Bruce Pearl rightfully tells media to show Auburn senior love he deserves

It is time the media started giving Denver Jones his flowers and head coach Bruce Pearl is leading the march to make sure it gets done. Before their close matchup last night against Arkansas, the Tigers won what is probably their biggest game of the season over the weekend as they faced No. 2 Alabama and took down the Crimson Tide led by Johni Broome, but someone was close on his heels when it came to scoring.

Broome led the way with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and six assists, but Jones followed that up with 16 points, three steals, and a blocked shot. However, what makes Jones such a good player doesn’t necessarily show up on the stat sheets.

Against Alabama, Jones was tasked with the tough job of guarding star player Mark Sears, one of the top players in the country. Sears is averaging a 39.7 shooting percentage, 18.5 points per game, and 4.8 assists per game. While Sears still dropped 18 points against the Tigers, Denver held Alabama’s star to just 23.5% shooting on the night.

Pearl knows how great Broome is and that fact that Broome is getting all the love from the media, but he made it clear after the Alabama game that is is time for Jones to start getting some attention as well.

“I don’t know when somebody in the media’s going to talk about him being one of the best defensive players in college basketball,” Pearl said in his post-game press conference. “We’ll do the research for you, if you look at his matchups night in and night out.”

Pearl had a whole slew of great defensive players to task with guarding Sears, but he chose Jones with the job and boy did he deliver. Sears hit just four shots from the floor and not only that, he also bottlenecked his distribution ability as he had just two assists on the night. Sears averages almost five assists per game.

“How do you stay in front of Mark Sears? Hardly anybody can,” Pearl said. “Denver Jones did.”

Jones isn’t getting recognized the way he should in the scope of awards and watch lists, but he certainly should be. The Auburn senior averages just 10.7 points per game, 3.7 rebounds, 0.9 assists, and 0.4 blocks per game, but he is more valuable than just those baseline stats to this team.

“Nobody talks about it,” Pearl said. “He doesn’t have enough block shots or he doesn’t have enough steals. He’s one of the best defenders in college basketball.”

Denver scored just three of his first 16 points in the first half of the game against Alabama. He exploded in the second half with 13 points, 3-of-4 from deep range, and perfect from the foul line. Pearl certainly isn’t going to let this one go. He believed Denver Jones should be on the Naismith All-Defensive Team, and honestly, he should be.

Jones and the Tigers will return to the court on Saturday, February 22 as they take on the Georgia Bulldogs at 4:00 p.m. EST on ESPN.