Derrick Jones put on two convincing performances Thursday. The first thing he had to do was talk his way into the dunk contest, and that was the hardest part. Once he did that, he was the favorite to win it.
Less than two weeks after suffering a sprained left ankle, the UNLV freshman jumped over three teammates on his way to winning the dunk contest at the Runnin' Rebel Madness event at the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center, which drew a crowd of around 3,000.
"This is my dream, being in college and playing at a high level," Jones said.