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The text Rubin Jones' former coach sent Michigan's Dusty May: 'He deserves the success'

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•02/20/25•

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Rubin Jones
Michigan Wolverines basketball guard Rubin Jones had a big put-back dunk against Purdue. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May made the tough decision to replace junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. in the starting lineup. He didn’t swap in graduate Rubin Jones as a demotion for Gayle, but instead he chose to better utilize each of the players’ strengths.

Three games in, it’s safe to say the move has worked out well for both players.

Jones, a North Texas transfer, has kept the ball moving, allowing Michigan’s best offensive players to get their opportunities, and played great defense, which is his calling card. In the two-point win over Purdue, he had a huge steal and coast to coast layup and a put-back dunk. In the three-point victory at Ohio State, he made all 3 of his shots from the field and totaled 8 points and 3 rebounds.

“Sometimes, role definition or who you’re playing with or the rotations and the lineups impact how well you’re playing,” May said on the ‘Inside Michigan Basketball’ radio show with host Brian Boesch. “And sometimes, guys play much better with other guys. To be honest, the games he started, even back to UCLA, he’s just had a different bounce in his step.

“And it’s almost as if he’s morphed into a different guy with those guys, where internally he said, ‘I’m gonna do all the dirty work and make all these hustle plays for this group to function together.’ He’s done it at a high level.”

Michigan isn’t just 3-0 in that stretch (and 4-0 with Jones in the starting lineup this season) but it’s won some challenging games — at Indiana, home against Purdue and at Ohio State. Jones has been a big part of all three, and May is pleased to see the way he’s turned a corner.

“I’m so proud of Rubin,” the Michigan coach said. “One of his old coaches texted last night and said, ‘He deserves the success. He deserves to go deep in the NCAA Tournament and he deserves to compete for championships.’ 

“It’s been a tough go for Rubin, and also he had been in the same system for four years. It’s a polar opposite from how we play. So, you’ve done the same thing for four years and then are asked to do something completely different. A lot of our game is instincts and habits, and the patterns that we have in our brain that we don’t even realize are stored there. It’s taken him some time, but it looks like he’s in a good flow and rhythm now.”

Gayle, meanwhile, just played a key role in Michigan’s win over his former team, Ohio State. May dialed him up for 2 buckets late in the victory, and the players chanted “Roddy! Roddy! Roddy” in the locker room afterward.

Gayle has been up and down this season, mostly with his jump shot, but has stayed the course. May pointed out an area that he’s thriving in that may not show up on the stat sheet every time.

“Roddy’s caught a lot of strays from both fan bases, and it just is what it is,” May noted. “The thing about Roddy, even though his shot hasn’t dropped like we thought it would and the way he shot it all summer for us, if you look at [graduate center] Vlad[islav Goldin]’s baskets, a lot of them are really good post passes by Roddy.

“And even now, we’re tinkering with getting him into some more high-low situations with Vlad because of how well he passes it and just how we continue to tweak offensively and anticipate what can work night in and night out against different teams, just to have different variety.”

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