Texas Basketball: 3 players dazzling in first half of Big 12 play

Andrew Jones, SG/SF

The narrative surrounding the former elite five-star recruit and redshirt senior shooting guard/wing Andrew Jones in Big 12 play thus far is a confusing one on paper. Really since mid-December, Jones was a regular in the starting unit for Beard and the Longhorns.

But it seemed like just as soon as Jones started to really take his game to a different level, he was moved to the bench.

Granted, it looked like something changed with Beard after just one off night for Jones. In an upset loss at home for the Longhorns at the hands of head coach Bruce Weber and the Kansas State Wildcats, Jones had somewhat of a stinker, putting up just five points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field and 0-of-3 from beyond the arc.

Since that loss to Kansas State, Jones came off the bench for Beard and the Longhorns for two straight games. It will be interesting to see where he falls in the rotation against the Vols this weekend.

Yet, the fact that Jones was moved to the bench doesn’t mean he wasn’t excellent for the Longhorns so far during the Big 12 slate. Jones might actually have the most impressive numbers when you really crunch them down of any player for the Longhorns in Big 12 play.

Texas is averaging around 65 possessions per game, so either using Jones’ numbers per 65 possessions or per 40 minutes is a good way to digest his true impact on the game when he’s on the floor.

Jones has averaged around two-dozen minutes played per game in Big 12 play so far.

Thus, Jones is averaging around 16.6 points per 65 possessions, six rebounds, two assists, one steal, and one block while shooting 43 percent from the field, 39 percent from beyond the arc, and 88 percent from the free-throw line.

Those are great numbers in Big 12 play. He’s got the second-best player efficiency rating (20.7) and third-best number of win shares per 40 minutes (.194) in Big 12 play on the team thus far.