Beyond the arc: Andrew Jones update, Kansas champs...again, Rim-shots

Andrew Jones released from hospital

Texas sophomore guard Andrew Jones, who was diagnosed with leukemia last month, announced Monday that he has begun outpatient treatment for his condition. Jones had been receiving care at MD Anderson in Houston since January 19. He will remain in Houston while continuing treatment. “My doctors tell me I am continuing to show improvement and that is really encouraging,” Jones said.

Jones reiterated how thankful he and his family are for all of the love and support shown to them over the last month. He went on to say, “I hope you’ll continue to keep me in your daily thoughts and prayers. Together we WILL win this fight.”

Kansas Big 12 champ......again

Once again, for the 14th year in a row, the No. 6 Kansas Jayhawks are the Big 12 champions for men’s basketball. The Jayhawks clinched the outright title Monday night with an 80-70 win against Texas.

The win means Kansas is the outright champion and now holds the NCAA record for most consecutive conference championships previously held by UCLA with 13. Well, congratulations Jayhawks.....okay, enough of that.

Rim-shots from around the country

• Larry Eustachy has agreed to step down as head coach at Colorado State ending a “climate of assesment of the program. Eustachy will be paid $750,000 in three installments over the next two years.
• ESPN’s Mark Schlabach published a big report last Friday that revealed the FBI had recorded phone conversations between Arizona head coach Sean Miller and sports agency runner Christian Dawkins in which they devised a pay-for-play scheme. We now have at least a couple of reports disputing the validity of the Schlabach’s information. Questions are raised by Nick Martin of DeadSpin and more concerns have been raised by Nick Bromberg with Yahoo Sports. This may not be as obvious as initially presented.
• Shareef O’Neal, Shaq’s son, decommitted from Arizona Saturday and then committed to UCLA Tuesday night. O’Neal, a 6’9 power forward from the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, California, is ranked No. 29 in the 2018 class and strengthens a recruiting class already ranked number five in the country. The Bruins are the first school in the country to land five ESPN 100 prospects in the 2018 class.
• The University of San Diego has placed men’s basketball coach Lamont Smith on administrative leave and initiated an investigation in the wake of his arrest on domestic violence charges, the school announced Monday.

Big 12 POW

Devonte Graham of Kansas was named Big 12 Player of the Week and Malik Newman of Kansas and Lindell Wigginton of Iowa State named Big 12 Co-Newcomers of the Week for week 16.

Graham averaged 24.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and four assists last week in a pair of wins that helped Kansas to another Big 12 title. In the title clinching game against Texas Tech, he scored 18 points in the final 14 minutes to finish with a game-high 26 points on 10-18 from the field.

Newman averaged 16 points, four rebounds, and four assists last week which included shooting 58.8 percent from the field including 70 percent from beyond the arc. He recorded his fourth 20-point game of the season in the win over Oklahoma earlier in the week.

Wigginton averaged 21.5 points 3.5 rebounds, and 4.5 assists last week. He scored 29 points against West Virginia while hitting four three-pointers which set the Iowa State freshman record with 62 on the season. He needs just 22 points over the final two games to become just the eighth freshman in Big 12 history to score 300 points during the conference season.

Vionise Pierre-Louis of Oklahoma was named Big 12 Player of the Week and Rachel Ranke of Kansas State Big 12 Freshman of the Week for week 16 in women’s basketball.

Pierre-Louis averaged 21 points, 11.5 rebounds, five blocks, and two steals per game last week in wins over Iowa State and Texas Tech. She had 19 points, 12 rebounds, six blocks, and four steals in the game against Tech. This is the third honor for her this season.

Ranke averaged 15 points and three rebounds last week as the Wildcats went 1-1. She achieved her 17th and 18th double-digit scoring effort including a 19 point performance in a win over Kansas. This is the second honor for her this season.

Lady Raiders

The Lady Raiders (7-22, 1-17) lost at Oklahoma 61-79 last Saturday and at home against Kansas State 63-86 last Monday.

Lyndsey Whilby led the team in scoring against Oklahoma with 21 points in 35 minutes. Zuri Sanders and Brittany Brewer each pulled down a team leading nine rebounds. Tech fought hard after falling behind by 20 points at the end of the first quarter.

Whilby also led the team in scoring against Kansas State with a 14 point effort. Sanders once again led the team in rebounds with seven. In keeping with the “deja vu” theme, the Lady Raiders fell behind early in this game as well trailing by 15 at the end of the first.

The bracket has been set for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship. Baylor is the No. 1 seed after their eighth consecutive regular season championship. The tournament will be played at Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena from March 2-5.

Texas Tech is the tenth seed and will face No. 7 seed Iowa State Friday in the opening round. Tip off is scheduled for 8:30 p.m.