It seems as if Terrence Jones has figured himself out.

Sophomore Terrence Jones scored 52 points in Tuesday's Blue-White Scrimmage. Twenty of his 24 made field goals were either dunks or lay-ups. (Photo by Jeff Drummond)

The sophomore who thwarted the NBA draft for a second season of development under John Calipari showed how far he’s already come before his sophomore year even starts in Wednesday’s Blue-White Scrimmage.

He played all 40 minutes in the scrimmage, finishing with 52 points, a Blue-White record.

But stats don’t matter in the annual intra-squad scrimmage. Take 2009’s edition as an example: The highest scorer in that game wasn’t John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe or Patrick Patterson. It was Darnell Dodson, who had 26 that night.

What does matter, though, is how Jones got his Wednesday.

He shot 24-of-31 from the field, and he was 20-for-22 on lay-up or dunk attempts.

As a freshman, he famously fought against his own inconsistent reputation. He’d endure long stretches of dominance against opposing defenses, using his skills with the ball to get to the basket. He’d bail out opponents when he got in the mood to rely on 3-pointers and jump shots.

That wasn’t so Wednesday.

“We’re just playing dribble drive,” Jones said when asked if he’s made a conscious effort to concentrate his offense that close to the basket. “I’ve been really working on driving tighter at my defenders and getting closer to the basket.”

Photo by Jeff Drummond

Just by looking at him you can tell how much work Jones put in to improving his body over the summer; he’s bigger and his body is more defined. But the physical improvements wouldn’t matter if Jones didn’t use them to his advantage, and that was the most significant upgrade apparent in his style of play Wednesday.

Only seven of his 31 field-goal attempts came from outside the paint, and two of his four 3-point attempts were in wide-open, you-better-shoot-this situations.

Judging by his shot selection Wednesday, he seems to have taken criticisms from last year to heart.

“I told you that he changed his habits, he changed his body conditioning-wise, he changed his skill set, and he changed his approach toward practicing and conditioning,” Calipari said. “That’s why you see the change. It’s not like, ‘I’m going to do the same thing and I’m going to be a different player.’ You’re not. You’re going to be the same player.

“He and I just talked in my office. I said, ‘I told you when you come back that if you’re coming back, you’re going to be the best player—or top three— in the country or don’t come back.’”

On top of his 52 points, Jones also had a team-high 16 rebounds (14 defensive, two offensive), six assists, two steals, one block and three turnovers.

But we knew the 6-foot-9 Jones could rebound; he led the SEC with 8.8 boards per game last season and had 13 games with double-digit rebound totals. We also knew he could pass; he was fifth on the team last year (he tied for third with his six dimes Wednesday) and he had two games last season with five assists.

What we didn’t know was how good he’s become with the ball, and how much—based on a robust sample size of one game, yes—he seems to have tapered his instincts to force up shots. Instead he showed Wednesday a mature and developed style of play that was as unstoppable to defenders as it was indescribable (and somewhat unrecognizable) to fans.

“He doesn’t really settle any more,” Darius Miller said, noting that he’s seen Jones’ transformation in practices well before Wednesday. “He goes to the rack. He knows he’s bigger and stronger than just about anyone he’ll play, and he’s quicker, too. I don’t know how people are going to guard him.”