Jones gets second player of week honors from SEC

FAYETTEVILLE — For the second time this season, Arkansas junior Mason Jones has been named the SEC Men’s Basketball Player of the Week, the league announced Monday.

Jones was also named the SEC Player of the Week by College Sports Madness.

Jones scored a career-high 41 points and added six rebounds, while leading the team in assists (4) and steals (4).

He was 12-of-18 from the field (7-of-7 from 2-point range), 5-of-11 from 3-point range and 12-of-13 at the free throw line.

• 41 points ties for 6th-most in the NCAA this season.

• 41 points ties for 7th-most in Arkansas history. It was just the 11th time a Razorback has scored 40 or more in a game and Jones is just the seventh Razorback to score 40-plus.

• 41 points are second-most by a Razorback in Bud Walton Arena in this the 27th year of the facility.

• Only three Razorbacks have scored 40-plus since joining the SEC (Rotnei Clarke and Todd Day).

• Jones’ second 30-plus scoring game of the season and fourth of his career.

In the first half, Jones scored 20 points, including a long 3-pointer at the buzzer for a 16-point halftime lead. He was 7-of-10 from the field (5-of-5 from inside the 3-point line), He also had three steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

In the second half, Jones scored 21 points with two assists and a steal. After Tulsa worked its 16-point deficit to nine (68-59 with 11:49 left), Jones scored 15 straight for the Razorbacks during an 18-5 run to give Arkansas a 22-point lead (86-64) with 6:00 left. (Reggie Chaney scored the first three points of the 18-5 run).

Jones made his first 12 free throws versus Tulsa before missing his last attempt. With that miss, he snapped a streak of 24 consecutive free throws made.

He started the year making 27 straight (36 dating back to last season) and is shooting 93.5 percent (58-of-62) from the charity stripe to rank 11th in the NCAA. Jones ranks sixth in the NCAA in free throws made (58).

Jones leads the SEC in both steals per game (2.22) and total steals (2) while ranking third in scoring (19.6 ppg). He ranks ninth in the SEC in field goal percentage (50.5%).

However, Jones is shooting an impressive 68.6% (35-of-51) inside the 3-point arc this season.

Arkansas will make its annual trip to North Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena this Saturday (Dec. 21) to face Valparaiso. Tipoff is set for 7 pm.