CARDINALS

Chris Jones 'devastated' by UofL dismissal

Jeff Greer

Louisville Courier Journal

A day after his first game back from a suspension, Chris Jones has been dismissed from the University of Louisville basketball team.

The school made the announcement on Sunday afternoon and said there would be no further comment on the matter. Jones did not return multiple messages seeking comment, though a source close to the point guard said Jones was "devastated" by the decision.

Spokespeople for both U of L police and the Louisville Metro Police said Sunday that there had been no reported incidents involving Jones in recent weeks.

"He's finished," coach Rick Pitino said when reached by The Courier-Journal on Sunday afternoon. "There won't be any comment."

U of L takes on Georgia Tech at 7 p.m. Monday night in Atlanta, and freshman Quentin Snider is expected to start in Jones's place.

The news comes five days after U of L announced an indefinite suspension of Jones just before the Cardinals' trip to Syracuse. He missed that game, which Syracuse won, but Pitino indicated that he wasn't sure if Jones would return after the one-game suspension or remain suspended.

Sullivan:Jones makes unscripted exit

"We missed him a lot but, you know, it's his selfishness that hurt the team," Pitino said Wednesday. "It's all cleared up – he could play the next game if he does what the assistant coaches tell him to do. If he doesn't, he sits again. And I don't care if he sits the whole season, to tell you the truth. I (couldn't) care less. Because if he doesn't do the right things and act like a Louisville man, he can move on and try to go to Belgium somewhere."

On Friday, Pitino said Jones "had to do things unrelated to us and he got it done." And on Saturday, Jones played 36 minutes in Louisville's 55-53 win over Miami and finished with 17 points, five rebounds, two steals and two assists, playing a pivotal role in U of L's comeback from a double-digit deficit.

The dismissal of Jones obviously puts a huge strain on Louisville for the remainder of this campaign. U of L (21-6, 9-5 in the ACC) has four games left this season before the ACC tournament and is in the hunt for fourth place in the league.

Jones was third on the team in scoring, averaging 13.7 points per game. The 5-foot-10 point guard was also first on the team in assists (3.6 per game) and led the team in steals (two per game).

On Saturday, the senior said the one-game suspension "was my fault" and that he had to earn back the respect of his teammates, the media and U of L's fans.

"I'm not worried about anything that anybody has to say about me," Jones said after the Miami game. "I came a long way, I'm telling you, from (throwing) garbage cans in gyms to wanting to fight every game to keeping it inside. I know how to manage it by just playing hard."

At times this season, Jones frustrated his teammates with his play, taking erratic shots and sometimes playing out of control on offense. He was benched twice this season for poor performances, including the second half of a 69-56 win over Pittsburgh earlier this month. He left the locker room immediately after that game and did not speak with the media.

In late December, Jones was disciplined by Pitino and played just nine minutes in a win over Long Beach State. Pitino said he sat Jones because of a flopping incident in the Kentucky loss.

But the situation seemed to improve in January and early February before the last few weeks of turmoil. Jones was playing his best basketball since arriving at U of L as a high-scoring junior-college signee back in 2013.

"I had a couple players a while ago that were a problem, and I didn't like coaching them," Pitino said Saturday. "The reason I didn't like coaching them was not the problems that they brought me, but because they didn't work hard ...

"Chris works hard at his game -- all the time. That's why I appreciate him. Is it fun to coach him? Not like Russ Smith -- there's not a lot of laughter coaching him. You appreciate how hard he works, so you give him some latitude when things don't go well and he comes out of the game. He came out of the game tonight, and actually didn't pout for the first time, which was awesome. He just sat down, I said 'You ready to go in?' and he said, 'Yes.' Now we took the next step."

Reach U of L beat writer Jeff Greer at (502) 582-4044 and follow him on Twitter (@jeffgreer_cj).