Kentucky freshman Terrence Jones enters Wednesday night’s clash with Notre Dame coming off his worst performance in his short college career. Freshmen, by nature, are somewhat inconsistent, but Jones has bucked that trend for the most part, posting double-doubles in four of his first seven games.
Jones is 6-foot-8 and weighs around 240 pounds. But while the body says he should be a power forward, the skills clearly indicate a player just as comfortable on the perimeter.
In the three games of the EA Sports Maui Invitational, Jones displayed his power game with dunks and rebounds in traffic. But we also saw him stroke 3-point shots, put the ball on the floor to create a shot, and in transition, fire a beautiful no-look pass to a wide open Josh Harrelson for a layup.
Maybe some fans and media members (and opponents?) were surprised to see that combination of talents but certainly not Jones’ high school coach.
“He was gifted as a big guy,” said Pat Strickland, Jones’ coach at Jefferson High School in Portland, Ore. Jefferson won back-to-back class 5A state titles when Jones played there. “He has always been bigger than his peers through his middle school and high school years. He has always been good with the ball and done things that a point guard does.”
It may surprise people to find out where Jones got his skills from.
“He learned how to play from his aunt,” Strickland said. “She put the ball in his hands on day one and told him no matter how tall you are going to be, you are still going to need to handle the ball. She did it. Our philosophy at Jefferson and on the AAU circuit during the summer is to have every guy do every drill. Big guys, small guys, we want you to handle the ball and post up. That was our philosophy and I never strayed away from that. It is still my philosophy even though Terrence is gone. We feel that the more you can do with the ball in your hands, the more often you can have a chance to make a lot of money some day, regardless of your size.”
Lamar Odom is the current player to whom many compare Jones’ game. For longtime Kentucky fans, the sight of a left-handed ripping a missed shot off the rim and driving the length of the court might stir memories of James Lee, the super sub on the 1978 national championship team.
Lee didn’t have the offensive firepower that Jones does but the latter could probably use a little dose of the former’s toughness (as could about any young player).
While the Wildcats were in Maui, Hawaii, I had a chance to visit with Oklahoma coach Jeff Capel, who along with John Calipari and Washington’s Lorenzo Romar, were the coaches who pursued Jones the hardest. Jones posted a double-double in the Cats’ first-round win over the Sooners in the tournament and you can bet Capel was not surprised to see that kind of display.
“First, he’s extremely talented and I think he has a really good feel for the game,” Capel told me at a pre-tournament news conference. “He shoots floaters; he shoots running shots. When we recruited him, I would talk to him about being a point forward. He’s the epitome of that. Kind of like Lamar Odom but he’s different. ‘Jonesey’ has an incredible knack for getting the ball in the basket.”
It’s clear that Jones will be a major force on offense for Kentucky this winter, but Coach Cal is also pushing the rookie to excel in other areas.
“With Terrence, my thing is, be the leading rebounder in the country,” Calipari said on a Big Blue Sports radio network pregame interview. “Be a defender and go get every ball. What we need him to be is a playmaker on defense. Make a big block or a big steal or a dive. He’s still trying to make hero plays.”
Jones answered that call late in the win over Oklahoma, blocking a 3-point shot that would have cut UK’s lead to three and then finishing the play off at the other end with a dunk. Another block followed shortly thereafter and the outcome was secure in Kentucky’s favor.
And if Calipari needs Jones to play a role that requires to sacrifice time on the perimeter for mixing up in the paint, Strickland said the UK coach need not worry about the response he’ll get.
“Terrence is very cerebral and he knows how to win,” Strickland said. “He will do whatever he needs to in order to win, whether it is being down there on the block more than he wants to or being on the perimeter. And I think that he is such a competitor and a winner that he is going to have to do whatever is necessary to get the W.”
Can Jones also provide leadership as a freshman? Coach Strickland believes the answer is yes.
“Well, what stood out about him is that a lot of kids within our community looked up to him,” Strickland said. “He was a leader both on and off the court. The coaches loved him, his teammates loved him. He was just an all-around good kid.”
“That is definitely a role he is comfortable (with). At Jefferson, during the summer, I know that this guy was such a leader and such a winner that one of the reasons that he decided to wait to the last minute to make a commitment to any school was because being a leader of Jefferson and the face of our program, he wanted to make sure that coaches would keep coming in and looking at those guys so that they too would be fortunate to take their skills and go to another level as well, which some of them have, definitely.”
Capel discovered that aspect of Jones’ personality during the recruiting process.
“Outgoing personality,” Capel said of Jones. “Loved to have fun, always smiling and joking, was easy to talk (to). You don’t find that with a lot of young guys anymore. (He) loves the game and the process of trying to become good. A lot of that goes back to his mom and his aunt, just the way he was raised.”
Strickland said he talks or texts with Jones on a regular basis and he doesn’t think his protégé is going to have home sickness issues.
“I think he is gamer,” Strickland said. “Early on in this whole process and being out there this summer, he was frustrated and down because injuries had him off the court. But I think that as long as he can be on the court and be a contributor and does well in the classroom, I don’t think the distance from home is going to be an issue, even though he is a mama’s boy. At the end of the day, he wants to reach his ultimate goal and that is to make a living off this game, so he is going to spend a lot of time away from his loved ones.”
