Tyus Jones
Statline: Wednesday vs. Wake Forest: 10 points on 3-of-8 shooting, five assists, four rebounds and three steals in 32 minutes. Saturday at No. 19 North Carolina: 24 points on 5-of-10 shooting, seven assists, six rebounds and three steals in 37 minutes.
The good: Although freshman guard Grayson Allen stole the spotlight Wednesday as he delivered a career-high 27 points in No. 3 Duke’s solid victory against Wake Forest 94-51, his teammate Tyus Jones also put up great numbers against the Demon Deacons. The Apple Valley, Minn., native scored in double figures for the seventh-time in the last 10 games. One of the plays of the game was Jones’ buzzer-beating 3-pointer in the opening half. As Wake Forest’s Madison Jones fouled him, the 6-foot-1 point guard converted the ensuing free throw and extended Duke’s lead to 37 points.
But Jones was even better Saturday under the bright lights, performing his best on the big stage yet again. He already had a historic performance in Duke’s thrilling comeback against then-No. 15 North Carolina at Cameron Indoor Stadium Feb. 18, scoring 22 points and chipping in eight assists and seven rebounds. When the Tar Heels were planning to take revenge at the Dean E. Smith Center Saturday, the 6-foot-1 guard delivered yet another standout performance in Duke’s win 84-77, overcoming back spams in the second half and adding seven assists, six rebounds and three steals to his career-high 24 points.
The bad: It is difficult to find a defect in a player who delivered such an extraordinary performance against the cross-town rival. Jones even did a perfect job in one aspect of the game Duke has recently struggled with—free throws, once again showing his poise under pressure. Twelve of Jones’ 24 points against the Tar Heels came from the charity stripe. With 53 seconds left, the freshman extended Duke’s lead to eight points, 78-70. Five seconds later, North Carolina’s Marcus Paige reduced the margin to five. The Tar Heels still dreamed of a comeback. But Jones netted two more points from the free-throw line 30 seconds before the end of the game and crushed any hope for vendetta the North Carolina fans had.
The bottom line: Thanks to an extraordinary first season as a Blue Devil, Jones picked up All-ACC third-team honors and joined his teammates Justise Winslow and Jahlil Okafor, the ACC Player of the Year, on the conference’s All-Freshman team Sunday afternoon. Jones, who averages 11.8 points and 40 percent shooting from beyond the arc per contest, leads the Blue Devils in assists and stealsthis season, as he totaled 177 and 47, respectively, in 31 games.
The Apple Valley, Minn., native seems to have reached his peak precisely when the decisive moments of the season approach. Duke (28-3, 15-3 in the ACC) will play the ACC tournament quarterfinals against the winner of N.C. State-Pittsburgh Thursday in Greensboro, N.C. and look to continue its 11-game winning streak led by its floor general.
Honorable mention: Senior captain Quinn Cook, who averages 16.0 points, 88.5 percent from the charity stripe, 3.3 rebounds and 2.81 assists per contest, had an emotional final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium Wednesday. It was his night and he thanked the Cameron Crazies chanting “Thank you, seniors” by scoring 13 points–nine of them coming from behind the arc—on 4-of-12 shooting and adding five rebounds and two assists against Wake Forest.
But Cook, who has scored in double figures in 13 of his last 15 games, needed a last road game to be remembered. The Washington native registered 20 points against the Tar Heels and came up big when it mattered most. One of the most crucial plays of the second half Saturday had Cook as a protagonist. The 6-foot-2 guard received a pass in transition from Tyus Jones for a triple that gave Duke a nine-point lead with 6:19 to play and finished his career 6-2 against North Carolina.
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