Sophomore G Elijah Joiner

The history of freshman guards under Frank Haith is not inspiring.

Micah Littlejohn - Played 6 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Kajon Brown - Played 16 total minutes (including 1 baffling start in the biggest non-conference game) and transferred after the season.
Sterling Taplin - The one success story. Played 10mpg and broke out as a sophomore.
Joseph Battle - Played 51 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Travis Atson - Played 135 total minutes and transferred after the season.
Lawson Korita - Averaged 12mpg and 3ppg. Returned as a sophomore and averaged 12mpg and 3ppg.
Darien Jackson - Played 91 total minutes.

So it was thrilling when Elijah Joiner burst onto the scene as an athletic, fiery, aggressive freshman guard right out of the gate. There were freshman mistakes, but 6.6ppg/2.4rpg/2.0apg on 50% from three in his first 10 games was a breath of fresh air. And it didn't hurt that Joiner was arguably the best perimeter defender on the team from the jump.

Unfortunately, things really fell apart after that. Joiner continued to play 15-20mpg, but he shot just 26% from 3, 63% from the line, and less than 5% from 2. That's not a typo. Five percent. And he ended his season on the sourest note. A knee injury in the last game of the season against Memphis.

Maybe the first college season wore him down. Maybe being forced into the unfamiliar role as backup point guard was to blame. Maybe he ate the cafeteria chili too often?

Whatever the reason, TU fans need to hope that Joiner made significant strides to fix those issues in the offseason because expectations are unreasonably high after the freshman year he had. I'll need to see it before I believe it.

2018 stats: 16.8mpg, 3.8ppg, 2.1rpg, 2.0apg, 0.3spg, 1.5topg, 0.0bpg, 19.5% 2PT, 35.8% 3PT, 61.2% FT
2019 proj.: 19.1mpg, 5.1ppg, 2.4rpg, 2.2apg, 0.3spg, 1.6topg, 0.0bpg, 26.9% 2PT, 40.3% 3PT, 60.8% FT

Your point about freshmen guards is a good point. Does anyone think Jackson redshirts this year? It would help out some with the class balance.

I like Joiner a lot so let me take a crack at it

In his final four full games Joiner had 19 assists and 11 rebounds. That's basically 5 assists and 3 rebounds a game vs UCF, ECU, Cincy, and Temple. Not too bad.

He did only make two shots in those games. Probably a strong indication that the college game got to his legs to finish the year. Hopefully a year of playing will have him better prepared. A positive is that he only took eleven shots in those four games, mostly three pointers so he was selective. Even so, he averaged 2.7 points a game and didn't make a field goal in three of the games.

I think he's a hustler, a strong defender who has a high basketball IQ. Hopefully he comes back from the injury strong. I expect him to play a crucial role for the team. He's going to be a stat stuffer. A guard who will give you 6-7 assists a game, limit turnovers, score 6-10 points and grab 4-5 rebounds while shutting down opposing guards.

I'd like to keep these going through the season just to discuss the developement of the player's game.

Not really criticism but just kind of up dates on their skills and use on the team. Not necessarily every game evaluation but just updates.

So I have to say I was impressed with how comfortable Joiner looked playing point in the exibhition. Good sign I hope, seemed to be fully recovered from the injury and came back strong after a scare in the game.

Jackson impressed. Looks like he is going to be an instant tempo increase. I thought perhaps a red shirt for him this year but he seems ready to contribute.

Wow, Elijah had a great game and looks really comfortable in the point guard role not just in skill sets and game understanding but in a leadership role. Great sign from him with a solid performance first game of the season.

With Trey Phipps coming in 2020 we seem well set for the future at point.