The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

In just his second start of the season, Texas Longhorns forward Kai Jones set several career highs and a new personal milestone.

Jones posted his first NCAA double double with 15 points and a career high 10 rebounds in the No.5 Longhorns’ 80-79 loss to the No.24 Oklahoma Sooners at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday night.

Jones shot 5-11 from the field, was a season high 4-6 from the line and also added a career high three assists. And and he tied his season high with two blocks and two steals in 37 minutes on the floor for the shorthanded Longhorns.

Texas returned to the court for the first time in 10 days after a pair of postponements due to COVID-19 protocols. Their last appearance was a January 16 win over Kansas State.

Against Oklahoma, the Longhorns were without head coach Shaka Smart, second leading scorer Courtney Ramey, second leading rebounder Jericho Sims and reserve big Brock Cunningham. The Longhorns had no more than five players able to practice for the majority of the previous week and only had the services of their eight scholarship players available for practice beginning on Monday.

Despite the team’s shortcomings headed into the contest, Jones said it served as an opportunity to test their resilience. “It’s always good to look at things and say ‘win anyway and have no excuse’ but you also have to be aware of circumstances and acknowledge them,” he said.

“I’m absolutely proud of our guys how we came back and really fought our butts off, we just had our full eight back [Monday] but that’s what this life thing is about, it’s like a life lesson, you go through obstacles and things happen out of your control but you just try to focus on the things you can control and make the best out of the situation you have.”

Jones got out to a slow start, 0-5 from the field, and Oklahoma had a 43-34 lead at the half. They led 58-47 with just under 13 minutes left to play and had a 78-70 deficit with 3:49 left to play. Texas responded with a 7-0 run before their rally fell just short on the game’s final possession. “We have a group of guys that are capable of coming back from deficits, a group of guys that are capable of fighting, even when we’re undermanned, even when we’re not in the ideal situation, we have fighters on this team and those are some guys I would like to go to war with anyday,” Jones said, “I think we could have brought more effort in the first half, for me individually and as a collective as well, in the second half we ramped it up a bit but of course we have a lot to improve on in terms of boxing out and rebounding with violence…On defense I think my motor was pretty good but on offense I could have made some smarter plays and knocked some shots down that I would have liked to see go in, but I’m going to just get back in the gym and try to come out and be better next game, build and improve on this game.”

Jones reached double figures in scoring for the sixth time this year (13 games) and eighth time in his career after his extended absence due to COVID-19 protocols.

He had not played since January 13 after being exposed to a positive case. He tested negative but was still required to quarantine for 7-10 days.

“It’s been a bit tough. I try to just keep my body moving, stay working out and stay positive.You see things stop and you can’t really do the thing that you love - I love basketball - so sitting in a room all day is tough not only on your body but mentally,” Jones said, “Shaka did a great job of helping me get through that, he sends us scriptures everyday about staying positive, staying in the moment so I tried to just do that throughout the whole quarantine but it’s been a challenge for sure. Coming back on the court again it was refreshing for sure but I really wanted to get that win.”

Texas looks to get back into the win column Saturday when they travel to Lexington, Kentucky, to face the Kentucky Wildcats.

I think we just need to improve defensively in terms of getting stops and making guys miss. We’re going to watch a lot of film with the team tomorrow, the day after that, up until Saturday just to lock in on the details.

Without Smart on the sidelines, Longhorns associate head coach KT Turner filled the role.

“KT did a great job, he was being honest with me the entire game. Early when I was having some struggles and not making the best plays he was telling me I had to pick it up. I think he was very poised.”Jones said, “We didn’t get the outcome that we wanted but I think coach KT did a great job of being poised, leading us, being a positive voice but also being an honest voice.”

Turner said his message to Jones was pivotal to the team’s turnaround in the second half.

“Just play hard, don’t worry about nothing else but playing hard and good things are going to happen,” Turner said, “He had an unbelievable second half, his energy was different, he was guarding, he was more aggressive in the paint offensively and he did a great job of responding.”

On the season, the 6’11” 220 pound forward is averaging nine points and 5.2 rebounds per game. His 2021 NBA Draft stock continues to rise and several publications project the versatile forward as a mid first to second round pick.