Denver Jones' status for No. 1 Auburn's game at No. 22 Texas A&M up in the air
AUBURN — Denver Jones injured his right ankle early in the win at Kentucky. Jones only played eight minutes and didn’t return to the game, but did return to the bench to cheer on his teammates.
On Monday, head coach Bruce Pearl said Jones’ status for the game against No. 22 Texas A&M on Tuesday night is up in the air.
“I will know more later. That’s one of the disadvantages of actually having press conferences before practice is, I just don’t know yet,” Pearl said.
“The good thing, as we talked about yesterday, I think that it is a bone bruise. It’s a soft tissue, actually. It’s actually a soft tissue, it’s not even a bone bruise. And so therefore, it’s something that could hold him out, but it’s not something that’s going to hold him out for long.”
Pearl declined to comment specifically on how Auburn might approach the point guard position and rotations, if Jones isn’t available to play.
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Freshman Tahaad Pettiford would certainly start in that situation, but how many minutes he might play, and how many minutes backup JP Pegues or another Auburn guard might play at the point guard position, remains to be seen.
“I’m not going to talk about who my quarterback is going to be in case my quarterback can’t go,” Pearl said.
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Pettiford played a career-high 34 minutes at Kentucky in Jones’ absence, scoring 21 points, dishing out three assists and committing zero turnovers.
Jones averages over 10 points and two assists per game, and is the Tigers’ best on-ball defender. Being without Jones against talented guards like Zhuric Phelps and Wade Taylor would be significant.
Jones leads Auburn in three-point shooting percentage 43.1 and is shooting 39 percent from three during league play. In the last five games, Jones’ assist-to-turnover ratio is 2:1, and Jones is shooting 12-25 from three during Auburn’s current six-game winning streak.
“Denver Jones is so valuable to us,” Pearl said. “I can’t begin to tell you because he plays two positions. He’s our best defensive guard and for us to win (at Kentucky) without him, that’s incredible.”
