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 8th 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. 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