Big Brother: Actions, Words Define Velton Jones
By Paul Meyer
www.rmucolonials.com
Dec. 6, 2011
Meyer on Morris Link
Moon Township, Pa. - Discretion might be the better part of valor for some, but discretion is never the better part of Velton.
Velton Jones, that is.
That the Robert Morris University point guard will play against Duquesne Tuesday evening seemed a long-shot late Saturday night when to save a rebound against Monmouth he jumped over the Hawks' bench, tapped the ball back inbounds and then crashed into the bleachers.
All of this happened when the Colonials comfortably led Monmouth by 16 minutes with just under three minutes remaining.
Why risk a major injury in those circumstances?
"I wanted to go get the ball for my team,'' Jones said. "I didn't even think about the time or the score. It was just natural instinct to see the ball and wanting to go get the ball.''
Still ...
"How many guys try to even make that play when you're up 16, 17 points?'' Monmouth coach King Rice said. "That says so much about that young man. That tells you he's a special player.''
Which Robert Morris coach Andrew Toole well knows, and it's why Toole felt some trepidation when he watched Jones begin his seat-clearing leap.
"As soon as he left the floor, I just wished he hadn't, to be honest,'' Toole said. "But that's who Velton is.''
It's worth mentioning that Jones did indeed save the ball, and that Anthony Myers scored on the ensuing possession, giving the Colonials a 66-48 lead.
It's also worth pointing out that Jones really doesn't see what the big deal is about that play.
"I couldn't imagine me not going to get the ball,'' he said.
The play began when Colonial Russell Johnson tapped the rebound following a missed shot by Monmouth's Andrew Nicholas.
The ball was headed out of bounds above the folding chairs that serve as the visitors' bench. Jones jumped over the chairs, batted the ball back in and then began looking for a safe landing spot.
"I think I have a real fast mind,'' he said. "When I was going to get the ball, I'm like, 'All right. I'm going to go over the seats and try to just land on the (floor) before the bleachers.' Once I realized that couldn't happen, my mind started to think about landing standing up on the bleachers. But then I realized that wasn't going to happen, either.''
Turned out Jones crashed into the wood bleachers, hitting his right knee on the bleachers while his left leg bent and also struck the bleachers hard.
"I have a nice little gash under my knee,'' Jones said Monday as he prepared for practice.
Jones looked none the worse for wear, which is a relief to Colonial fans.
And Rice, who was very concerned Saturday evening.
"I was so scared for that kid because he was going so fast and it looked like his shin hit the front bleacher,'' Rice said. "He just hit so hard, I knew something had to be wrong. Hopefully he doesn't have to sit out. He's an awesome player. You can tell he's the leader of that team. He plays with such great pace. I was happy to see him get up.''
"It was an unbelievable effort play,'' Toole said. "He doesn't really have much concern for his own well-being or his own body, and that's why our guys love him and that's why he's one of our leaders because he's willing to make those plays and he's willing to go maybe a little bit further, make himself a little bit more uncomfortable than some of our other guys are. You could see how (our) guys jumped up when he got off the ground and how excited they were that he made that effort play.''
"He's one of the vocal leaders on the team,'' Myers said. "Everybody looks up to V. He's like a brother to all of us.''
"It's a scary feeling to see somebody going over chairs and bleachers just to try to save a ball,'' freshman Lucky Jones said. "That's just hustle.''
Which Lucky Jones can appreciate. He's already become well known for his hustle and "get on the floor'' attitude at Robert Morris.
"It's just normal effort (for Velton Jones),'' Lucky Jones said. "He brings effort every day. He's the reason why we have great practices. We know (he'll) go after every ball every day, get every steal and every rebound, every stop. He just tried to continue to hustle. Hustle is just the love of the game. You have to want it, and obviously he wanted that ball. So he had to do what he had to do to get the ball. That's pretty good.''
"He put his heart on the line,'' freshman Keith Armstrong said."It's his love for the game. I really do appreciate that from my leader, our captain. That's great effort right there. I look up to stuff like that, especially from an upperclassman. It makes us better as a team. When he leads, you know what to do.''
Velton Jones hobbled around a bit after the play, then told Toole he could go back into the game.
"That's the kind of competitor he is,'' Toole said. "That's why it's great to have someone like him on your team.''
Why doesn't every player like that?
"If I could figure that out, I'd really be a good coach,'' Toole said with a small laugh. "I think some of it is ingrained in you. Some of it's just in your DNA and how competitive you are and how much you're willing to do. I think when guys really believe in everything that's going on within the team and around the program, then guys are willing to go a little bit further and do a little bit more. And Velton is our leader in that regard.''
And Velton Jones will lead the Colonials again Tuesday at Duquesne.
"It's a big game,'' he said. "It's a city rivalry game. We're ready to play. To some people, we're little old Robert Morris, but we don't look it that way. We're a pretty good mid-major team, and we're going out to win.''
Toole hopes his team will get the same kind of contribution from its bench at Duquesne that it received in the Monmouth game. Lucky Jones had a team-high 15 points. Myers had 10 points. And Armstrong had 11 points while going 5 for 5 from the field. However, the 6'7'', 230-pound Armstrong also had only two rebounds - none defensively.
"It's great that Keith was able to go 5-for-5 and I was happy with the way he finished layups and was ready for passes and then able to convert them where even maybe a week ago or two weeks ago those shots were getting blocked because he was surprised by the pass and then when he went to elevate it was too late,'' Toole said.
"He made strides in that regard, but unfortunately we consider ourselves to be a pretty good defensive and rebounding team. That's what we do. And that's something that we have to make sure we take care of, especially going into who we play the next five or six games and when we get into January and February (and the meat of the Northeast Conference schedule). You can't be a championship team if your inside guys don't rebound the basketball.''
Well, the Colonials did rebound the basketball well in the second half of the Monmouth game, outrebounding the Hawks, 22-4.
That seems a pretty amazing stat, except to Toole.
"How amazing a stat is this?'' he asked. "In 39 minutes in the last two games Keith Armstrong doesn't have a defensive rebound. That's amazing to me. Going into halftime (Saturday), for 53 minutes straight we didn't have a center with a defensive rebound. That's an amazing stat to me. At some point in time, our centers are going to have to actually grab a rebound if we're going to try and be a good team.''
Perhaps the Colonial inside players will rebound better against Duquesne, which is a bit of an under-sized Division I team. The Dukes average 28.9 rebounds per game, which ranks 338th among Division I teams. They're being outrebounded by 10 boards per game. Andre Marhold, a 6'7'' junior, leads the team with an average of 4.4 rebounds per game.
Robert Morris has three players averaging more rebounds per game than that - Lucky Jones (6.0), Johnson (5.6) and Lawrence Bridges (4.5). The Colonials have outrebounded their opponents by an average of 6.3 per game, which ranks them second in the Northeast Conference.
