Jones leads second-half charge, puts 'staple in [Spartans'] back'

INDIANAPOLIS—With Jahlil Okafor headed to the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 8:59 left, Michigan State seemed poised to capitalize.

Having cut the deficit to three points just three minutes earlier, the Spartans would get to spend the next several minutes without Okafor posting up down low and without Duke's most formidable rebounder on the defensive glass, where Michigan State had manhandled the Blue Devils for most of the night.

But Tyus Jones rose to the occasion to prevent a Spartan comeback. By the time Okafor checked back into the contest, Duke had turned a six-point edge into a commanding 13-point advantage, effectively putting the game away.

"When Jah went out with his fourth foul, we didn’t panic," senior guard Quinn Cook said. "We came together, we wanted to get some rebounds, because we were smaller out there, and everyone stepped up."

No Blue Devil stepped up more than Jones, who didn't register a point in the first half but took over the game down the stretch. The freshman knocked down all four of his shots after intermission—finishing with 17 points—and also handed out four assists. During the 3:37 stretch that Okafor sat, Jones scored nine of Duke's 13 points, including two and-one opportunities that Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo called "the staple in our back."

Through the first two games of the season, Jones had been touted as a pass-first point guard despite reaching double-figures in both games. In the first half Tuesday night, that description largely held true, as Jones looked to facilitate the Blue Devil offense rather than call his own number.

But with his classmate plagued by foul trouble at the game's most critical juncture, Jones became more assertive. With 7:58 remaining, the Apple Valley, Minn., product accepted a pass from Cook and fired a 3-pointer, drilling it as he was run into by Michigan State's Denzel Valentine. Jones calmly sank the ensuing free throw, giving the Blue Devils a 13-point lead. It was the second 3-pointer on which Jones was fouled Tuesday, and the third four-point play in as many games for Duke.

After a 3-pointer by Travis Trice and a lay-up by Branden Dawson brought the Spartans back within 10, Jones struck again, driving hard on the left baseline and drawing contact from Lourawls "Tum Tum" Nairn Jr., getting the runner to fall in the process. Jones converted again from the charity stripe—where he was a perfect 7-for-7 on the night—to widen the lead to 13 once again. Michigan State would get no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

"Tyus took off in the second half. You got 36 points [from Jones and Cook], pretty efficient, 10 assists, no turnovers [and] good defense. When it became 51-48 you could sense the momentum shifting; we were in a little bit of foul trouble," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Then Tyus got that four-point play that got us a double-figure lead at a real critical point. The game could go the other way real easy at that point."

Going up against veteran guards in Trice and Valentine, Jones acquitted himself well, spreading the ball among his teammates and handling the Spartan pressure to help Duke drain time off the clock down the stretch. In the process, he improved his assist-to-turnover ratio to 5.33:1. Between Jones and Cook, the Blue Devils' two-point guard starting lineup have 31 helpers and just four turnovers through three games.

Jones said he enjoys looking to set up his teammates as his initial job responsibility as Duke's floor general.

"[It's about] being a well-rounded basketball player. Basketball has always been fun to me, so it’s always been fun to play the right way, making the extra pass and stuff like that," Jones said. "It’s just something that I kind of owned up to and wanted to make sure that that was the type of player I was when I grew up."

Three other Blue Devils joined Jones in double-figures, including backcourt-mate Cook, who finished with a game-high 19 points and three triples. With such a deep and balanced roster, Duke seems to have no trouble finding a go-to scoring option even when a key cog in the machine like Okafor is forced out of a contest.

"[Jones] is a really good shooter, so I wasn't surprised," Okafor said. "It's a very good sign.... Every night, somebody different is going to step up, so it was great to see."

Izzo—who worked hard to woo both Jones and Okafor to East Lansing—said Jones' performance Tuesday was the best he's seen him shoot the ball, in addition to his excellent court vision. Stuck with a short bench due to an injury-ravaged lineup, Izzo also noticed that Duke's depth gives the floor general a multitude of options and enabled the Blue Devils to run away from the Spartans in the game's final 10 minutes.

"He played awfully well. He just kind of lets the game come to him," Izzo said. "When you’ve got ‘Throw it left, throw it right, throw in the middle or throw it behind’ and someone’s there to make a play, it’s a little easier. He’s good for that."

Jones may not take over many games the rest of the year. He'd rather help set up a teammate to do that. But if he feels he can exploit a matchup, the point guard showed Tuesday that he's more than up to the task of carrying Duke to victory.