When Purdue basketball needs a big shot, Boilermakers go to Lance Jones
With the game on the line, the ball always was in Lance Jones’ hands. Pressure never seemed to faze Purdue basketball’s fifth-year senior transfer. When the Boilermakers need a sure bucket, somehow, it’s typically Jones who provides it.
When Wisconsin had momentum and with the Kohl Center crowd roaring, it was of course Jones who silenced the crowd. Jones did it with a top of the key 3-pointer while Purdue led 52-49. And again with a steal and layup set up by Smith swiping the ball from Wisconsin’s Tyler Wahl, who then panicked and threw it into Jones’ waiting arms. From there, Jones outraced the Badgers down the floor for a layup that essentially sealed the game with 59 seconds left.
“I just live for those moments,” Jones said. “It’s nothing I want to shy away from. I feel like when the team needs a big shot, I can deliver it for them.”
Jones has delivered three first half buzzer beaters already this season, a moment that often leads to momentum carried into the locker room. None bigger, of course, than the three-quarter court heave against Marquette in the championship of the Maui Invitational. Purdue won that game by three points.
“He wants the ball in those moments,” center Zach Edey said. “He wants to shoot it. He wants the action for him. A lot of times just for us, like him shooting the ball is just great offense. We have such great offensive rebounders and he makes the shot a lot of the time.”
Ironically, when Jones committed to Purdue out of the transfer portal, outside shooting was a knock against the former Southern Illinois guard. Jones shot just 28 percent from 3 last season. During Purdue’s current seven-game winning streak, Jones has made at least three 3s in six of those games and is 23-for-52 (44.2%), which includes an 0 of 6 performance at Rutgers, which was actually one of Jones’ best games of the season. He’s averaging 17.4 points during that stretch.
Jones’ recent uptick makes him one of seven Boilermakers shooting better than 35% from 3-point range this season. It’s even more impressive considering Jones’ 3s have come with a higher degree of difficulty and some in momentum-changing scenarios.
“He’s not scared. That is the furthest from the truth,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “He gets a little bit of daylight and that’s rhythm for him.”
