“Highlights so crazy you have to watch it twice”: Fans approve as Jaron Pierre Jr withdraws from NBA draft for SMU

Basketball fans applauded high-scoring guard Jaron Pierre Jr withdrawing from the 2025 NBA draft and returning to college, where he'll play for SMU this coming season.

Pierre, the reigning Conference USA Player of the Year, shared a post on Instagram, confirming his decision to use his final year of collegiate eligibility to play for the Mustangs in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Greenlight Media posted a reaction on Instagram, expressing its admiration for Pierre's talent on the court.

"Highlights so crazy you have to watch it twice😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫," it wrote.

Greenlight Media reaction on Jaron Pierre's transfer to SMU (Imae Source: @greenlightmedia/Instagram)

Other fans chimed in on the former Jacksonville State star's choice to withdraw from the draft in favor of playing for coach Andy Enfield. Most of them agreed with Pierre on transferring to a "Power Five" conference to present his talents to a bigger audience.

Jaron Pierre Jr reactions (Image Source: @greenlightmedia/Instagram)

Jaron Pierre played two seasons for Southern Mississippi and one for Wichita State before transferring to Jacksonville State. He had a breakout 2024-25 season for the Gamecocks, posting averages of 21.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.

He played for 37.6 minutes per outing for coach Ray Harper's team and shot 42.4% from the field, including 38.2% from the 3-point line.

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SMU's ACC opponents for the 2025-26 season revealed

The SMU Mustangs will play Florida State and Louisville twice this season and face defending ACC regular season and tournament champions Duke away from home.

The ACC unveiled SMU's 2025-26 conference opponents on Wednesday. The Andy Enfield-coached team will play the Seminoles and the Cardinals in a home-and-away setup.

The Mustangs will take on Boston College, Miami, North Carolina, NC State, Notre Dame, Virginia and Virginia Tech at home. They will visit California, Clemson, Duke, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Syracuse and Wake Forest to complete the conference schedule.

The ACC reduced the conference schedule to 18 from 20 to give other teams a better chance of making the NCAA Tournament.

SMU had a good first season under the ACC umbrella, going 24-11 and making the second round of the NIT.

The Andy Enfield-coached team will have key players Boopie Miller and Samet Yigitoglu returning for another year. They also signed up high school standouts Jaden Toombs, Nigel Walls and Jermaine O'Neal Jr.

The team also received a commitment from three-star forward BJ Davis-Ray and it acquired Corey Washington, Jaron Pierre Jr and Sam Walters from the transfer portal to add experience and depth for this season.