Ulis hopes to make an early impact

Ahron Ulis was closing in on his goal of leading his Marian Catholic team downstate for the Illinois State Basketball Tournament when like everyone else, the games came to an end due to the coronavirus. Ulis had scored 19 points in an upset win over Bloom Township to reach the sectional finals and then the season was done.

“It was very disappointing,” Ulis said. “We had worked hard as a team and had a big win and then the season was over. At first I was heartbroken, but it was out of our hands and as time went on I saw that it was the right decision.”

While the disappointment of not being able to continue to play is hard to swallow, Ulis certainly had a huge senior season. He averaged 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists and earned first team All State honors in Class 4A in the state of Illinois.

“I felt like I really improved in my senior year. Coming into the season I had worked on my shot and I wanted to continue to be a leader on the team and I felt like I really took a step forward in those areas.”

Now the coronavirus pandemic limiting access for Ulis and nearly every other basketball player from getting into the gym, he’s improvising to stay in shape.

“It’s hard to go through this. When this first started I could still get into the gym, but now I have been just trying to workout. I jump rope at home and I go on some runs on the streets to try and keep my conditioning up,” he said.

Along with leading his team to a successful season, Ulis also enjoyed watching his future team have a very good year on the court. He was a regular viewer of Iowa basketball and loved what he saw from his future team.

“I loved watching them play this season. They always play as a team and they have a lot of chemistry on the floor and they played really hard all season long.”

Since the end of the season, the Hawkeye coaches have been in touch with the future Hawkeye. That included a call last week from Head Coach Fran McCaffery.

“I talked to Coach McCaffery the other day and he was just checking in on me and my family to make sure everything was ok,” Ulis said. “I was set to go to Iowa in the second week of June, but he said he doesn’t know where that stands right now with everything going on. He just told me to keep working on what I can and he’s really excited to have me in the program.”

Once he does arrive on campus, the 6-foot-2 guard will be looking to have an early impact on the floor with the Hawkeyes.

“I want to come in and try and make an impact and just come in and try to play a role on both ends of the floor.”