Tyler Ulis

Tyler Ulis (born January 5, 1996) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Kentucky Wildcats of the SEC.

He played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats.

He trained for basketball with his cousin and 2009 Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Year Travis Walton.

Another of his cousins is Shareese Ulis, point guard for Cincinnati Lady Bearcats, who had been a two-time Toledo Blade Player of the Year.

During his time in middle school, Ulis became friends with future Phoenix Suns teammate Devin Booker.

For high school, Ulis moved to Matteson, Illinois, where he lived with his father, James.

In Ohio, he had been used to winning a high percentage of his games.

When he arrived at Marian Catholic, he started his first game as a freshman against future Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball starting guard Tracy Abrams.

He did not initially enjoy team success.

As a freshman, he was 5 ft tall and was being recruited by opposing high schools.

He reached 5 ft by late in his sophomore year and began being recruited by college basketball teams.

By the beginning of his junior season, Marian Catholic was regarded as a serious contender thanks to Ulis.

Because of his height, Ulis was overlooked until well into the recruiting process for top basketball schools.

He was not highly recruited until his 2013–14 senior year of high school.

Among schools regarded as high-major programs, only Iowa and DePaul made him offers during his junior year.

His other offers were from Dayton, Colorado State, Loyola, Northern Illinois and Oregon State.

During his junior season, his stock soared and Marian Catholic started winning.

In the March 2013 Illinois High School Association Class 4A sectional round, Marian Catholic vied against Bloom High School and then played Edwardsville High School in the supersectional round.

Although Marian lost to a much taller Edwardsville team, it established a school record for wins with a 29–4 record and it won its IHSA sectional for the first time.

Ulis finished fourth in the Illinois Mr. Basketball balloting behind Jabari Parker, Jahlil Okafor and Malcolm Hill.

He was a first team All-state selection by the Chicago Tribune along with Parker, Okafor, Cliff Alexander and Jalen Brunson.

By August 8, 2013, when he was ranked as the 38th-best prospect in the national class of 2014 and its eighth-best point guard by ESPN, he had several offers and named Iowa, Kentucky (although he did not have an offer from them at the time), Michigan State and USC as his finalists (eliminating DePaul, Florida State, Northwestern and Purdue).

Walton, Tyler's cousin, had played for Michigan State.

He received an official offer from Kentucky on August 16.

In early September, Ulis announced that he would not take an official visit to USC and had eliminated them from consideration.

On September 13, Ulis committed to Kentucky.

Subsequently, Tyus Jones canceled his September 27–29 official visit to Kentucky.

Ulis entered his senior season as one of the five favorites to win Illinois Mr. Basketball (along with Okafor, Alexander, Brunson and Keita Bates-Diop).

On December 7, 2013 at the UIC Pavilion in the Chicago Elite Classic, Ulis and Marion suffered one of their only two regular season losses to USC-bound guard Jordan McLaughlin and Etiwanda High School, which was ranked number 6 nationally by USA Today.

Ulis had 30 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.

He was selected to play in both the 2014 McDonald's All-American Game and the 2014 Jordan Brand Classic.

As a high school junior, he was a first team All-state selection, but he was overlooked by most top scouts until after his junior year of high school due to his height.

Ulis was born in Southfield, Michigan (a Detroit suburb), and lived in Lima, Ohio, with his mother and younger brother, Ahron.

He ran track as a youth, competing in the 800 meters and 1500 meters.

The January 25, 2014, matchup against junior Brunson and Stevenson High School was widely anticipated in the local press as the matchup of the two best point guards in the state.

Stevenson won as Brunson had 32 points on 9-for-15 field goal shooting and an 11-for-14 free throw performance.

Ulis had 23 points and 9 assists, including 18 points and 3 assists in the final eight minutes, but was only 5-for-20 from the field for the game.

At Kentucky in 2015, he led his team in assists, he made the 2015 SEC All-Freshman Team and led the 2014–15 Kentucky team that won its first 38 games before losing to Wisconsin in the final four of the 2015 NCAA tournament.

As a sophomore, Ulis was a Consensus first-team All-American and earned the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year recognition.

He played for Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights, Illinois.