Tennessee point guard Jordan Bone has come into his own in his third season with the Vols, and he’s getting national recognition for his play this year.
Bone has been named one of the 10 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award according to an announcement from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday. The annual award is awarded to college basketball’s top point guard each season.
The junior point guard was named to the preseason watch list for the award back in October, and now he’s one of the top 10 finalists for the award after his play this season. The list will be cut to five finalists in March, and a winner will be announced on April 12th.
Bone has improved across the board in nearly every area of his game this season. He’s nearly doubled his scoring output from last season, and he has one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in college basketball.
Right now, Bone is averaging 13.6 points, 6.6 assists, and three rebounds per game while shooting 46.5 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from three, and 84.2 percent from the free throw line. Aside from this three-point shooting, all those stats are career-highs currently.
Tennessee’s floor general has an assist/turnover ratio of 3.57 this season, which is tops in the SEC and is one of the best among qualifying players in all of college basketball. Bone is well on his way to smashing UT’s single-season record for best assist/turnover ratio in a season. Jon Higgins holds the current record with a 2.82 ratio in the 2002-03 season.
Bone was just named the SEC Co-Player of the Week for his performance in two Tennessee victories this past week. The junior guard averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 assists, and five rebounds in UT’s two games. He was a perfect 7-of-7 from the floor against Texas A&M on Saturday, dishing out 10 assists and scoring 18 points.
When you add in all the field goals that Bone has assisted on to the points he himself has scored this season, then Bone has been responsible for 33.4 percent of UT’s 1,820 points this season.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes has coached one Cousy Award-winner before. He was the head coach of Texas point guard DJ Augustin when he won the award in 2008. Augustin has been in the NBA for 11 seasons and currently plays for the Orlando Magic.
Besides Augustin, previous winners include players such as Kentucky’s Tyler Ulis (2016), UConn’s Shabazz Napier (2014), Michigan’s Trey Burke (2013), UConn’s Kemba Walker (2011), North Carolina’s Ty Lawson (2009), North Carolina’s Raymond Felton (2005), and St. Joseph’s Jameer Nelson (2004).
The other nine finalists along with Bone are as follows:
Ky Bowman of Boston College, Josh Perkins of Gonzaga, Tremont Waters of LSU, Markus Howard of Marquette, Cassius Winston of Michigan State, Ja Morant of Murray State, Cody Martin of Nevada, Carsen Edwards of Purdue, and Ty Jerome of Virginia.
