INDIANAPOLIS — The Michigan men’s basketball team’s starting point guard, DeVante’ Jones, will be out for the Wolverines’ game against No. 6 seed Colorado State on Thursday, per a team spokesperson and later confirmed by Michigan coach Juwan Howard.
Jones sustained a concussion in practice earlier in the week and did not travel with the team to Indianapolis for the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
“You’re out there in practice and you’re playing in competitive practices where guys are competing,” Howard said. “(He caught) an inadvertent elbow as he drove into the lane, that’s what happened, an elbow to the nose area.”
A graduate transfer student from Coastal Carolina, Jones has not seen the floor in the Big Dance in his previous four years of his collegiate career.
Following Michigan’s bid as an 11 seed on Selection Sunday, Jones got emotional about the prospect of playing in an NCAA Tournament game for the first time.
“I was telling Frankie just a minute ago, I’m gonna try not to cry,” Jones said immediately after the selection show. “Because I feel like when I get home I might cry. As a kid, this is something you pray about.”
“I gave everything I had and I always fell short,” added Jones. “The ability to play in March Madness, that’s something everybody can’t do. I’m gonna take it seriously and take advantage.”
Unfortunately for Jones and the Wolverines, he will not get that opportunity unless Michigan advances past the Rams and into the round of 32. At that point, there is a chance Jones returns.
Until then, the Wolverines are operating under the same mentality Howard has preached all year:
“Next man up,” Howard said.