Player Profile: Jeff Jones

Jeff Jones            6’4” 200lbs

Shooting Guard

Chester, Pennsylvania

 Strengths: Outside Shot, Defense

Needs to Improve:  Size, Aggressiveness

                 Jeff Jones has begun to emerge towards the end of this season as a viable option as the two guard for the UVA basketball team. A heralded shooter, Jones has also begun to show his ability to take his man off the dribble and not rely solely on others to get a shot for him. Jones, a sophomore, started the season battling with Mustapha Farrakhan and Sylven Landesberg for the two guard spot, but with Landesberg moving to small forward Jones beat Farrakhan out and is now the starting shooting guard, and is thriving in that role. Since given the starting spot 4 games ago Jones is averaging 9.25 points per game and playing much more aggressively. In fact I would argue that no one has benefitted more from Coach Leitao’s new, more patient, style than Jones, who is now more relaxed on the court and beginning to take more risks and let his abilities shine. Knowing that he isn’t going to be pulled if he misses a 3 point attempt has allowed Jones to be much more comfortable while shooting and allowed him to rediscover his stroke. Coming into this season it was known that Jones was the best deep threat that the Cavaliers had and now Jones is starting to show it. Jones also displays tremendous hustle and desire on the defensive end of the floor, which all the young cavaliers do. Though it is not reflected in the stats, 10 steals and 2 blocks, Jones’ defensive style takes pressure off of the front court to clean up messes created by a lack of perimeter defense.

                Jones has already begun to improve on his aggressiveness with the ball. His play is much more aggressive taking his man off the dribble to the basket. This has a direct correlation with the new confidence the coach is showing in him and is directly improving Jones’ play on the court. Adding that extra dimension to his game makes the UVA offense that much tougher to defend and improves the team as a whole. Jones does however need to pack a little more meat onto his frame. 200 pounds is generous and if Jones is going to drive into the lane he needs to develop the strength to take the ball to the rim. Also becoming stronger would help him handle the larger guards that are coming into the ACC and make him a bigger matchup problem for opposing defenses.

                Jones is an essential part of the team moving forward. His ability to hit an open jumper makes the opposing defenses respect his shot and not be able to pack it in in order to stop the penetration of Sylven Landesberg and the post scoring of Mike Scott and Assane Sene. However those players also give Jones the ability to get those open looks with the focus on them. Jones could be the beneficiary of the kick out play that is so effective in the college game when everyone crashes down on the post man leaving the shooter wide open. That role will be crucial for the Cavaliers in the development of their offense in the future, which should be one that plays to their strengths, which are penetration and a strong post presence.  If Jones can consistently hit the 3 while still being able to take his man off the dribble he will thrive in this system and help the Hoos develop into a strong ACC team.

Wahoos Roll at JPJ

Virginia 75    Virginia Tech 61

                 The UVA men’s basketball team had an extremely impressive performance against the hokies last night at the John Paul Jones arena. Led by Sylven Landesberg’s 19 points and 9 rebounds the Cavaliers showed that last Sunday’s win over Clemson was no fluke and hinted that good things may be to come. In addition to Landesberg, Jamil Tucker added 13 points off the bench and Calvin Baker had 10.

What was the most impressive thing however was Coach Leitao’s willingness to stick with the lineup on the floor that he has exhibited over the last 3 games. I don’t know where the man who would yank Solomon Tat after 45 seconds for dribbling the ball off of his foot but I like this new coach. Without the pressure of being taken out players like Jeff Jones have really started to blossom and thrive in the offense and the team is playing better as a whole. At one point Jones, who scored 8 points in 26 minutes and was 40% from 3-point range, made an incredible reverse lay-up. This was the kind of play and aggressiveness that was just not there earlier in the season. The team is now more relaxed when they play and is more willing to take risks and allow plays like that to happen because they no longer fear getting the hook if they screw up.

This mentality also extends to the defensive end of the court. You can say all you want about Jeff Allen being suspended but Assane Sene was a beast in the paint last night. The stat line doesn’t show anything too impressive, 4 points, 4 boards, and 2 blocks, but Sene’s mere presence helped stifle the attack of Virginia Tech. Sene’s presence in the lane as a shot blocker allows the cavalier’s perimeter defenders to be more aggressive in attacking the ball because there are no easy shots with the 7 foot shot blocker in the middle of the lane. This more aggressive defense allowed the Cavaliers to push the tempo of the game all night long to the point where the less athletic Hokies just could not keep up anymore.

I thought the Hoos looked best with Zeglinski at point, Jones at the 2, Landesberg at the 3, Scott at the 4, and Sene in the middle. This lineup is extremely talented but more importantly, extremely young. Seeing this team excel to the level it did last night gives me incredible optimism for the future of UVA basketball. This has been driving me nuts all year but Leitao seems to have finally settled, or resigned to, this younger developing lineup. This collection of 2 freshman and 3 sophmores could easilybe the starting 5 for the next 2 seasons and probably should have been all of this season. This group plays fast, exciting, and aggressive basketball lead by the dynamic scoring ability of Sylven Landesberg, who has emerged as the teams go to player even as a freshman. With big bodies like Scott and Sene to clean up the boards, Zeglinski to distribute and Jones to alleviate some of the defensive pressure on the inside with his ability to hit the three this team has all the pieces in place to be not just a good, but I believe a great ACC team in the future. Even their bench is strong. Jamil Tucker consistently provides a spark off the bench and Mustapha Farrakahn has shown flashes of brilliance. The core players of the UVA basketball team are young and talented and last night’s game showed that and also made me extremely excited for the future, and I hope everyone else is too.