Texas Basketball: Kai Jones starting to build more NBA Draft hype

What looked to be an important week of games for No. 5 ranked Texas basketball and head coach Shaka Smart was cut short by novel coronavirus related issues. This talented and deep Texas team was supposed to face the Iowa State Cyclones on the road in Ames on the night of Jan. 20, but that was pushed due to those aforementioned COVID-19 related issues.

Smart and the Longhorns also had their originally scheduled Jan. 23 showdown on the road in Fort Worth against the TCU Horned Frogs pushed back due to COVID-19 related issues on the Texas side. Those will be the second and third games pushed back for the Longhorns at this point of the regular season slate.

That means that the next chance for the Longhorns to extend their winning streak to two games will come on the night of Jan. 26 at home at the Frank Erwin Center against the rival Oklahoma Sooners. Texas will need a nice outing from their bench, namely their top role players, to be able to get a well-rounded performance to handily beat the Sooners.

One of the key role players for the Longhorns so far this season that has truly broken through to a different level of production and efficiency is the sophomore 6-foot-11 and 220 pound power forward Kai Jones. As one of the apparent rising stars in the Big 12 at this point of the season, Jones is gaining a lot of national attention of late.

In a dozen games played so far this season (just one of which he’s started in), Jones averaged 8.5 points per game, 4.8 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.5 blocks. And he’s shot an efficient 62.3 percent from the field, 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 70.4 percent from the free-throw line.

That all has amounted to a stellar 9.8 box plus/minus rating, .231 win shares per 40 minutes, 1.5 total win shares, 134 offensive rating/92 defensive rating, 69.1 true shooting percentage, and a 22.3 player efficiency rating. The increased overall efficiency that Jones is showing on both ends of the floor this season, along with his improved offensive versatility and shooting percentages, are helping him see his NBA Draft stock skyrocket of late.

NBA Scouting Live mentioned Jones as a projected late first or second round pick in the looming 2021 NBA Draft. Of course, that assumes that he declares early for the NBA Draft following the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign. Heartland College Sports also mentioned Jones as one of two Big 12 players “rising up draft boards” in a piece published late last month.

Jones is making one thing clear with his play of late, he’s not going to shy away from rising to the occasion among the premier big men in the Big 12 in terms of production and efficiency. He’s having a tremendous season for the Longhorns, and is a big reason why Smart’s bench is so drastically improved.

Texas now carries a record of 11-2 (5-1 Big 12), after their latest win which arrived last weekend over the struggling Kansas State Wildcats, by the final score of 82-67 at home at the Erwin Center. Jones and the Longhorns will have to wait at least another six days now to play in their next game.