Senior Kevin Jones could join elite company against Notre Dame

It seems like Kevin Jones does something every week to help further solidify his place in West Virginia basketball history.

He ranks No. 12 in school history in single-season double-doubles (15) and 20-point games (16). He's No. 5 in career rebounds and is behind just Joe Herber and Da'Sean Butler in career minutes played.

Wednesday night he has another chance to join elite company.

With another 20-point game, Jones will tie the record set by Jerry West and "Hot Rod" Hundley of 10-straight games with 20 or more points.

"That's great company to be in," Jones said. "They're both Hall of Famers here and just to be mentioned in the same breath as those guys is a great honor for me."

Even with the chance to join two of the best players to wear a West Virginia uniform, Jones is treating Wednesday's game like he has any other game. He knows if he does that, he'll have the chance to do what he's done for the past nine games.

"I'm not going to force anything. I'll let the game come to me," he said. "I know I'm going to get my shot. I mean, I play 40 minutes so I know I'm going to get my shots here and there.

"It's just all about not forcing things."

The senior forward said he was trying to force shots in the first half of the Mountaineers' overtime victory over Providence.

In what head coach Bob Huggins called Jones' worst game in quite some time, Jones still finished with 20 points and five rebounds but made just eight of his 19 shot attempts from the field.

"In the beginning of the game, I kind of forced stuff because I'm used to having the offense come a little bit earlier and it didn't Sunday, and I wasn't really used to that," Jones said. "We were struggling both on the offensive and defensive end, so I was just trying to provide a spark any way I could."

Huggins said he doesn't think Jones will have any problem when it comes to forcing shots against the Irish Wednesday. The veteran head coach said last year, when he struggled like he did against Providence, it was because he was pushing so hard to perform.

"When you press, you don't make shots," Huggins said. "The guys that are successful in this game are the guys who understand who they are, what they do. They play to their strengths, and they don't do things that they're not capable of doing."

And for Jones, his strength on the offensive end of the floor comes from his ability to rebound the basketball. Jones is second in the nation, grabbing 4.4 offensive rebounds per game and turns a lot of those rebounds into second-chance points.

"When you rebound the ball that consistently and you rebound the ball that consistently offensively, you're going to score – particularly when you finish around the basket the way he does," Huggins said.

Jones' coach also said that when the Mount Vernon, N.Y., native takes the Coliseum floor Wednesday night, he'll have just one goal on his mind.

And it won't be tying West and Hundley's record.

"I don't think he cares. I really don't," Huggins said. "KJ wants to beat Notre Dame (Wednesday) and I think that's his first and foremost focus.

"He just wants to win. He doesn't want to go out on a team that's not playing in the NCAA tournament and not playing in March."