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New BYU basketball coach Mark Pope ‘out of my mind hyped’ to land UVU graduate transfer Jake Toolson

Scott Sommerdorf | The Salt Lake Tribune | Jake Toolson, pictured here from BYU's 2015 basketball media day, is returning to the program after playing at Utah Valley University the past two seasons. Toolson will be immediately eligible because he graduated from UVU earlier this month and has one season of eligibility remaining.

Provo • BYU’s men’s basketball program has landed shooting guard Jake Toolson.

Again.

New coach Mark Pope announced Friday that the 6-foot-5 Toolson, the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Utah Valley last season, has officially been accepted into a graduate program at BYU and will be immediately eligible in 2019-20 as a graduate transfer.

Toolson, who began his college career at BYU, graduated from UVU earlier this month and was named an honorable mention All-American in March.

“I’m out of my mind hyped,” Pope said in a school news release. “I’ve been incredibly blessed to have [had] the honor of coaching Jake Toolson for the last several years. I’ve watched him grow from a talented young player to one of the most efficient offensive threats in the country.”

Pope called Toolson “one of the most highly sought-after grad-transfers in America” and said he chose BYU over “the likes of Duke and Virginia.”

Toolson averaged a team-high 15.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists for UVU last season — while playing for Pope at the Orem school — and helped the Wolverines to a 25-10 record.

He played his first two collegiate seasons at BYU (2014-16) and averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 36 games.