Curtis Jones must have forgot he was a freshman.
The first-year guard out of Huntington Prep was playing in his first career collegiate basketball game, but didn’t seem fazed at all.
Jones checked into the game with just less than three minutes to go in overtime, and IU was tied with Kansas 91-91. With 1:45 left, the Hoosiers were holding on to a one-point lead, and Jones knocked down a step-back three to increase the lead to four.
With three seconds left, the freshman threw down an emphatic two-handed dunk to seal the victory. No. 11 IU had upset No. 3 Kansas, 103-99.
“It was an incredible way to win,” IU Coach Tom Crean said. “I think we had three freshman and a couple sophomores on the court at the end of the game. Everybody that came in made big plays.”
Jones was forced into action due to foul trouble from the Hoosiers. Junior guard Robert Johnson and sophomore forward Thomas Bryant each fouled out in the final 1:04 of regulation causing Jones and his other freshman counterparts to step up in a time of need.
Jones had 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting and 3-for-5 from 3-point land in just 16 minutes.
Not only did he ice the game with his two handed-slam, he also knocked down two clutch free throws with 16 seconds remaining in the extra period.
Calm and cool under pressure, the 6-foot-4 guard had seven of his 15 points and half of the Hoosiers points in overtime to lead IU to victory.
“We had the deer in the headlights look when it went into overtime, but we got out of that in a hurry,” Crean said. “How about Curtis Jones, and what De’Ron Davis did, and Devonte’s three. The great news for both teams is that they’re going to get a lot better, but to get a win like this against a team like that is a huge, huge thing.”
Jones wasn’t the only freshman who impressed in the season opener Friday night, as forward De’Ron Davis and guard Devonte Green also contributed key minutes off the bench for the Hoosiers.
Davis finished with four points while knocking down his only shot attempt of the night. His two other points came from the free throw line where he pushed the IU lead back to four in the late stages of overtime after Jones’ step-back three.
Green was just 1-of-2 from the field with both attempts coming from beyond the arc, but his only made basket was pivotal at the time.
The freshman out of North Babylon, New York nailed a triple with just more than 6 minutes to go in the second half to put IU up two and the Hoosiers only let that lead slip once in the final stages of the game before heading into overtime.
With 63 fouls combined between both teams, 31 for IU and 32 for Kansas, Crean was forced to dive deep into his bench as he went with a 10-man rotation.
Arguably none of those bench players were bigger than Jones on Friday night in Hawaii.
“We found a way to win against a great team,” Crean said. “A team that I thought was really good and they’re even better than that in Kansas, and I’m proud of them.”
