The legend of Tyus Stones

INDIANAPOLIS—Nobody knows crunch time like the man they call "Tyus Stones."

Freshman point guard Tyus Jones picked up the nickname after it became apparent that he possessed a knack for turning in his biggest performances on his team's biggest stages. That rare ability was on display once again in Monday's 68-63 national championship win against Wisconsin, as the tournament's Most Outstanding Player scored 19 second-half points—including eight in the final 4:08—to clinch the program's fifth national title.

"He's been amazing. The bigger the moment, the bigger Tyus is," junior forward Amile Jefferson said. "He's great for our group. He's become a leader. To see his maturity since the summer has been amazing. The way he's able to take over games now, whether it's making the right pass or just controlling the tempo, he's hitting big shots at a high rate."

When asked if he was actually the one to give Jones the nickname, Jefferson was unabashed in admitting he was the originator of the Stones moniker—and was quick to rattle off why the rookie deserves it.

"Of course [it was me]," Jefferson said. "It's not even shots—it's moments. He's had a bunch....Every time we need him to, he's there. That's why he's Tyus Stones."

As Jefferson pointed out, Monday's game was far from the first time that Jones has taken over a game down the stretch. He nailed the game-clinching 3-pointer from the right wing in the closing seconds against then-undefeated Virginia, dropped 22 points on the road at Wisconsin and fueled the Blue Devils' home comeback against North Carolina with another 22-point effort.

Tyus Stones is not the only name the soft-spoken Jones goes by, center Jahlil Okafor said. When you hit as many clutch shots as Jones does, the nicknames keep coming.

"I call him 'T-Raw,'" Okafor said. "It's kind of a name he forced on me, but I call him it anyways. He's always composed—up 30, down 30. He's always the same. That's how he is off the floor."

So when Jones—who had only scored four points in the first half—rattled off six straight in 1:07 to pull the Blue Devils within three with 16:14 remaining, the capacity crowd at Lucas Oil Stadium was hardly surprised.

But the spurt would not quell all of Duke's problems. Following the under-16 media timeout, Wisconsin poured in six straight points of its own to go up nine and forced Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski to burn a timeout. Fellow freshman Grayson Allen, the biggest surprise of the night, scored eight straight Duke points to bring the Blue Devils within four.

Back to the Tyus Stones Show.

With 11:16 remaining in the game, Jefferson came up with a come-from-behind block on Nigel Hayes at the rim and pushed the ball ahead. Jones bore down, drove from the right wing toward the basket and drew the foul on Bronson Koenig. The shot—a prayer of a right-handed flick toward the basket—dropped and Jones sunk the free throw to pull Duke within one.

The Apple Valley, Minn., native was just getting started.

Trailing by two with 4:08 remaining, Jones and Okafor went on a 10-0 run by themselves, which started and ended with a pair of triples from the 6-foot-1 guard. On the first, Jones made use of a ball screen set by Jefferson and rose up to nail a 3-pointer from the left-center of the arc, giving Duke a lead it would never relinquish.

"He’s been that way all year," Jefferson said. "Coach went to those ball screens and Tyus just did what he did. He’s done it over and over again, it’s not something new."

The final trey was a dagger—drilled from the top of the key with 1:24 remaining—that pushed the Blue Devil lead to eight and elicited a reaction from the normally-reserved rookie that sent his team's bench into a frenzy and had the Blue Devil crowd on its feet.

"You dream of hitting a shot like that late in the game,” Jones said.

And when Wisconsin decided to make things interesting and close the gap to three with 34 seconds left, it was Tyus Stones who stepped to the charity stripe and brought a fifth banner back to Durham.