Having performed level guard for the reason that age of 4, Kenneth Jones grew up attempting to mannequin his sport after his favourite participant, the Boston Celtics’ Rajon Rondo. There was only one little downside.
“I’m a Knicks fan,” the Hillside, New Jersey native mentioned with amusing. “So you’re not supposed to like the Celtics. But when your team plays them so many times, you just see them out there on the court, and he’s just a guy that I admired.”
NBA fandom apart, Jones developed right into a succesful level guard of his personal at Loyola Maryland. Last season, he led the Patriot League in assists per sport (4.6) and registered seven or extra assists a career-high eight instances. With Jones, the Greyhounds ranked 51st amongst all NCAA Division I groups in assists per sport (15).
This fall, nevertheless, Jones is shifting from level guard to capturing guard. In the crew’s first three video games, the graduate scholar ranks second in scoring at 15.7 factors per sport, leads in assists at 3.3 and is tied for second in steals at 1.7. He had 18 factors, 4 assists and three steals in Sunday’s 75-70 win towards Brown earlier than an introduced 1,079 at Reitz Arena in Baltimore to assist Loyola (1-2) seize its first win of the season.
Jones’ versatility is appreciated by coach Tavaras Hardy.
“It’s been fun to watch his growth, especially the last couple of years,” he mentioned. “He understands that this year, we need him to be aggressive. We need him to score the ball, we need him to shoot with confidence, and that’s the way he’s been attacking practices. So I’m looking forward to him having a great season just playing a different role than he has. I think he’s going to be important for us.”
Jones’ roots on the level guard place appeared predestined. He quipped that even at an early age, he was usually the shortest participant on his groups. At 6 toes and 187 kilos, he’s tied for the third-shortest participant among the many Greyhounds, trailing solely 5-7 senior guard Alex Jackson (Boys’ Latin) and 5-8 freshman guard Deon Perry (Mount Carmel).
Playing level guard match Jones’ type. “Being the point guard, I liked making the decisions and putting the ball in my teammates’ hands so that they could score,” he mentioned.
Choosing Loyola over Towson, St. Joseph’s, Princeton and Boston University, Jones didn’t common greater than six factors and three assists in his first three seasons. But final winter, he began all 30 video games and ranked third on the crew in factors (8.9) and minutes (33) per sport.
Jones attributed his private success to the play of his teammates.
“When you’ve got guys who can score, it’s easy to find them because they get themselves in the right position,” he defined. “I just had to get them the ball. We also have bigs who play great at the pick-and-roll. So I just had to throw it up to them so that they could score.”
In the offseason, Hardy approached Jones about making a place change for 2 causes. One was the addition of Perry, who additionally performed level guard and was a Baltimore Sun All-Metro choice as a senior. The different concerned the switch of capturing guard Cam Spencer, who led final 12 months’s squad in factors (18.9) and steals (2.3) and ranked second in rebounds (4.8) and assists (3.2).
“When you lose a guy like Cam Spencer [to Rutgers], you need someone to replace that role,” Hardy mentioned. “He won’t do it exactly like Cam did it, but having him as a veteran to relieve some of that loss that we have with Cam, that should work for us.”
Any trepidation Perry may need had about pushing out final season’s starter was wiped away by Jones’ therapy of him.
“When I came in, it was always a warm welcome,” mentioned Perry, who has averaged 10.3 factors and 1.7 assists so far. “It was a good transition between the two of us. There was nothing personal. It was all about competing.”
Jones mentioned he had no objections to creating room for Perry.
“He’s a great passer, he’s a great on-ball defender, he can get his shot whenever he wants,” Jones mentioned. “So he can definitely play.”
Perhaps the largest adaptation for Jones is resisting his pass-first mentality.
“It’s tough because that hasn’t been the way I played, but I think the guys understand,” he mentioned. “I think I can still look for them to make plays, but they’re constantly telling me to look for my shot. So I appreciate them for that.”
Perry mentioned he continues to lean on Jones for recommendation on taking part in level guard on the collegiate degree.
“He pushes me in practice every day to be the player I am,” Perry mentioned. “If he sees something that I don’t see on the court, he explains it to me. During the game, he explained a couple things to me. He’s definitely a good leader. He shows me the way on what I need to improve and where he sees the open holes for him and the rest of the team to score.”
Jones, who graduated in January with a bachelor’s in enterprise administration and is pursuing a grasp’s in advertising, mentioned he’s keen to assist the Greyhounds seize what could be their first Patriot League championship. He additionally admitted that he can’t assist however take into consideration a sure statistical division.
“Putting up points was never my biggest worry,” he mentioned. “I’ve never really thought about it like that. It would be nice for me to lead the Patriot League in assists as an off-the-ball guard. Maybe that’s something I can do.”
Washington College at Loyola Maryland
Thursday, 7 p.m.
Stream: ESPN+
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Source: www.bostonherald.com