55 Days to Purdue Basketball - #55 Lance Jones

In 55 days, Matt Painter and his Purdue Boilermakers will start the 2023-24 season with the highest early season expectations in program history.

Zach Edey, reigning National Player of the Year, will return alongside an experienced team that lost just two players last year. One, Brandon Newman, transferred to Western Kentucky after an up and down four years in West Lafayette.

The second, David Jenkins Jr., finished a marathon college career after transferring to Purdue in his final season after playing at South Dakota State, UNLV, and Utah over 8 years.

Jenkins Jr. was Purdue's only back up point guard on the roster, and played the season behind true freshman Braden Smith. Jenkins Jr., more of a scoring and combo guard, never had the kind of success he had at previous spots.

Painter brings only one true freshman into the 2023-24 season, a wing in Myles Colvin, which means Painter had to go back into the transfer portal to fill his backup point guard position.

That brings us to Purdue's #55, 55 days before the season starts, and Lance Jones.

For Purdue to reach to the very top of college basketball and succeed in March, more production from the bench will be needed. Purdue's guards will need to be better off the bench.

For Matt Painter, Lance Jones' ability to play with and without Braden Smith will be key for a team that struggled mightily without Smith's play making on the floor. With Zach Edey's ability to draw attention, a lead guard who is able to attack closeouts, get offense moving, and drive the basketball will be an antidote for the spells of offensive drought Purdue went through at the end of last season.

Purdue appeared to lose confidence and part of that issue was that Smith was Purdue's only on ball creator. Jones has similar juice to Smith, and got more comfortable as Purdue got further into its trip in Europe where Purdue played four games against European teams.

Jones showed quick burst in those four games and an ability to use it to create jump shots, lay ups, and openings for his big men.

Jones has not been able to play much basketball over the summer as he tries to learn Purdue's system. He's a two-time all defensive guard from Southern Illinois, but transitioning to a different defense with new principles and rules takes some time. He dealt with a family situation that kept him out of practice for some time ahead of Europe, but is now on campus full time and will get 55 days to learn where Painter wants him to be on the defensive end after valuable live reps in Europe.

But how much of Purdue's offensive struggles at the end of last season just come down to knocking down open shots? If Jones is on the floor with either Smith or Zach Edey, he will get a lot of open looks from three. Something that Jones was shy of taking advantage of last year, hoisting 243 attempts in his fourth season at Southern Illinois. Unfortunately, he made just 27% of his three-pointers.

But that much shooting was a coach's imperative - Jones was tasked with being one of the main creators and given the green light to shoot aggressively off and on the ball. His shot selection suffered for it. He wasn't allowed the space he'll certainly get playing alongside Purdue's much improved roster.

Jones has a track record of being a good shooter. His junior year saw him make 34% of 180 three-point attempts and his sophomore year had him make 43% of his 119 attempts. That's the kind of efficiency Painter will be looking for out of Jones who showed an aggressiveness to take open shots in the half court and transition with Purdue in Europe.

Maybe even more than what he can offer with his shot, he does have four years of experience under his belt. Something he mentioned after Purdue's final scrimmage before heading off to Europe.

"With me being in college already for four years, I can bring some experience. Different type of leadership, and definitely my defensive presence," Jones told us on Keady Court.

Jones will offer Painter more versatility behind both Fletcher Loyer and Braden Smith. Allowing Painter to create lineups with all three potentially playing together, or mixing in true freshman Myles Colvin for athleticism or Ethan Morton for size.

In Europe, Painter experimented with a lot of different lineups to start games and halves. Purdue will have two months to get a feel for who works with who, but some of that doesn't reveal itself until the real games start.

But Jones opens up intriguing options without sacrificing on either end if he can get his shot to fall like his sophomore and junior year, and can build productive chemistry with Purdue's bigs. His ability to play off the bounce adds an element and his pressure on defense will help Purdue counteract teams with speed and quickness at the guard spot that they might have had limited options with last season.

55 days away, and Purdue basketball will get underway. #55 will look to make the most of his one year in West Lafayette.