Numbers talk: Duke basketball champ makes NBA history, again
By Matt Giles
Duke basketball alum Tyus Jones is a highly underrated NBA Blue Devil.
It should come as no shock to Duke basketball faithful that the floor general of the 2014-15 Blue Devils, one-and-done national champ Tyus Jones, is fresh off recording the highest single-season assist-to-turnover ratio in NBA history.
The third-year Memphis Grizzlies point guard’s 7.04 clip barely bested the previous record of 6.96, which Jones put up in 2018-19 as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Now, consider that no other player has ever finished a season with a ratio of 6.0 or higher. Moreover, this marks the fourth straight year that the former No. 24 overall draft pick has led all his peers in the assist-to-turnover category.
Another no-surprise sight for any Duke fans’ eyes is that No. 2 on the list this go-round is none other than Tyus Jones’ younger brother. That player, of course, is former two-year Blue Devil Tre Jones, who turned in a career-high 5.07 assist-to-turnover as primarily a backup point guard for the San Antonio Spurs.
A real Duke basketball treat in Memphis
Folks in Memphis must be ecstatic about the older Jones brother’s brilliance this season, especially across the closing stretch. With playoff positioning still up in the air and third-year Grizzlies star Ja Morant sidelined with a knee injury, Tyus Jones served quite admirably as the starting point guard in nine of the team’s final 13 regular-season games.
The 25-year-old Minnesota native, seemingly now entering the prime of his career, guided Memphis to six straight victories to close out March, all but ensuring the Grizzlies (56-26) finished behind only the Phoenix Suns (64-18) in the Western Conference standings.
In addition to assist-to-turnover greatness, Jones set career-highs by averaging 8.7 points per outing and shooting 39.0 percent from downtown.
Tyus Jones and the No. 2 seed Memphis Grizzlies will face the winner of Tuesday night’s Play-In Tournament clash between the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves. Their best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the eventual No. 7 seed gets underway in Memphis at 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday.
dark. Next. Entire Duke staff checks out sons of Blue Devil legend
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