Myreon Jones is the Gators’ X-Factor

Florida basketball has seemingly turned a corner over the past few days, with comeback wins over Georgia and LSU to pull the Gators to .500 in SEC play. Despite starting slow in both these games they’ve pulled it together and looked impressive.

While a lot of the credit goes to guys like Colin Castleton and Trey Bonham, and rightfully so, there’s one other guy who’s been behind the Gators turning it around.

Myreon Jones has turned it on these past two games, leading the Gators to back-to-back wins.

Putting a spark into Florida basketball

In the games UF lost, the issues were the same. Slow, sloppy, and inefficient offense. All of a sudden, turnovers are down and the energy is up. A lot of this is to the credit of Myreon.

He made game-changing hustle plays on the defensive end in the Georgia and LSU games. Against UGA, he dove out of bounds to save a ball under UGA’s basket and threw it upcourt, starting a fastbreak that lit UF’s comeback.

In Baton Rouge following a Gator turnover, he sprinted down the court and stripped the LSU ball handler, threw it up the court, and the Gators scored.

These types of plays turn the momentum of games and give a spark to the whole team.

Jones has also been a stabilizing force from three-point range. He was brought over from Penn State to be a sharpshooter but hasn’t quite replicated his numbers from when he was a Nittany Lion.

However, in the past two games, he’s shot 2-5 and 3-4, seemingly gaining his stroke back. Any shooting is good shooting for this Gators team that just can’t make threes.

Giving Myreon more minutes will only make the Gators better. He’s played 27 and 30 minutes in the last two games, a big increase from the beginning of the season.

Golden can’t go away from him if he gets cold. Myreon is this team’s X-Factor.