Texas Basketball: 3 players that will be crucial x-factors down the stretch
1) Texas basketball players that will be x-factors
Kai Jones, Power Forward
There’s no single bigger breakthrough star for the Longhorns so far this season on the hardwood than the former highly coveted four-star recruit and sophomore power forward Kai Jones. This talented and potent 6-foot-11 and 220 pound Nassau, Bahamas, native has helped to provide a big spark for the entire frontcourt rotation so far this season.
Jones is still coming off the bench of late for Smart and the Longhorns, but he could be in line to get the Sixth Man of the Year honors in the Big 12 this season. He’s definitely putting up the type of numbers that would garner a player of his caliber those honors. It’s just a question of how consistently he can do that for this team throughout the remainder of this campaign.
So far this season, Jones has played in 16 games for the Longhorns (starting in just two of them), and averaging around 22 minutes on the floor per game. He’s averaged 8.4 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks. Jones shot an efficient 59.0 percent from the field, 45.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 68.3 percent from the free-throw line.
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The modern mould that Jones’ game fits as a stretch big man is helping his NBA Draft stock skyrocket of late.
All of his production this season has amounted to a stellar 7.6 box plus/minus rating, .184 win shares per 40 minutes, 1.6 total win shares, 65.9 true shooting percentage, 121 offensive rating/95.0 defensive rating, and a 20.2 player efficiency rating.