BOISE, Idaho – One summer in South Carolina years ago, Dillon Jones got a whole pile of on-the-job training in the art of rebounding.
Jones’ brother, Eric Washington, was in the midst of chasing his professional basketball aspirations. The Miami (Ohio) alum has spent close to a decade playing overseas, mainly in Germany. When Washington didn’t have a trainer one summer, he put his little brother to work as his rebounder.
“We would go shoot twice a day, every single day,” said Jones, these days an incomparable junior for Weber State’s men’s basketball team.
“I was just little brother in the gym and he needed me to rebound. He had me rebounding and passing to him and that whole summer, I didn’t know I was getting better at rebounding,” Jones said. “But I learned, when he missed, I didn’t want to run across the whole gym. You want to conserve energy. And rebounding, you want to conserve time, energy, space.”
Unconsciously, Jones learned how to be efficient in his movement, his angles, his pursuit. It’s what has turned him into arguably the most prolific defensive rebounder in all of college basketball.
“It’s honestly in the reps,” Jones said following his team’s miraculous 59-57 win over Montana in Missoula, a game that saw the Weber standout snare 21 defensive rebounds. “I actually credit my brother and any of the other guys I’ve rebounded for at Weber.”
The 6-foot-6, 235-pound Jones is a truly unique player in college basketball. He leads the country in defensive rebounds per game. He is one of two players in America averaging at least 16 points and 11 rebounds per contest. He’s Kevin Love on the defensive boards, but offensively, he channels his inner Draymond Green, playing on the ball more often than not in both Weber’s extended fast break sets and in the half court.
“He’s leading the nation in defensive rebounding,” said Montana State head coach Danny Sprinkle, who’s had some knock down, drag outs with Weber State over the last two seasons in no small part because of Jones’ prowess. “Not the Big Sky. The nation. And he’s such a mismatch for a point guard but he’s 6-foot-6, 230 pounds and he can really get the ball downhill. He causes a lot of problems. He’s a very hard matchup to guard and he makes everyone around him better.”
Jones can take over a game in a variety of ways. In Missoula in early January, he decided to play the role of facilitator, passing to his teammates and moving the ball fluidly. As often happens, the ball found its way back to Jones, who drilled five 3-pointers on the way to 17 points.
“He’s one of the best players in the league, no question, and he has been,” said Montana head coach Travis DeCuire.
Following last season, Randy Rahe retired after one of the most successful head coaching stints in Big Sky Conference history. He led Weber State for 16 seasons, piling up a Big Sky record 316 wins (198 in conference) and winning four conference coach of the year honors.
In Eric Duft’s first season, Weber State and the Big Sky has seen an inordinate amount of close contests. The conference had almost 30 games come down to the final possession. WSU finished 12-6 in league play, alone in third place, because Jones quite literally won the Wildcats the game at the buzzer on multiple occasions.
His layup as the clock wound down lifted WSU to a 50-48 win over Sacramento State in Ogden. In the rematch, Jones converted a 3-point play in the waning seconds to boost the Wildcats to a 52-49 win. His layup at the buzzer secured a 72-71 double overtime win at Idaho State. And his 3-point play with 18 seconds left in overtime proved pivotal in WSU’s 90-89 OT victory over NAU in the final game of the regular season.
“He sure helps as a coach,” said Duft, who has 17 wins entering his first Big Sky Tournament. “Dillon takes care of a lot of problems. He is an all-around great player. He’s a tremendous defensive rebounder. He is the No. 1 in the country in defensive rebounding percentage. He’s a tremendous passer and play-maker for us. He’s really improved his shooting over the years and he’s a guy who’s totally committed to being a good player.”
Although Jones led the league in rebounding by more than two boards a game, ranked eighth in the league in scoring, shot the fourth-highest field goal percentage and led a team with a first-year head coach and a new look roster to a third-place finish, the brick-house alpha did not earn Big Sky Conference Player of the Year honors.
The snub set Twitter ablaze. But it might also motivate Jones and the Wildcats.
Weber State plays sixth-seeded Sacramento State on Monday at 8 p.m.
“He’s a high major player,” Sprinkle said. “There’s no question. He could play anywhere in the country on any team in the country. He’s going to be a pro and he’s going to make a lot of money playing basketball for a long time because he continues to get better. He’s got an edge to him, toughness and a chip on his shoulder.”
