Andrew Jones returns to practice, Will Baker elects to transfer

So much for a slow Saturday for Texas Basketball as it prepares for an upcoming trip to Asheville, North Carolina to participate in the Maui Invitational.

After being held out of Wednesday's season-opener for precautionary reasons because of a cough, guard Andrew Jones was a full participant in Friday's practice. Jones tested negative for COVID-19 on Thursday and again on Friday when the entire Texas Basketball travel party was tested. Considering Jones's past battle against Leukemia, the news was especially uplifting.

Shaka Smart explained Wednesday night the process that went into Jones being held out from competition and away from the arena. The Texas head coach was looking forward to seeing Jones compete more so than any of his other players because of the guard's great offseason.

"We had shootaround. He was great. He was smiling and shooting the ball in. And then about two hours before the game started, I got a call from our trainer. And so Andrew had just a cough. And but the way it works now, with the COVID protocols, if you have certain symptoms, then you have to be held out. So. he was negative on a COVID test yesterday. The way it works when anyone has symptoms is you get tested again. So he'll be tested in the morning...

“And, man, I mean, probably of all of our guys, I was most excited to see him play tonight. Because he's had such a good offseason his attitude and approach have just been terrific. And he's really played well. So… it's a good test for me of my own things that I hit these guys with in terms of philosophy and we say when stuff like that happens, we got to be adaptable. We got to be flexible. I I felt myself like for a minute or two like man, you know, Andrew’s not playing, but we got to kind of take the next man up mentality and hope that he is fine tomorrow and we can move forward.”

Texas started Matt Coleman, Courtney Ramey, Greg Brown, Kai Jones, and Jericho Sims with Jones out. Jones was named by Smart as one of the team's top six players during the preseason, and is a likely candidate to start UT's next game against Davidson (Monday at 11:00 a.m.).

Jones wasn't the only player who didn't play against UTRGV. Kamaka Hepa and Will Baker also didn't see the floor. Smart, who mentioned earlier in the preseason there was a player set to redshirt before the NCAA changed its eligibility rules, revealed Hepa is going to treat this season as a redshirt year even though players all receive a free year of eligibility. On the bench during UT's 91-55 victory, Hepa was the ultimate hype man for his teammates.

Following UT's win, Smart had this to say when asked about Baker's lack of playing time:

"He and I've had some conversations," said Smart. "He really wants to take this year to just focus on his growth in practice getting better. Even though everybody gets a redshirt year this year, he kind of wants to look at it that way. And so, he would have played tonight if it wasn't for that."

A few days later, Baker, through a family PR rep, announced his decision to transfer from Texas and entered his name into the NCAA Transfer Portal.

With the emergence of Kai Jones, senior Jericho Sims, freshman Greg Brown and the productivity of role players Brock Cunningham and Royce Hamm, Baker was going to have a tough time finding minutes, especially as Texas used a lot of full-court pressure to open the season and aims to get up-and-down the floor as quickly as possible. However, Smart, in a recent press conference, delivered emphatic praise and appreciation for Baker's progress during preseason practice, and was very excited about his growth both on and off the court. Seemingly, Baker was in a good place heading into the season.

Last season, Baker played sparingly, but he received more than his fair share of opportunities. Used often as a pick-and-pop big around the perimeter because of his skill and how he'd like to be used, Baker led the Longhorns in usage rate and attempted more three-pointers than twos last season. The former five-star prospect heavily considered and was recruited hard by North Carolina before releasing a final four of Stanford, Georgetown, UCLA and Texas. UCLA, then coached by Steve Alford, was the runner-up to Texas.

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