DeVante’ Jones finds his confidence against Southern Utah

DeVante’ Jones knew the transition from Coastal Carolina to Michigan would be tough.

It’s the nature of transferring in college basketball — learning new systems, adjusting to new teammates, all under the watchful eye of a passionate fanbase. It’s a transition Jones accepted, but that didn’t make the process any easier.

“I’m not gonna say I knew I was gonna have a bad start,” Jones said, “but I knew there was going to be some struggles coming in from Coastal Carolina and coming to a Power Five. I knew it wasn’t gonna be all easy.”

And those difficulties arose quickly.

Early in the season, Jones’s offensive brilliance has only come in flashes. He’s snapped the ball around to open teammates for easy buckets or taken it to the hoop himself, but his game has been marred by inconsistency, turnovers and foul trouble.

Jones needed a breakthrough.