One point I’ve made many times over the years, even if I personally disregard it every once in a while, is that five-star freshmen are rarely as important as college veterans, doubling as legitimate NBA prospects, who decide to return to school.
Auburn’s Johni Broome provided a reminder Monday night.
On Tuesday night, it was Marquette’s Kam Jones.
Final score: Marquette 76, Purdue 58.
The Golden Eagles’ Stevie Mitchell led all scorers with 21 points on 11 shots — but the star of the game was Jones, a 6-foot-5 senior who took 12 shots, made seven of them and finished with 17 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the 18-point victory over the back-to-back Big Ten champs who had, just four days earlier, disposed of Alabama 87-78. Jones’ effort represented the first triple-double for a Marquette player since Dwyane Wade recorded one against Kentucky at the 2003 Final Four in New Orleans.
Simply put, Kam Jones was awesome.
We spent some time on him on Wednesday morning’s episode of the Eye On College Basketball Podcast. So please check that out, if you get a chance. But now I want to focus on a postgame quote from Marquette coach Shaka Smart.
In a moment of triumph, he tipped his cap.
“Great team-win,” Smart said. “So much respect for Purdue. I would say, other than UConn, in college basketball right now, they have the best program. The consistency that they’ve shown, the fact that they’re able to lose a guy like Zach Edey and still have a team that can play with and beat anyone … so that’s a great win for us.”
Gonzaga might quibble with that quote. Houston could raise its hand. But, I think we can all agree, the sentiment is right. Before Tuesday’s loss at Marquette, Purdue had won 39 straight regular-season nonconference games, a streak that dated to December 2020. So rather than bang on Purdue for nearly losing by 20, it’s probably more reasonable to applaud the Boilermakers for being willing to challenge themselves in a true road environment four days after playing Alabama at home.
Not all programs would do it.
Marquette moved up to No. 8 in Wednesday morning’s updated CBS Sports Top 25 And 1 daily college basketball rankings. Purdue only dropped to No. 9, which caused Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Duke to all be pushed down one spot each, no fault of their own.
