Career night for Jones in a loss

Despite having a little over 10 days of no basketball activities, Kai Jones showed no signs of rust as he was able to finish with his first career double-double – a season-high 15 points and career-high 10 rebounds on Tuesday, but his team, the nationally number five ranked University of Texas Longhorns (11-3, 5-2 Big 12) fell 80-79 to number 24 Oklahoma Sooners (10-4, 6-3 Big 12) at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

Playing without head coach Shaka Smart, who tested positive for COVID-19 this week, and with just eight available scholarship players, the Longhorns showed mental toughness against a strong Sooners team. The team missed the services of Courtney Ramey, Jericho Sims and Brock 

Cunningham.

Jones, a reserve forward, got promoted to the starting lineup for this game by acting head coach K.T. Turner. The Bahamian made the most of his career-high 37 minutes on the floor as he made 5-of-11 shots from the field, including one three-point shot. He was 4-for-6 from the foul line. Jones also had a career-high three dimes. To show his motor on defense, Jones tied his season-high in blocks with two and also had two steals in the win.

Offensively, it was a slow start for the forward. He missed his first five shot attempts but luckily his team was only down 35-30 with 2:23 remaining in the half. That was when Jones split two free throws to get on the scoreboard.

“In the first half, I had a couple plays where I had a couple turnovers. On defense, I think that my motor was good but on offense, I could have made some smarter plays and knock some shots down that I would like to see go in,” Jones said.

Though Smart was not calling the plays, Jones said that Turner was helpful in ensuring that he stepped up despite having a tough first half.

“K.T. was being honest with me the entire game,” Jones said. “Early when I was having some struggles in not making the best plays, he was telling me ‘you have to pick it up’. I think he is very poised and we did not get the outcome that we wanted but he did a great job of being poised and leading us in being a positive and an honest voice.”

Jones said that while he was quarantined, despite testing negative for COVID-19, he kept himself busy in his room by working out. He was not allowed to attend any team activities during that time.

Against Oklahoma, the sophomore forward finished the first half with a dismal one-point performance. His team needed him in the second half and he responded. The Longhorns were down 43-34 at the end of the first half.

Jones picked up his play in the second half as he opened it with a steal just 15 seconds into the half. He then got fouled while throwing down a powerful slam dunk with 17:30 remaining in the game. He converted the and-one play to cut the Sooners’ lead to 48-39. That was part of a 7-0 run for the Longhorns and the Sooners led 48-43 with 16:05 remaining in the game.

Late in the second half, the Bahamian got a pass from guard Matt Coleman III and threw down another slam dunk with authority to cut the Sooners lead to just three points, 78-75, with 1:13 remaining in the game.

With five seconds remaining in the game, the Longhorns was about to throw the ball inbounds but the pass was too high for the 6’11” Jones and the Sooners were able to retrieve the ball and held on for the victory.

Austin Reaves led the way for the winners with 23 points. The Longhorns outscored the Sooners in the second half, 45-37, as Jones poured in 14 points but it wasn’t enough as they fell one point short of sending the game into overtime.

Jones, a former Brewster Academy player, reached double figures in scoring for the sixth time this season and attained that feat for the eighth time in his time at Texas. It was his second start of the season and 12th of his collegiate career.

Jones is now averaging 9.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest. He is shooting a blistering 59.7 percent from the field for the season.

Jones said that he will head back into the gym and come out improved for their next game. The Longhorns will head on the road to take on the University of Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky on Saturday. The game gets underway at 8 p.m.

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