DURHAM – The first Basketball Jones-led point guard tandem that pushed Duke to its 2015 NCAA basketball title was Tyus Jones and Quinn Cook. As interchangeable parts they set their Blue Devils lore into the quarry stone used to build Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Now, another Jones-led Duke tandem resembles the 2015 depth that two interchangeable point guards can provide a roster. It’s a benefit Duke lacked despite a combined 10 NBA first-round draft picks representing the 2016, 2017 and 2018 and 2019 rosters that came up short of a national title or even Final Four trip.
This year, of course, they are Tyus’ younger brother Tre Jones and his sidekick Jordan Goldwire.
“Tre was spectacular tonight,” said Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski said after the Blue Devils routed Wake Forest 90-59 on Jan. 11 at Cameron, “and JGold continues to play a high level.”
With each game, they are meshing as the season rolls into February. There has been a learning curve for the overall young roster, highlighted by losses to veteran teams Clemson and Louisville, but the ninth-ranked Blue Devils (16-3, 6-2 ACC) snapped their skid with an 89-59 win over Miami on Jan. 21. They’ve had a week off to prepare for Pitt (13-7, 4-5 ACC) at 9 p.m. Tuesday at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The simplistic story is Tre is trying to live up to his big brother and Goldwire to fill Cook’s shoes, but that turns out to be too convenient.
Actually, Tre, a sophomore, says the duplication effort dates to the 2014 season. The original inspiration for both Tre and Tyus goes back to the Connecticut point guard tandem of senior Shabeez Napier and junior Ryan Boatright; they superseded Jones-Cook while leading the Huskies to the national title. At the time, Tyus was a senior at Apple Valley High in Minnesota and Tre still an eighth-grader.
“Honestly, Connecticut made my brother and I think about it before he went to college,” Tre Jones said. “We watched Napier and Boatright win the national title. Tyus and Quinn said they wanted to be a backcourt like that.”
They were.
Tyus Jones and Cook both started all 39 games in a 35-4 season. Jones averaged 11.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.6 assists. Cook, who was the shooting guard when they were both on the court, was second on the team in scoring with 15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists.
That combination, though, required Cook, a senior, to willingly step back and take a sidekick role to Tyus Jones, the high-profile freshman projected as an NBA one-and-done and selected with the 24th pick overall in the 2015 NBA draft.
Tre Jones and Jordan Goldwire are a different dynamic, with Tre a high-profile recruit in his sophomore year and Goldwire, a junior, a lightly recruited 3-star prospect. Goldwire appeared bound for mid-major Eastern Kentucky until Duke made him a late target.
Although they’re working together, remember that when considering the dark side of sports egos, an athlete agreeing to play Robin to Batman for the good of the team doesn’t necessarily take place — even in obvious situations.
Goldwire, though, has embraced playing Robin. And when Jones missed back-to-back game with a foot injury, Goldwire showed he could step into the starting role and then hand the reins back to Jones whether he was on the floor with him or not.
“I know what my role is on this team,” said Goldwire. “I see some similarities (to Tyus and Cook), but we’re different. We don’t try to make comparisons, but definitely the goal is to win a nation title.”
Jones, a 6-foot-3 185-pounder is putting together an All-ACC first-team season with his offense and stature as one of the top defensive guards in the nation. He’s second on the Blue Devils with 14.9 points a game while also averaging 4.1 rebounds and 6.8 assists.
Goldwire, a 6-2, 185-pounder from Norcross High in Georgia, has played in all 19 games with seven starts. He’s averaging 4.1 points, 2.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists. When Goldwire started two games while Jones rested a foot injury in two non-conference games, Duke’s offense rolled in an 86-57 win over Wofford and 75-50 over Brown.
In the Wofford game, Goldwire finished with eight points (3-of-3 field goals, 1-of-1 from three-point range), three rebounds and five assists in 28 minutes. Against Brown, he had four points, five rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.
But what Krzyzewski also appreciated about Goldwire’s play in the Brown game was his maturity overcoming a slow start.
“He got sped up early a couple of times today,” Coach K said, “but it’s so good he was able to turn it around.”
Whatever Goldwire’s deficiencies that labeled him a 3-star recruit, Duke had lacked a such a player since 2015. Krzyzewski said it was at the end of the Class of 2018 recruiting cycle when Goldwire came to their attention.
“We got in touch,” Coach K said. “He comes from a really good program, Norcross, so he played with Division I players, and he’s a Division I player. He’s one of our better athletes; he’s as good of an athlete as we have. He’s hung in there and learned. Playing with the level of talent we have has helped him. He’s continued to become a better player and understands his role.”
Goldwire had to improve to find the court, playing primarily in mop-up duty as a true freshman in 2017-18, but he was confident his time would come. It helped he had a good support team back home; no one wondered why Duke, known for its one-and-done recruits, offered him a scholarship among their future millionaires.
“They were excited,” Goldwire said of friends and family. “They were happy for me. They knew I was capable of playing here. We’ve got a lot of talented guys here, but I knew I was talented as well. I knew I was capable of playing here. It was a matter of doing it.”
Any thoughts of more playing time at Eastern Kentucky were quickly put aside.
“With the opportunity academics-wise and basketball-wise,” he said, “there is not a lot that can go wrong picking here.”
Goldwire had his moments a year ago, particularly when his defense sparked a monumental comeback from a 23-point halftime deficit to win at Louisville. But this year he’s combined is own growing confidence from off-season work with the trust Coach K has shown. Goldwire is averaging 22.1 minutes a game compared to 8.6 as a sophomore and 6.5 as a freshman.
“I’m worked on my leadership skills and knowing I’m more comfortable out there making reads to get the scorers the ball,” Goldwire said. “Just knowing Coach is trusting me, knowing I can run the offense and make some plays, has grown my confidence more and makes me feel freer out there.”
As an eighth-grader watching Connecticut, Tre Jones didn’t know if he’d find his Ryan Boatright to Shabezz Napier – or better yet, Quinn Cook to Tyus Jones – but destiny brought Tre and Goldwire together as more than teammates. They’re also roommates.
“That connection is something we’re striving for,” Tre Jones said. “It’s not like I talk about it with people, but it’s something we’ve realize successful teams have had when they won a national championship. We’re able to have that. We live together. We’re always together and continuing to try and build that connection.”
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Tom Shanahan, Author: Raye of Light http://tinyurl.com/knsqtqu
— Book on Michigan State’s leading role in the integration of college football. It explains Duffy Daugherty’s untold pioneering role and debunks myths that steered recognition away from him to Bear Bryant.
http://shanahan.report/a/the-case-for-duffy-and-medal-of-freedom
Don’t believe the myths at Duffy Daugherty’s expense about Bear Bryant’s motivation to play the 1970 USC-Alabama game or myths about the Charlie Thornhill-for-Joe Namath trade. Bear Bryant knew nothing about black talent in the South while he dragged his feet on segregation.
http://www.shanahan.report/a/forty-four-underground-railroad-legacy-facts
http://shanahan.report/a/myths-that-grew-out-of-1970-alabama-game-with-usc
http://shanahan.report/a/mystery-solved-in-thornhill-and-namath-myth
David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize winner and biographer; “History writes people out of the story. It’s our job to write them back in.”
https://www.augustpublications.com/
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