Pitino: U of L guards 'spectacular' vs. IU

Chris Jones blew by his defender and dribbled to the left of the basket at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.

Then he made the kind of play that makes fans wonder how high the 5-foot-10 University of Louisville point guard's ceiling truly is. He drew two more defenders, got them in the air and then hooked the ball around both of them to a wide-open Montrezl Harrell, who thundered in an uncontested dunk.

In the second half, with U of L in dire need of a spark, Jones himself went on a seven-point, one-assist run that jolted the Cardinals back into the lead.

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Both are examples of just how well Jones played in Louisville's 94-74 win over Indiana, and his backcourt mate Terry Rozier had similar hallelujah moments.

Together, they combined for 50 points, 15 rebounds, six assists and four steals. Even more important, they held Indiana guards Yogi Ferrell and Robert Johnson to 18 points on 6-of-16 shooting.

Together, they looked an awful lot like the backcourt that U of L coach Rick Pitino repeatedly called one of the best in the country in the build-up to the 2014-15 season.

"I think they were both spectacular," Pitino said before picking out Jones's particularly impressive stat vs. Indiana. "For a (5-foot-9), 5-10 point guard to grab nine rebounds, get steals, get the offense playing at a high pace ..."

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Pitino didn't finish his thought, but he'd already made his feelings about his guards known, as if he really needed to say anything. The 46-22 stretch over the final 16 minutes of the Indiana game, a run that Jones and Rozier engineered, made Pitino's point for him.

Fourth-ranked U of L (8-0) had spent much of the last week's practices working on spacing and passing, and Jones and Rozier in particular showed their progress in that area against Indiana.

The two guards were relentless in their penetration and attack, persisting that they get into the lane and collapse Indiana's defense. That insistence came in alternating waves, with Rozier starting and finishing strong and Jones carrying the Cardinals through the early parts of the second half.

They made quick decisions and used their dribble drives to generate ball movement and open shots. The Cards made 48.4 percent of their shots and scored 48 points in the second half.

"It's just confidence for us," Rozier said. "We played with confidence."

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Confidence has been hard to come by for Jones this season. The Memphis native made just 22 of his 77 shots in the team's first six games. He was frustrated with his play and let it weigh him down. Rozier, mired in a slightly less eye-catching shooting slump, was letting his struggles bother him, too.

In the past two games, though, Jones made 11 of 23 shots and played the kind of controlled but assertive basketball that Pitino wants. Rozier's 12 of 24 from the field in those games.

"It starts with being unselfish, getting to the rim, making great decisions with the ball," Jones said after the Indiana win. "I think I found my get-back. I think it's the best all-around game I've had this year."

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