Texas Basketball: Andrew Jones’ big night puts him in rare company
The ups and downs of the regular season slate continued for No. 21 ranked Texas basketball and new head coach Chris Beard on Jan. 11. In this case, it was a high note that Texas ended the day on against a key Big 12 opponent. Texas downed the Oklahoma Sooners and new head coach Porter Moser in the first edition of the Red River Rivalry on the hardwood this season.
A driving force to Beard and the Longhorns topping the rival Sooners to start the week on a high note was the play of redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones. Texas got one of the best nights of Jones’ career in the 14- point win over Oklahoma on Jan. 11.
Jones came up with a game-high 22 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field, 2-of-5 from beyond the arc, and 6-of-7 from the free-throw line. He also registered three rebounds, two assists, four blocks, one steal, and two turnovers.
The defensive impact Jones had on this game is obvious given the fact that he came up with four steals and one block. That led him to register a sparkling 8.0 steal percentage and 3.7 block percentage.
Andrew Jones has a special night statistically for Texas basketball in a key Jan. 11 win over OU
This was also the first game of Jones’ career where he put up at least four steals and one block. His 22 points are also a season-best by a good margin. The previous season-high in points for Jones so far this season came in a non-conference win over Cal Baptist, where he scored 15.
In many ways, this was a huge night statistically and in terms of the overall impact on both ends of the court for Jones. It also put him in great company in terms of the numbers he did put up in this win over the Sooners.
Andrew Jones became one of just 3 major conference players this season to post at least 20 points in a game, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block while shooting at least 40 3P% and 80 FT%. The other two are UW’s Terrell Brown and FSU’s Anthony Polite. pic.twitter.com/fLRtKZvNjh
— Hook'em Headlines (@HookemHeadlines) January 12, 2022
Jones is now one of three major conference players in Division I this season that have registered at least 20 points in a game, three rebounds, two assists, four steals, and one block while shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc and 80 percent from the free-throw line. He also had yet to have that type of feat himself.
This was a truly special night where he also put up a game and season-best box plus/minus of 21.8.
While we can’t expect Jones to put up these types of numbers every single game this season, it’s great to see him coming through with the two-way production that we know the former five-star recruit is capable of. Jones continues to be one of the best stories in all of college basketball, and he’s become one of the best two-way wings in the Big 12 at this point of his career.
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Following this 66-52 win over Oklahoma on Jan. 11, Jones and the Longhorns are sporting a record of 13-3 (3-1 Big 12). Next up for the Longhorns is an important meeting with the Iowa State Cyclones on the road on Jan. 15.