Sun’s Jonquel Jones off to a record-setting start
UNCASVILLE — As the leading rebounder in the WNBA, it doesn’t take much number crunching to figure out that Jonquel Jones’ fourth season with the Connecticut Sun is off to a rousing start.
However, all the rebounds, double-doubles and blocked shots don’t demonstrate just how much Jones has matured on the court since beginning her professional career in 2016. Exhibit No. 1 of the new, improved Jonquel Jones came during the Sun’s most recent game when she missed all six of her 3-point attempts but used her 6foot-6 frame and aggressive mindset to find herself at the foul line six times in the fourth quarter. Jones made all six shots as the Sun rallied for a six-point victory at Las Vegas.
“I wasn’t shooting well and the second half I made a concerted effort to put my head down and get to the rim,” Jones said. “It wasn’t really me finishing at the rim, it was me getting fouled at the rim and just making free throws. I think that game really showed me that I can score in other ways.
“It’s about weathering the storm and doing something when I was out there. Even though I wasn’t hitting shots, I was making some good defensive plays and able to alter some shots out there so that stuff really helped me out a lot.”
Jones had failed to make a 3-pointer in two of the first four games of the season and is 10 for 10 from the foul line in those two games as the Sun topped Washington in the season opener and Las Vegas on Sunday. Jones is among the league leaders with a 92.9 freethrow percentage in addition to being the leading rebounder thanks to ranking second in both offensive and defensive rebounds. She is also in the top 10 in scoring and blocked shots heading into Thursday’s rematch with Los Angeles at Mohegan Sun Arena.
“I think her versatility and the uniqueness of her game allows her to do fun things,” Connecticut Sun coach Curt Miller said. “We certainly design a bunch of things to have her on the perimeter but at the same it is a constant reminder that we win with paint touches. It’s really important that she gets the post touches that we need.”
It’s not unusual for talented post players to gravitate to the perimeter in the early stages of their career at the high school, college and professional level. Rarely are elbows being thrown when a player goes up for a 3-pointer. It can be more challenging to get them to go to work in the low post where much of the dirty work is done.
“She’s really grown into that,” Connecticut forward Shekinna Stricklen said. “When she came in as a rookie, she loved the 3. Now she’s really grown into the game, she knows when she needs to shoot the 3, knows when she needs to get to the basket and be more aggressive and knows when she needs to post up.”
The 6-2 Stricklen is one of the WNBA’s best 3-point shooters and with her length, teams can struggle limiting her perimeter looks at times. However, those matchup issues are nothing compared to what Stricklen sees Sun opponents go through on a nightly basis trying to deal with Jones.
“She makes a lot of guard moves,” Stricklen said. “She’s not really a post player and it makes it difficult for other post players to play her, to chase her off stagger (screens) like you’re chasing a guard, how she can do it, rip through and do all kinds of stuff with the ball.”
Jones’ 20 3-point attempts are second only to Stricklen for the 3-1 Sun. Jones also leads the Sun in total field goals made and attempted and free throws made and attempted.
“I try to get in there and get some easy touches around the rim,” Jones said. “Obviously he (Miller) has some play calls for me to shoot the 3 so I always do that when the plays are called and just feeling the game and see what we need. A lot of times my shots around the rim are from rebounds as well, whenever I rebound I’m trying to go up in that area. I’ve been working on it after practice on most days on my (post) touches and I feel way more comfortable in there now.”
Much of the attention in Thursday’s game will focus on former WNBA Rookie of the Year Chiney Ogwumike’s first game at Mohegan Sun Arena since she was traded to Los Angeles. No Sun player seems to have benefitted more from Ogwumike’s departure than Jones. After playing at least 28 minutes only three times during the 2018 season, Jones has been on the court for 30, 29, 33 and 28 minutes in the first four games of the season.
“She’s got her bounce back from 2017 (when Jones set a WNBA single-season record with 403 rebounds),” Miller said. “She’s in great condition, great fitness and there’s a lot of confidence.”
As impressive as Jones was rebounding the ball in 2017, she has 17 more rebounds in the first four games this season than she did two years ago. It should not come as a surprise that when each game is over, the first category she looks at in the box score is how many rebounds she pulled down. Sometimes she doesn’t wait for the final statistics to be tabulated.
“I can kind of feel how much I have, a lot of times I go to the sidelines and go ‘How many rebounds do I have?’ ” Jones said. “I may have seven or eight and I say ‘That’s not enough rebounds.’ When I’m at 11 in the half or 14 in the third, I can feel that for sure because I can feel like I’m getting my hands on a lot of balls.”
With fellow rebounding dynamo Alyssa Thomas starting for the Sun, Jones knows she needs to go aggressively at balls coming off the rim or her own teammate might beat her to the ball.
“There are a lot of times when she’s mad at me because I’m taking away some rebounds but that’s my job,” Jones said. “I would rather her be upset for me taking it than me assuming that she has it and allowing the team to get a rebound over us.”
With Los Angeles having handed Connecticut its lone loss, the novelty of Ogwumike going up against her former teammates has worn off a little although it is the first time the Sun fans will see Ogwumike playing for an opposing team. For Jones, it will be business as usual.