Championship feeling for Jones, Texas

Bahamian collegiate basketball player Kai Jones and the Texas Longhorns made sure they were a part of the fray for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, securing their ticket outright by winning the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference championship game on Saturday.

The Bahamian sophomore at Texas, who could choose to enter the National Basketball Association (NBA) Draft this year, was seen cutting down the nets on Saturday night. It was the first Big 12 title for the University of Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team, entering the tournament as the number 13 ranked team in the nation. The Longhorns (19-7, 11-6 Big 12) prevailed 91-86 over the nationally number 12 ranked Oklahoma State University Cowboys (20-8, 11-7 Big 12) to win the coveted Big 12 title on Saturday night at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

The first round of the NCAA Tournament gets underway on March 19.

Jones, the newly crowned conference sixth man of the year, got his third start of the season on Saturday, and dropped in 13 points in an efficient 18 minutes of play. He was also able to connect on five of eight shots from the field. The center was able to go 1-for-2 from deep and 2-for-4 from the free throw line. On the rebounding front, he was able to haul in five boards.

This was the 12th time reaching double figures in scoring this season for him. Jones credits the coaches and the program for their success this season, dating back to the Camping World Maui Invitational, which they also won and set the tone for the rest of the season.

“We have a great group of coaches who are always emphasizing response and being better each and every day. They stay on us about that. They are great communicators and relationship guys, so you must give credit to the program. We have a lot of dedicated staff members and it has been huge with them staying on top of us even when things weren’t going our way. Even during the COVID-19 outbreak, they were huge in terms of just preaching being responsive to those things and being able to respond like champions, and there was a 

combination of that tonight,” Jones said.

Jones was one of four Longhorns players to score in double digits. Senior guard Matt Coleman III poured in a career-high 30 points.

The Longhorns had to withstand Cowboys’ guard Cade Cunningham, the projected number one overall draft pick in the NBA this summer. Cunningham had 29 points.

The game had four ties and three lead changes.

Jones’ first shot attempt in the game failed at the 17:43 mark of the first half. It was a three-point attempt. His first made shot came 11 seconds later when he made a jump shot and got an and-one opportunity. Jones’ shot tied the game at four, but he missed the ensuing free throw.

With his team down 8-7, Jones ended up providing a spark offensively as he went on his own 4-0 run. It was capped with a defensive rebound and a conversion on the other end as he dribbled up court, showing his ball handling and fastbreak skills, going coast-to-coast, and finishing with a strong layup on a Cowboys defender to put his team up 11-8 at the 15:43 mark.

Most of his production was done early as he scored 11 points in the first half, and added three rebounds in 13 minutes of play.

After the Cowboys went up 13-11 at the 14:22 mark, the Longhorns used a 7-0 scoring run to take an 18-13 lead. They extended that lead to 10 points heading into the intermission, 43-33.

Cunningham helped the Cowboys get back into the game, burying a three point shot at the 14:19 mark as the scoreboard read 52-48 in the Longhorns’ favor.

Jones’ squad took the lead back up to double digits with two free throws with 2:53 remaining, 81-71.

However, the Cowboys weren’t done yet. It was Cunningham who once again knocked down a shot from deep, cutting the deficit to four points with 17 seconds remaining. The Longhorns led 87-83 when Jones hit a jump shot on a fastbreak to extend the lead to six points, 89-83. Cunningham hit another three point shot with six seconds left, bringing the Cowboys to within 89-86, but it was too little too late for them.

Two free throws by the Longhorns thwarted any comeback attempt by the Cowboys as Jones and his teammates started to celebrate.

The Longhorns held a crucial advantage on the boards, outrebounding their opponent, 39-30. That was key to their success in the game.

Also in action over the weekend, was Bahamian Sammy Hunter, a sophomore forward with the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels (16-11, 10-8 SEC). Hunter finished with two points in a 76-73 loss for the Rebels to the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers (17-8, 11-6 SEC) in the quarterfinals of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Tournament. The game was played at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday night.

Hunter made one of his two attempts from the field and grabbed three rebounds. His only bucket came at the 10:12 mark of the first half when he made a layup, as they cut into the Tigers’ lead, 16-13. The game was a close one in the first half and the Tigers held a 29-27 lead at the break.

At the beginning of the second half, the Tigers went on a run and took a commanding 40-29 lead with 17:36 remaining in the second half.

The Rebels took the lead at the 9:30 mark of the second half and went up by as much as five in the second half, but they could not hold on. The Tigers broke a 58-58 tie, going up 61-58 with 6:51 remaining in the game. They never trailed again and went on to win, 76-73.

For Jones and the Longhorns, they will enter the NCAA Tournament as the number three seed in the East Region and will play the Abilene Christian Wildcats, a 14th seed, on Saturday. Hunter and the Rebels just missed the field of 68. They are the number four replacement team, meaning if four of the teams can’t play because of COVID-19 or any other reason, they will get in.

There will be one other Bahamian in the field of 68, but as a coach, not as a player. Mikhail McLean and the Houston Cougars (24-3, 14-3 AAC) won the American Athletic Conference (AAC) championship on Sunday, as they blew out the Cincinnati Bearcats (12-11, 8-6 AAC), 91-54, at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, to earn an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament.

McLean is the assistant director for player development for the Cougars. The Cougars earned a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Region and will face No. 15 seed Cleveland State on Friday.

The NCAA Tournament gets underway with the First Four on Thursday.

The post Championship feeling for Jones, Texas appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.

source https://thenassauguardian.com/championship-feeling-for-jones-texas/