What Carlik Jones brings to the table for Louisville
After swinging and missing on seemingly every grad transfer target in this cycle, head coach Chris Mack finally hit a home run.
On Sunday night, Radford grad transfer Carlik Jones announced that he was committing to the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball program.
This is a huge get for Mack and the Cardinals. Jones is the reigning Big South Player of the Year, averaging 20.0 points, 5.5 assists and 5.1 rebounds in his final year with the Highlanders. He is just the second player in Big South history with 1,500 points, 450 rebounds and 450 assists, following UNC Asheville's J.P Primm.
Outside of his obvious scoring abilities, what else does Jones bring to the table?
The first thing that comes to mind is that he is as clutch as they get in crunch time. According to The Roanoke Times, Jones has hit five buzzer-beaters in his time at Radford. His most notable came in the 2018 Big South Championship, hitting the game winning three pointer to send Radford to the Big Dance for only the third time in school history and the first since 2009. Earlier that year, he also hit the go-ahead layup to defeat No. 17 Texas in Austin. Last season vs. Hampton, he hit two in one game: one to force overtime & one to win during the extra period. This year, he nailed a long catch-and-shoot two pointer to force overtime and eventually win against Charleston Southern.
"I cherish those moments," he said in an interview with the Roanoke Times.
Jones also has incredibly high basketball IQ. What he lacks in height at six-foot-one, he more than makes up for in his overall feel for the game. No matter what kind of defense that the opposition throws at him, he usually has an answer. Passive defense? He can cut and slash to the rim or he can drop one from outside (40.9% on three point attempts in 2019-20). Aggressive defense? He can still either find a way to work around a screen or hedge and create a shot, or use his stellar passing ability (5.0 assists per game in 2019-20) to find the open and uncovered man.
Whether some of these skills can fully translate when playing against an uptick in competition on a regular basis remains to be seen, it's more than apparent that Jones can find a way to contribute for Louisville in some form or another. His scoring and passing abilities make him a perfect compliment to David Johnson in the backcourt.
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