Louisville left in tough spot after dismissing third-leading scorer Chris Jones
A dramatic week ended badly for Louisville point guard Chris Jones.
The senior went from suspended for the Cardinals’ game at Syracuse on Wednesday to starring Saturday against Miami to dismissed from the team Sunday, the school announced.
Coach Rick Pitino declined comment to Yahoo Sports on why Jones was dismissed, saying only, “He’s finished.” It’s unclear what happened before this latest disciplinary action against the senior point guard.
Less than 24 hours earlier, Jones had played extremely well in helping Louisville rally to beat Miami, 55-53. Jones had 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals against the Hurricanes.
“Is it fun to coach him?” Pitino said Saturday afternoon. “Not like [former guard] Russ Smith – there’s not a lot of laughter coaching him. [But] you appreciate how hard he works, so you give him some latitude when things don’t go well. …Chris works hard at his game, all the time. That’s why I appreciate him.”
That came after missing the game at Syracuse, which Louisville lost in part because it could not exert as much pressure defensively without the dogged, 5-foot-10 junior-college transfer. After that game Pitino was critical of Jones, saying, "We missed him a lot but it's his selfishness that hurt the team. I'm not one that believes in suspensions and game suspensions. I believe in punishment where you get up in the morning, left weights, curfew at night. This was not a decision by me. It's all cleared up. He could play the next game if he does what the assistants tell him to do. If he doesn't, I don't care if if he sits all season. I could care less. If he doesn't do the right things, he can move on and try to go to Belgium somewhere."
Jones himself took the blame for the Syracuse suspension, telling The (Louisville) Courier-Journal on Saturday: “I’ll take the blame for that any day of the week. It’s my fault. It’s something I’ll learn from. It hurt me to watch my team struggle.”
Louisville (21-6, 9-5 in the ACC) may struggle the rest of the way without its third-leading scorer (13.7) and leader in assists (3.2) and steals (2.0). Most importantly, Jones is the first weapon in the Cardinals’ disruptive pressure defense – something that had waned in recent weeks but was reignited with Jones in the lineup against Miami.
Now a Louisville team that already lacks depth must depend even more on untested players down the stretch. Freshman Quentin Snider played relatively well in place of Jones at Syracuse, but for the season is averaging just 2.4 points in 10.2 minutes per game. Walk-on David Levitch (40 career points in two seasons) may also see additional minutes, in addition to wing players Anton Gill and Shaqquan Aaron.
Louisville plays at Georgia Tech on Monday.
