‘This is why we push that sled.’ Assistant coach helps inspire Henry Clay run to Sweet 16.
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2022 Boys’ Sweet 16 basketball preview
Click below to view more content from the Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com previewing the boys’ state high school basketball tournament to be held March 16-19 in Rupp Arena in Lexington.
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As the final seconds ticked away in the Boys’ 11th Region basketball tournament championship game last week, Henry Clay guard Aziel Blackwell knew it wouldn’t be right if assistant coach Mike Jones didn’t share the triumphant moment with the team.
“I was thinking about it the whole game. I knew if we won, we were going to call him,” Blackwell said.
Jones, who runs the basketball team’s offseason strength and conditioning program in addition to being an assistant, had to be across the country for his other labor of love as part of his training as a Team USA boxing coach.
Henry Clay head coach Daniel Brown and Jones knew the Team USA dates overlapped with the region finals, but figured “that would be a good problem to have,” Brown said. Jones spent much his time outside his boxing duties watching film and emailing and texting Brown to prepare for the game.
With a 41-36 victory over Frederick Douglass assured and a spot in this week’s UK Healthcare Boys’ Sweet 16 locked down, Blackwell asked a team manager to retrieve his phone for their on-court celebration. Players gathered around for a FaceTime call with Jones amid the jubilation.
“It was just special because he’s been putting in work with us this whole time,” Blackwell said. “We wouldn’t have been able to do anything that we’ve done this year without him. So, we knew we had to include him, no matter where he’s at.”
Jones marveled at the gesture.
“I told Coach Brown the other day, I was in tears,” Jones said. “For them to want to call me in the middle of that moment, that meant the world to me. I just tried to be there for them because no one was there for me coming through basketball.”
Boxing and basketball
Jones’ father, the late Michael “Buckeye” Jones Sr., was a former boxer and a boxing coach in Lexington until he passed away at the age of 54 in 2009.
For the younger Jones, boxing was a legacy. He won the Silver Gloves at youth levels, but basketball became a larger focus of his life as he got older.
“I used (boxing) as a conduit to having a relationship with my dad,” Jones said. “Unfortunately, if I wasn’t boxing, he wasn’t fooling with me, but, you know, that’s just what it was.”
Jones graduated from Paul Laurence Dunbar in 2005 and continued his basketball career with two runs at St. Catharine College in Springfield sandwiched around a brief walk-on stint at Kentucky. He finished his playing career at Boyce College in Louisville.
Today, Jones owns Buckeye Boxing Gym on Southland Drive, named in tribute to his dad, and wears a number of other hats as a Ewing & Jones Fitness Studio co-owner, personal trainer, basketball coach and boxing coach.
The training for Team USA that took Jones away from the Blue Devils was a four-day “Train the Trainer” program in Denver, Colo., in which Jones had to go through the regimen he would soon be prescribing for developing Team USA boxers across the country as part of a coordinated program installed by Irish national Billy Walsh, the head coach of Team USA’s Olympic program since 2015.
“He has some different-type philosophies that us American boxers are not used to. They’re proven and with us having recent success, it’s just getting more people inside,” Jones said. “We’re growing and learning that and just having a commission aspect to spread his philosophy, so that everybody in the United States gets on the same page with their own little twist.”
Doing those kinds of drills at age 34 was tough but worth it, Jones said.
“Preparation is always big. So I try to tell the kids that I just live through it and they see what I do every day,” Jones said. “It just helps them believe in what Coach Brown and I try to instill in these kids as well.”
Beyond the court
Brown was an assistant coach at Dunbar when Jones was a junior there. That connection helped bring Jones to Henry Clay for two stints as an assistant over the years. His second run with the Blue Devils began last season.
Jones described his work with the players as a “24/7” commitment beginning soon after basketball season ends and including summer workouts that involve pushing sleds down the length of the football field.
“They’re brutal, but they built us, and they prepared us,” Blackwell said, shaking his head.
Last summer, former players including Northern Kentucky standout Marques Warrick, let Jones put them through the paces, as well.
“Warrick and Keaston Brown, Harris Hawkins — all those guys come back,” Jones said. “They’re working the same way, and they get to say ‘Hey, what Coach Jones is putting into you is the same thing we do at college, so don’t think it’s just crazy.’”
Senior Kanye Henderson was happy to include Jones in the FaceTime call after the championship. But the game had a different dynamic without him, Henderson admitted.
“The game was weird without him because he’s the one that tells us what defenses to do,” Henderson said, adding he didn’t want to think about facing Jones if they lost to Douglass.
Brown describes Jones as a “players’ coach” whose relationship with them extends beyond the court.
“You’ve got to have them guys,” Brown said. “And Mike is really good at strength and conditioning, keeping these guys in shape.”
On Monday, Jones was back in town setting up Murray plays for the scout team to run. The Blue Devils face the 1st Region champs in their Sweet 16 first-round game at 6 p.m. Thursday in Rupp Arena.
The brutal workouts, the 100-yard sled pushes have all led to this moment, Jones and the players said.
“It shows with our team this year. Nobody expected us to be where we are,” Jones said.
And that’s something they remind themselves regularly in games — after Brown gives his instructions in their team huddle, Jones said the players form a second huddle around him.
“Kanye looks me in the face and looks at everybody in that circle, all the other four guys, and says, ‘This is why we push that sled.’”
BOYS’ SWEET 16
What: Sixteen-team tournament to decide Kentucky’s high school basketball state champion.
When: Wednesday through Saturday
Where: Rupp Arena
Tickets: Tickets available for purchase at KHSAA.org.
BOYS’ SWEET 16 SCHEDULE
At Rupp Arena
Wednesday’s games
11 a.m.: Jeffersontown (24-8) vs. Lincoln County (29-7)
1:30 p.m.: Muhlenberg County (18-11) vs. North Oldham (18-12)
6 p.m.: Perry County Central (29-4) vs. Clark County (33-1)
8:30 p.m.: North Laurel (28-5) vs. Pikeville (31-2)
Thursday’s games
11 a.m.: Warren Central (26-3) vs. Male (28-5)
1:30 p.m.: Lyon County (28-6) vs. John Hardin (25-9)
6 p.m.: Henry Clay (27-8) vs. Murray (25-6)
8:30 p.m.: Covington Catholic (28-4) vs. Ashland Blazer (26-5)
Friday’s quarterfinals
11 a.m.: Jeffersontown-Lincoln County winner vs. Muhlenberg County-North Oldham winner
1:30 p.m.: Perry County Central-Clark County winner vs. North Laurel-Pikeville winner
6 p.m.: Lyon County-John Hardin winner vs. Covington Catholic-Ashland Blazer winner
8:30 p.m.: Henry Clay-Murray winner vs. Warren Central-Male winner
Saturday’s games
▪ Semifinals at 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
▪ Championship game at 7 p.m.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 11:16 AM.
