When Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and his assistants signed Denver Jones, a transfer from FIU, in the spring of 2023, they knew they were getting a valuable commodity. Jones, then a 6-foot-4 junior, had averaged 20.1 points and shot 47.8 percent from the field, 37.1 percent from three-point range and 84.5 percent from the free throw line in the 2022-23 season. His willingness to hoist the three ball (159 attempts) and ability to get to the free-throw line (155 attempts) made him a perfect fit for Pearl’s system.
Little did the Auburn coaches know at the time, but in Jones, they also signed a versatile weapon who icould defend and play the point, too. Perhaps the Tigers — behind national player of the year candidate Johni Broome — would still be ranked No. 1 in the country and a national championship contender this season had Jones decided to sign elsewhere, but there’s no question he has given the Tigers an X-factor few teams have.
If no one outside the Auburn program knew that before last week, they know now. In averaging 18.5 points and shooting 63.2 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from three in wins at Vanderbilt (Feb. 11) and No. 2 Alabama (Feb. 15), Jones earned SEC Player of the Week honors. Jones scored 21 points in the first half against Vanderbilt and added 16 points against Alabama in perhaps the most impressive victory of any SEC team this season. Just as important, he guarded the leading scorers for Vandy and ‘Bama and held them to a combined 9-of-28 shooting (32.1 percent) from the field and 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) from behind the arc.
For the last couple of years, Pearl has been prodding the media to pay more attention to Jones. But Pearl and his staff have a stacked roster and it’s easy for anyone not named Broome to escape closer scrutiny from the press. But Jones has commanded attention from the people who matter—opposing coaches and even NBA scouts.
“You may not notice him as much in the stat sheet,” Pearl said earlier this season. “But every coach and every scout notices him as one of the best defensive guards in the country.”
Jones had no choice but to be a scorer at FIU, which finished 14-18 in 2022-23. Per KenPom, Jones took 29.4 percent of the Panthers’ shots, 96th in the country, and was used on 29.1 percent of their possessions (72nd).
Pearl is glad to get whatever points Jones contributes, but at Auburn, Jones has had to do much more than score. He spent last summer learning how to play the point and he has become an increasingly reliable defender. Jones’ list of victims is long, but here are a couple of highlights. He held Purdue’s Braden Smith, whom many consider the best guard in the Big Ten, to 3-of-12 shooting and 8 points. Duke’s Tyrese Proctor was hassled into a 4-of-10 shooting performance, as was Memphis point guard Tyrese Hunter. In the SEC, Jones’ recent efforts against Vanderbilt’s Jason Edwards (5 of 11 shooting) and Alabama’s Mark Sears (4 of 17 from the floor, 2 of 11 from 3) helped give Auburn (24-2, 12-1) the edge to win the SEC’s regular-season title.
Jones’ teammate Myles Kelly, a 6-foot-6 senior who also came to The Plains with the reputation for being a good shooter after a successful career at Georgia Tech, knows all too well about Jones’ defensive prowess. “The whole summer, gearing up toward the season, he was guarding me,” Kelly said. “His instincts are just crazy. They’re second to none. A lot of defenders, they jump at everything and get antsy. But he stays solid every time.”
Just one more reason to believe Auburn is on its way to win a national championship.
Selfless Handlogten makes timely return for Florida
Last March, Micah Handlogten, a 7-foot-1, 235-pound junior, suffered a gruesome injury in the championship game of the SEC Tournament. Trying to rebound a teammates’ missed shot, Handlogten planted his left leg, leaped to secure the ball, and when he landed, his leg buckled, the result of a compound fracture. He had surgery that night to make sure an infection didn’t set in.
No one was sure how long Handlogten’s recovery might take, which made it harder for Florida coach Todd Golden to recruit another big man in the transfer portal. So Handlogten announced his intentions to redshirt in 2024-25, enabling the Gators to land Washington State transfer Rueben Chinyelu, a 6-foot-10 sophomore forward who has started all season.
Handlogten’s recovery happened faster than expected, but if he returned to the court it meant he would cost him a season of eligibility. Handlogten considered burning his redshirt year and returning to the court on Jan. 25 against Georgia, a team he blasted with a 23-point, 17-rebound game last season. But after thinking it through, Handlogten decided to remain a redshirt.
Then came injuries to Alex Condon, another starting post man, and backup Sam Alexis that left the Gators in a bind. So on Feb. 14, Handlogten decided he would play, even though Florida had just seven regular-season games remaining.
But Handlogten wasn’t thinking about those games. He was more concerned with the SEC and NCAA tournaments. The Gators were already considered a No. 1 seed by the NCAA and every bracketologist in the business. When Condon and Alexis return, and with Handlogten rounding into game shape, Florida will have the deepest and toughest frontcourt in the country to go along with its experienced and talented backcourt.
In his first two games back, Handlogten averaged 17.5 minutes, 2.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks. Whatever he gives Florida the rest of the season, he will be one of the feel-good stories of the season. “How about Micah’s unselfishness?,” Golden told the media after Handlogten’s first game back against South Carolina. “It could be very easy for him to say, ‘You know, I only got this many games left, I don’t want to waste it.’ And he’s like, ‘I have a chance to go play with my buddies and compete to go try to win a lot of games down the stretch.’ I just can’t imagine how joyful he feels to be able to go out there and play.”
Around the Rim
• In 37 years as a head coach, Tennessee’s Rick Barnes has been notoriously hard on his point guards. From George Mason to Providence, Clemson, Texas and Tennessee, if a player ran the point for Barnes, chances are good he incurred the coach’s wrath, several times over.
Such has been the case for Barnes’ current point man, All-American and Cousy Award candidate Zakai Zeigler. The way Barnes saw it, Zeigler presided over what could have been the Vols’ most inept first half of the season at home last Saturday against Vanderbilt. After those first 20 minutes, the Vols trailed 44-31 and their leader, the 5-foot-9 senior Zeigler, hadn’t scored a point.
Few details were shared, but in the locker room at halftime, Barnes challenged Zeigler. “I probably made him mad at me,” Barnes told Hoops HQ.
The strategy worked to perfection. Zeigler delivered 22 second-half points as Tennessee rallied to win 81-76. After the game, Zeigler, who also handed out 8 assists, admitted that Barnes got him worked up. “I guess I had an I’m going to prove him wrong type of mindset,’ ” Zeigler said. “If this is what you think, I’m going to show you. It lit a fire under me. But we all knew the message. We’re a mature group of guys. He kept it honest. He gave us a message and we understood it.”
Barnes didn’t recreate all his halftime speech for the media, but one sentence he told his players spoke volumes. “Do you want to keep growing, or do you want to wilt?”
• If Texas battles its way into the NCAA Tournament, freshman Tre Johnson will have been a major reason. He proved as much on Feb. 15 when he dropped a career-high 32 points on then-No. 15 Kentucky, leading the Longhorns (16-10, 5-8) to a much-needed Quad 1 victory. That performance followed a 24-point effort against then-No. 2 Alabama. For the week, Johnson averaged 28 points, 6 rebounds and 3.5 assists, earning him his fourth SEC Freshman of the Week Award.
Johnson is leading the league in scoring (19.8) and he has reached double figures in 23 of 24 games, but he’s not one-dimensional. He’s second among Texas players in assists (2.6 per game) and is third in steals.
• Barring an unforeseen collapse, No. 21 Mississippi State (19-7, 7-6) has done enough to claim an NCAA Tournament berth, but the Bulldogs’ convincing win over No. 7 Texas A&M on Feb. 18 bulked up their resume. As usual, sophomore guard Josh Hubbard was in the middle of the action, scoring a game-high 25 points. With 1,061 in his brief career, he’s third on the program’s all-time list through 61 games.
Hubbard’s 25 points came on just 10 field goal attempts. That’s because he drew six fouls and made 10 of 11 free throws. Hubbard was also 3 of 6 from three and he added four steals and four assists. Hubbard has reached double-figure scoring a team-high 25 times this season and he has done so in 34 of his last 35 games. He’s also working on a streak of 39 games with at least one made three-pointer, tying him with Darryl Wilson (1994-96) for the most in school history.
“Sophomores aren’t traditionally leaders of your team,” State coach Chris Jans told Hoops HQ. “But he’s different. He’s got such great respect in the locker room because of how he goes about his craft, his work ethic and the fact he’s so humble.”
• Kentucky coach Mark Pope has been forced to go deeper and deeper into his bench as injuries to three of the veteran guards he recruited from the portal last spring gutted his rotation. The first to go was Kerr Krisa. Next came point guard Lamont Butler, who leads the team in assists and is the ‘Cats third-leading scorer. Then second-leading scorer Jaxon Robinson went down.
In their place, Pope turned to two former Kentucky high school stars, Travis Perry and Trent Noah. Both played key roles in the Wildcats’ sweep of Tennessee and on Wednesday night, when Kentucky hosted Vanderbilt, Perry — who scored a state-record 5,481 points in his career at Lyon County High School in Eddyville, Kentucky — was in the starting lineup.
Yet another freshman entered the fray against the Commodores. Collin Chandler was a top-40 player in the class of 2022 who originally signed with BYU out of Farmington (Utah) High. He made the switch along with his coach to Kentucky but hadn’t played for two years after serving a Mormon mission. Pope and has staff have experience re-integrating players who have taken missions back into college basketball. The process takes time. And Kentucky had so many experienced guards, the 6-foot-5 Chandler didn’t have to be rushed back into action. But against Vanderbilt, he played 15 critical minutes, contributing 7 points, 6 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals.
Pope told the press after the game that even after Butler and Robinson return (Kriisa’s status isn’t so certain), there will still be a place for Chandler.
“Collin Chandler has a skill set that’s unique to our team,” Pope said. “[Whether] we get all our guys back or not, he still has a space on this team, this year. The more comfortable he gets where he can do some things on the court that are unique for us that are going to be really impactful. He can be a guy that you watch down the stretch once we get to tournament play that is a difference maker.”
Games to Watch (all times ET)
Tennessee at Texas A&M, Saturday, Noon, ESPN2. Tennessee is ranked sixth in the country and listed as an NCAA Tournament No. 2 seed by every bracketologist, but the Vols (21-5, 8-5) don’t have a bye into the SEC tournament quarterfinals locked up. A road win over the seventh ranked Aggies would help.
Ole Miss at Vanderbilt, Saturday, 3:30 p.m., SEC Network. Ole Miss (19-7, 8-5) has probably locked an NCAA Tournament bid, but the same can’t be said for the Commodores. They would love to strengthen their resume by adding the Rebels to their list of Saturday homecourt SEC conquests that includes Tennessee, Kentucky, and Texas.
Kentucky at Alabama, Saturday, 6 p.m., ESPN. This is the game of the day in the SEC. Alabama needs to atone for losing to Auburn at home last Saturday and at Missouri on Wednesday night. The Wildcats (18-8, 7-6) would love a win to help improve their SEC and NCAA tournament seedings.
