UVa’s Jones performs well in loss

The questions from the throng of reporters were coming at Virginia sophomore Jeff Jones from all angles.
Has it been frustrating not playing regularly this year? Are you being used correctly within the offense? Do you have any regrets about attending UVa?
Jones didn’t directly answer most of the queries, but it didn’t take an expert in body language to realize that the guard from Philadelphia isn’t —and hasn’t been — very happy with the way his college career is unfolding. Jones seemed to be biting his tongue as best he could — especially when he was asked about yo-yoing in and out of Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s rotation with fellow guard Mustapha Farrakhan.
“I’ve just had to stay prepared, and when my name is called be ready,” said Jones, who has played two minutes or less in four games this season after starting 25 games as a freshman. “That’s all I can do — just stay ready.”
In Saturday’s train wreck versus Florida State — a game in which Virginia scored just three baskets in the first half — Jones was certainly that.
After peeling off his warm-ups in the second half, he was one of the few UVa players who showed any semblance of a shooting touch. Jones finished with eight points in 14 minutes of action, all three of his field goals coming in succession, two of them from 3-point range.
“I was just doing the best that I could to get my team back in the game and to keep fighting,” Jones said. “When the score got down to [13], I knew we could come back if we could keep fighting one possession at a time.”
Virginia was certainly a lot better in the second half, but it did have a lot of room for improvement after shooting just 14 percent from the field in the first 20 minutes.
“It was definitely frustrating when you’re in front of the home crowd and can’t put the ball in the hole,” Jones said.
While Jones did his best to dance around many of the touchy individual issues surrounding him, he admitted that he is the type of player who needs consistent minutes and shot attempts to thrive.
“If I miss two, that doesn’t mean I’m going to have a bad game,” he said. “I’m a rhythm guy.”
One of the interesting aspects of Saturday’s game — at least at the time — was Leitao not putting Jamil Tucker into the game until about midway through the first half. Tucker was coming off a career-high 21 points in his previous outing and surely could have been
useful as Virginia was firing blanks.
Jones helped shine some light on the situation. He said his teammate didn’t play right away because of “personal reasons beyond basketball…in-the-locker-room things.”
Virginia should have plenty of time to iron that out. The Cavs don’t play again until a trip to
No. 1-ranked Duke on Sunday.