San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Jones dazzles as Horns win second straight
AUSTIN — Andrew Jones’ bag of tricks appears bottomless. It’s filled with deceptive hesitations, slithery layups, silky step-back jumpers, electric fast break finishes and so many other moves designed to humiliate defenders on the path to bucket-getting glory.
Saturday afternoon, inside the balmy confines of the Erwin Center, Jones dipped into that sack and unleashed a dazzling array of moves. The redshirt junior guard needed only 27 minutes to hang 19 points on TCU during No. 13 Texas’ 70-55 win, its second straight following a three-game skid.
Had it not been for foul trouble, Jones likely would have recorded his sixth 20-point game in 11 outings against Big 12 opposition. He’s now averaging 19.3 points in conference play, second only to Texas Tech guard Mac McClung (19.7).
“Ah, man, he really can get going,” senior guard Matt Coleman said. “It’s a different swagger about him, a different confidence about him, and he could go for, you know, eight, nine (points) in a row. It’s good because that gives us gives us a spark and electrifies us, and we’re feeding off of him.”
Jones seems to put together sublime scoring stretches every game. It happened again Saturday during a determined 13-point first-half outburst.
Once TCU (11-8, 4-6 Big 12) retook the lead for the second and final time with 12:51 remaining in the opening half, Jones strung together seven points during a 16-6 run. He knifed into the lane and finished with a pseudo-dunk at the rim, embarrassed one defender with a hesitation dribbledrive finish and splashed a contested baseline jumper as Texas (13-5, 7-4) built a 30-21 lead.
But TCU kept clawing. The blistering shooting start of guard R.J. Nembhard with 10 first-half points kept the Horned Frogs within eight points at the half despite shooting 32.3 percent from the field.
Jones helped Texas keep TCU at bay during a sluggish opening to the second half. With its lead down to just two, Texas forced a shot-clock violation then Jones broke free to two layups to create a six-point cushion.
And when Jones picked up his third foul with 12:14 remaining, Coleman and junior guard Courtney Ramey were ready to close.
“I thought our guys, for the most part, got the shots we wanted,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “Andrew was really playing well, but he was in foul trouble throughout the whole (second) half.
“Matt and Courtney, they did a good job managing the game in the last three, four, five minutes. We just kind of tried to put the ball in their hands.”
Coleman was in command throughout the second half, steering Texas with a deft hand as TCU refused to slink back to a frozen Fort Worth. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the period, connecting on all four shots, and slung assists that set up a slamdunk bonanza for bigs Greg Brown (13 points), Jericho Sims (11 points) and Kai Jones (7 points).
Coleman’s defense was just as critical. He jumped the route on one lazy TCU pass and blazed by everyone for a fast-break layup. That led into a brief Ramey takeover in which he buried a long bucket, tossed a perfect lob to Sims and finished a contorting and-1 layup.
All that came as Jones, saddled with four fouls, cheered from the bench for every rim detonation, every hustle play, every stop. In fact, the whole Texas bench spent its time galloping around in celebration or shouting scouting tips from their sideline vantage point.
“A lot has been going on these past couple weeks, and it was just fun to just see everybody just let it out,” Coleman said. “Sometimes you gotta let out, you gotta cry sometimes, sometimes you got to smile. You gotta do what you gotta do, whatever it takes.”
Texas is fortunate it has the depth to withstand its leading scorer and best shot-creator hitting the bench. Coleman and Ramey have been in burnt orange a long time and command respect, and the nascent three-big lineup of Sims, Kai Jones and Sims is starting to understand how to thrive together.
The Longhorns also limited TCU to 36.5 percent shooting and forced 15 turnovers, strong defensive numbers following a subpar outing versus Kansas State. The guards all locked in on Nembhard following a scorching start, limiting him to 15 points on 5-for-16 shooting.