Texas Basketball: 3 players already exceeding expectations this season
Andrew Jones, SG/SF
As a fan favorite, and one of the most inspirational stories in all of college sports, redshirt senior shooting guard/wing and former five-star recruit Andrew Jones is coming out of the gates firing this season. Jones’ road back to college hoops, and the level he is playing at now, is truly inspiring. And his two-way impact for the Longhorns is going to be a driving factor for success for this team all season long.
Jones is usually recognized as a volume-scorer that has a versatile offensive arsenal. But it really took until last season for the defensive impact of Jones on the perimeter and on the wing to be truly noticed even around the Big 12 landscaped to any notable degree.
The defensive ability of Jones should continue to get put on display throughout this 2021-22 campaign. Jones is surely putting on a show on the defensive end of the floor out of the gates. And he’s contributing in a meaningful way on offense early this season too.
Through the first four games, Jones is averaging more than two steals per game and 0.5 blocks. He’s got one of the five best defensive box plus/minus ratings in the entire Big 12 out of the gates this season, at a career-best 5.7.
Next. 3 Longhorns players off to red hot starts. dark
That’s not to mention his stellar offensive production too. The production on offense isn’t coming in the traditional high volume for Jones, but he is efficient right now. He’s averaged around eight points per game, three rebounds, two assists, and one turnover. And Jones has shot around 48 percent from the field, 36 percent from beyond the arc, and is perfect on four attempts from the charity stripe.