ORANGE GAME NOT THE ONLY DUKE LOSS
Guard Tre Jones is out indefinately with a joint separation
Duke starts three projected top-five NBA draft picks. None is the Blue Devils’ most indispensable player.
Yes, for all of R.J. Barrett’s versatility, Cam Reddish’s range and Zion Williamson’s uniqueness, Duke’s most essential piece is fellow freshman Tre Jones.
Efficient on offense, disruptive on defense and poised beyond his years, Jones, a 6-foot-2 point guard, commands the Devils on both ends. His assist-turnover ratio is preposterous, his on-theball defense reminiscent of program icons.
But as No. 1 Duke prepares for Saturday’s home test against No. 4 Virginia, Jones is shelved indefinitely. He injured his right shoulder — acromioclavicular (AC) joint separation is the medical term — in the opening minutes of Monday’s game versus Syracuse.
The Blue Devils led 14-6 when Jones, diving for a loose ball, collided with the Orange’s Frank Howard. They lost 95-91 in overtime, and Jones, his pain visible as he left the court, did not return.
“He’ll be out for a while, I think,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said during his postgame news conference.
Weep not for Krzyzewski. No other team this season is stacked with the likes of Barrett, Williamson and Reddish — the latter missed Monday’s game with flu-like symptoms. But as
the loss to Syracuse showed, Jones’ absence limits the Devils.
Duke missed 34 of 43 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc, alarming volume and inaccuracy. Credit Orange coach Jim Boeheim’s trademark 2-3 zone and blame Reddish’s illness, but also acknowledge that Jones’ passing and penetration create better shots.
Sophomore Alex O’Connell replaced Jones for much of the evening, and he contributed career-highs with 16 points and 34 minutes. But he was a defensive liability.
“Duke is a special team,” Boeheim said afterward. “They didn’t have their point guard for most of the game, and Frank was able to take advantage on the offensive end against O’Connell. But O’Connell is such a good shooter, he helps them on that other end.”
Jones leads the Devils in steals with 33, including four in five minutes Monday. His on-the-ball pressure unsettles opposing teams and is the primary reason Duke ranks fourth nationally in Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted defensive efficiency metric.
After Jones recorded six steals in a late-December victory over previously undefeated Texas Tech, Krzyzewski compared him to elite Duke defenders such as Bobby Hurley, Steve Wojciechowski and Tommy Amaker. You can’t overstate the regard Krzyzewski has for those players, each of whom helped the program reach Final Fours, so I asked him recently if he anticipated that Jones would be such a quick study.
“Well, I knew he’d be good,” Krzyzewski said. “(But) there’s no way I’d think that he’d be this good because I had not coached him. Once I started coaching him, I said, ‘This kid is really outstanding on the ball. He has the discipline, athleticism and the will to do it.’ He’s done a fantastic job on the ball on defense and with the ball on offense.”
Indeed, Jones began the week as the ACC’s assist leader at 5.9 per game. His average dipped to 5.7 Monday, a tick behind Virginia Tech’s Justin Robinson at 5.8, but his assist-turnover ratio towers over the conference.
Jones averages 5.7 assists for each turnover, with ACC runnerup T.J. Gibbs of Notre Dame at 3.4. Nationally, he trails only Cincinnati’s Justin Jenifer (6.9) and Kent State’s Jalen Avery (5.73), both seniors.
The ACC’s assist-turnover ratio standard is 4.11-to-1, established by Pittsburgh’s James Robinson as a sophomore in 2014. Wojciechowski set Duke’s record of 3.0-to-1 as a junior in 1997.
The Devils’ freshman mark of 2.9-to-1 belongs to none other than Tyus Jones, Tre’s brother. Tyus helped Duke win the 2015 national championship in his only collegiate season and plays for the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves in the family’s home state.
“He’s very mature,” Krzyzewski said of Tre Jones, “growing up in that family. …
He’s always been a lot older than his age. … He’s just solid. Solid kid and really smart.”
How Duke (14-2, 3-1 ACC) adjusts without Jones, and how long Jones is sidelined, will be intriguing to watch. Jones averages a modest 8.1 points per game, production that will be readily absorbed by the likes of Williamson, whose 35 points Monday broke the Devils’ freshman record of 34 held by J.J. Redick and Marvin Bagley III.
Good luck replacing the rest of the package.
Barrett is a capable ballhandler, witness his nine assists and one turnover Monday, but he’s better on the wing. Thanks to Williamson and reserves Marques Bolden, Jack White and Javin DeLaurier, the Devils average a national-best 8.1 blocked shots per game, but no one on the roster can match Jones’ perimeter ball-hawking.
“He’s a godsend for me,” Krzyzewski said after the Texas Tech game. “I’m so excited about coaching him. It’s like coaching on the U.S. team — you have LeBron, Chris Paul, they make real-time (adjustments). There aren’t many who can get their teams to do that. Tre can do that. He’s got it.”
Safe to say, Krzyzewski was the antithesis of excited Monday.
“This was a very difficult night for our basketball program and our team,” he said. “We’ll figure out ways of handling it.”