draft, Youngblood signed a two-way contract with the Thunder and OKC Blue on Oct. 18, 2025.<\/p>\n

Since then, he has averaged 25.7 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game with the OKC Blue<\/a>. With the Thunder, he has 1.8 points per game in 27 games<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Courtney Williams<\/p>\n

Williams became one of the most decorated players in program history during her four-year career with the Bulls from 2012 to 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The guard steadily improved through her South Florida career, averaging 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds as a freshman before emerging as the lead scorer in the conference<\/a> with 20.3 points per game in her junior season.<\/p>\n

Williams\u2019s senior campaign produced 763 points, ranking among the top Division 1 scoring totals in 2016. She was later inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame<\/a> with her jersey retired in 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams was selected eighth overall in the 2016 WNBA by the Phoenix Mercury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since entering the league, she has built a strong professional resume, becoming a consistent scorer and starter known for her physicality, rebounding ability and competitiveness as a guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 2025 season with the Minnesota Lynx, Williams averaged 13.6 points, 6.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She earned WNBA All-Star honors as a reserve in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Williams continues her career with the Minnesota Lynx, where she remains a double-digit scorer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Related: NHL awards USF students for innovative Hispanic and Latino proposal<\/a><\/p>\n

Dominique Jones<\/p>\n

Jones arrived at USF during the 2007-08 season and quickly became one of the Bulls\u2019 all-time great scorers.<\/p>\n

By his junior season, Jones averaged 21.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and three assists per game, establishing himself as the focal point of the Bulls\u2019 offense.<\/p>\n

His production helped elevate USF\u2019s competitiveness in the Big East and played a key role in raising the program\u2019s national profile during his tenure.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones was selected 25th overall in the 2010 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies and was later traded to the Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n

He played three NBA seasons, appearing in 80 games with averages of 3.1 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jones extended his professional career overseas, where he became a consistent scorer and leader in international leagues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the 2024-25 season with Jilin Northeast Tigers, he averaged 30.2 points, 8.5 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He now plays for Changsha Yongsheng<\/a>, where he has remained a high-level offensive contributor and veteran presence into his mid 30s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Courtney Williams brings the ball up center court while surveying the defense. ORACLE FILE PHOTO USF has seen…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-134631","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-tampa","9":"tag-tampa-headlines","10":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}