B6 | Sunday, December 8, 2019 | LAREDO MORNING TIMES NCAA BASKETBALL ‘The rivalry is real’ for Aggies, Texas Longhorns freshman Kai Longhorns in basketball Jones has the tools to be great By Brent Zwerneman By Nick Moyle and put up 5.3 points on ic. I think he’s full of poten- HOUSTON CHRONICLE SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS 66.7 percent shooting, 2.7 tial, a tremendous talent. rebounds, 1.3 blocks and His upside I would think is COLLEGE STATION — AUSTIN — Kai Jones side- 0.67 steals. maybe as high as anyone in Back when Texas and Texas stepped into the right cor- “And he’s really, really college basketball.” A&M played every year in all ner, slithered behind the taken to that starting with Jones probably won’t sports, longtime A&M foot- defense along the base- the week leading into our make the exact same leap ball coach R.C. Slocum en- line, and locked eyes with New York trip,” Smart said as Jaxson Hayes did last joyed saying almost every Courtney Ramey. Tuesday. “He’s been more season. Smart called pint-sized Texan was “pre- No set play had been assertive, more ready. His Hayes, a one-and-done disposed” to rooting for ei- called. What was about to future is really bright. And NBA lottery pick now thriv- ther the Longhorns or Ag- happen wasn’t designed. It you saw his athleticism on ing as a starter in New Orle- gies. was an organic moment display with the lob Court- ans, “a comet” who ad- A&M basketball guard spawned by a tacit under- ney threw.” vanced more quickly than Wendell Mitchell, only a few standing between Texas Jones is still learning, anyone he’d ever coached. years old when Slocum last Tim Warner /Houston Chronicle file teammates. adjusting to the speed, But Jones already has coached in 2002, knows ex- The last time Texas A&M and Texas played in Standing about 30 feet power and strategy of Divi- turned into the team’s actly what Slocum means. basketball was an exhibition game at Rice in 2017 to away near the left wing, sion I hoops. But his raw most valuable freshman “My blood is boiling,” benefit Hurricane Harvey victims. Ramey lobbed the ball to- instincts are already over struggling 7-footer Mitchell said. “I’m ready for ward the rim. Jones gath- strong, particularly on the Will Baker and unpredict- this.” of time outdoors working so eight players from the state ered, elevated and defensive end and when able guard Donovan Wil- The Aggies and Long- Icould afford to go to col- have a better grasp of UT- slammed home the pass rolling toward the rim. liams. And with a little horns collide at 2 p.m. Sun- lege. Relative to sports, we A&M than his six from be- with two hands. He’s even displayed a more discipline and day at Dickies Arena in Fort didn’t have cable TV, so yond Texas’ borders. “Me and Kai made eye feathery shooting stroke strength, he can grow into Worth, their first meeting in whatever game was on — col- “Our Texans probably un- contact,” Ramey said after on a turnaround jumper in the rim deterrent Texas the regular season in four lege, pro, football, basket- derstand it to the level you Tuesday’s 67-57 win over the post. has lacked without a Hayes years. Mitchell was raised in ball, baseball —I just enjoyed think they do, our non-Tex- UAB. “I wasn’t going to But Jones’ best play or Mo Bamba clogging up Rockdale and played for Bay- watching it. ans don’t,” Williams said. “I throw it because I didn’t against UAB didn’t even the middle. lor and Trinity Valley Com- “I didn’t necessarily grow want to give them a little bit think he was going to cut.I show up in the box score, “He adds a lot more ath- munity College in Athens be- up with an affiliation or an of history, not just of men’s hesitated. But I saw him though judging by the Er- leticism and rim protec- fore arriving at A&M about affinity for either.” basketball, but the rivalry in open, and I put it where win Center crowd’s reac- tion,” Ramey said. “He’s two years ago. Williams served as an general.” only he could catch it.” tion, it was appreciated just being himself, flying Six of the Aggies’ 14 play- A&M assistant under then- For instance, Williams cit- Jones’ line in 19 minutes even more than the soar- all over the court. He’s still ers are from out of state, so coach Billy Gillispie from ed “sawing varsity’s horns —four points, three re- ing dunk. young, so he doesn’t really Mitchell said he’s tried ex- 2004-06, and also inter- off” in the Aggie War Hymn bounds, three blocks and Smart subbed in Jones know what he’s doing, but plaining to them exactly viewed with then-Long- and then used A&M fans’ de- two steals — doesn’t prop- with 4:49 left in the first he’s playing hard, and what UT vs. A&M means. horns coach Rick Barnes 15 risive nickname for Texas. erly illustrate the impact half and Texas amid a lead- good things are going to “I’ve(given) them bits and years ago while an assistant “I don’t think they know he had against the Blazers. stretching run. He pro- happen.” pieces,” he said. “Being at Colorado State before tak- that when we’re swaying But the 18-year-old ceeded to emulate a blad- The key for Jones is stay- (raised) an hour from Col- ing the A&M opening. back and forth, there’s a ref- might’ve had no influence ed pendulum, like one you ing engaged, both during lege Station,I try to tell them “Frank Haith had been erence to TU —I don’t think on the game at all had he might see in some fictional practice and in the games. it’s real — the rivalry is real.” hired as the head coach at they know all that,” Williams not pushed for more play- booby-trapped lair, by He needs more time to de- Mitchell said from the the University of Miami, and said. ing time. swinging back and forth velop a chemistry with time he can remember his Iwatched the press confer- The Longhorns (7-1) and Afew weeks ago, the across the paint and twice UT’s other rotation play- grandfather, Charles Mitch- ence of hisannouncement at coach Shaka Smart are on a elastic 6-foot-11 freshman deflecting an attempted ers, though the alley-oop ell of Caldwell, made sure his Coach Barnes’ house,” Wil- three-game win streak, with raised in the Bahamas pass. play with Ramey showed family was all about maroon. liams recalled of Barnes los- their lone loss against came to coach Shaka Jones never corralled there’s already been im- “Grandpa always empha- ing his top assistant at the Georgetown on Nov. 21 in Smart and told him he the ball or tipped it to a provement there. sized, ‘We don’t go burnt time to the Hurricanes. “I New York City. The Aggies wanted to see more action teammate, but his havoc- “It’s amazing what try- orange,’”Mitchell said with a was interviewing in Austin (3-4) have lost three straight after getting only five min- wreaking intensity did ing hard can do, especially smile. “He’s the biggest Ag- the day after Frank left. games, all in the Orlando utes across the Longhorns’ cause Blazers forward Ta- when you have athletic di- gie I know.” When I landed back in Den- (Fla.) Invitational to Har- first four games. mell Pearson to turn it mensions the way that he First-year A&M coach ver, Coach G called and of- vard, Temple and Fairfield, “You gotta play harder over. He spent the rest of does,” Smart said Tuesday. Buzz Williams, who grew up fered me the job here.” one of the program’s most in practice; you gotta get at his time on the court doing “We talk about having a north of Dallas, describes The Aggies and Long- embarrassing stretches in it more,” Smart told him. much the same — darting standard of competitive ef- himself as an outlier to Slo- horns stopped meeting at memory. Jones played only five from sideline to sideline, fort; he played with that cum’s “predisposed” theory least twice a season when “We need to hit shots — minutes in a blowout loss extending rubbery limbs for 19 minutes tonight, and on tiny Texans. A&M left the Big 12 for the we have a lot of wide-open to Georgetown at Madison to block shots and deflect that’s why he really helped “I was just so far out in the SEC in 2012. Mitchell was shots and we’re not hitting Square Garden, but since passes, fueling the Long- our team. I thought when country I didn’t have an affil- barely a teenager then, so them,” said A&M guard then he’s emerged as a horns during a brief sec- he was in we were better iation with either,” Williams the state’s one-time rivalry Quenton Jackson, a transfer double shot of espresso off ond-half slump. defensively than when he said. “There was no red light slowly is slipping out of from College of Central Flor- the bench.