STEPPING UP
Since senior forward Casey Jones, the SoCon preseason player of the year, went down with an ankle injury on Dec. 11, other UTC players have increased their production: Johnathan Burroughs-Cook: 8.3 points per game before the injury; 10.1 since Chuck Ester: 7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds before; 7.0 points, 6.0 rebounds since Duke Ethridge: 8.5 points, 3.7 rebounds before; 8.4 points, 3.9 rebounds since Tre’ McLean: 7.9 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 steals before; 12.1 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.6 steals since Dee Oldham: 5.5 points, 4.1 rebounds before; 5.3 points, 4.4 rebounds since (career-high 11 at Lipscomb) Greg Pryor: 9.4 points, 2.6 assists, 2.3 steals before; 12.1 points, 5.4 assists, 1.4 steals since Eric Robertson: 5.8 points, 15-of-36 3-pointers before; 11.6 points, 24-of-48 3-pointers since Justin Tuoyo: 11.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.8 blocks before; 8.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.0 blocks since
But he’s enjoyed it just as much as his teammates.
The preseason Southern Conference player of the year has been out since injuring his ankle on Dec. 11 as the team prepared to travel to Dayton, Ohio. He didn’t travel for that game, an impressive victory, but has been with the Mocs in every game since then – in a boot.
He has been cleared to start doing some work on the ankle and could resume practice in the next couple of weeks.
Jones wasn’t sure how bad the injury was at first but told coach Matt McCall, “I’m sorry, Coach. I won’t be out there for a while.”
“When stuff like that happens, there’s nothing you can do about it,” Jones said. “You can’t get too mad about it, but luckily it’s not too serious. It could have been worse.”
In his absence, everybody else has stepped up at some point or another.
“That’s evident because we’ve been playing some good ball lately,” said guard Eric Robertson, Jones’ fellow senior. “It seems seamless. We’re not down or anything because we miss him; we’re still clicking on all parts of the game, and that’s important that everyone pick up the slack.”
Robertson said that when the injury happened, he thought Jones had “broke his leg.” It was tough for him because the two started their UTC careers together.
“I’ve been in the trenches with him,” Robertson said. “We haven’t won a championship and were feeling like this is the year to go get it, and to see him go down, it was a sad moment.”
McCall said the fact that different players have been able to step up in Jones’ absence – he led the team in scoring, rebounding and assists at the time of the injury – has helped greatly to ease the load. A lot of guys have led the team in scoring, but one player McCall specifically named for his contributions was junior Chuck Ester.
“He’s been our Mr. Reliable,” McCall said. “He’s such a smart defensive player. Some of the things he does don’t show up on the stat sheet. He’s a physical presence for us; he’s always in the right spot defensively; he always rebounds. Some of the stuff he does impacts winning, and as a coach you see that, but they don’t always show up on the stat sheet.
“I’m really, really proud of his growth.”
Jones has started to shed the crutches that have been part of his outfit for the past few weeks and is walking around more and more without them, preferring only to keep them around “just in case.” He hasn’t set a specific date for his return to the court because such things are out of his control.
He could choose not to play in another game and receive a medical redshirt since he hadn’t played in 30 percent of the team’s contests, but that’s not a concern. He said that when he’s ready to play, he’s going to play.
“I’m not the type of go out and dwell on the injury,” Jones said. “I’m just going to play hard, like I normally play, and get back in stride like I never left.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfree press.com. Follow him at twitter.com/ genehenleytfp.