FAYETTEVILLE — The question everyone wanted to know the answer to was asked bluntly to Arkansas guard Mason Jones shortly after he took a seat in the postgame interview room on Wednesday.
Do you think you deserve to be named SEC player of the year?
Many in the room likely expected a canned answer from the junior guard, who put together yet another masterpiece and scored a game-high 36 points on 10 of 17 shooting in the Razorbacks' 99-90 win over LSU in the final regular-season game in Bud Walton Arena.
His response was anything but an extension of coachspeak. Well, not completely, but he got his point across.
"You know, I do think I deserve the award," Jones said confidently. "But that's not my place. I'm just going to let God handle all that. I'm going to continue to control what I can control, and that is to motivate my teammates, continue to work hard and continue to show my worth - just to continue to be a great teammate and make winning plays.
"I'm a winner. And at the end of the day, I can have 15 and Desi (Sills) can have 30 and everybody else can have 30 ... we won. I'm out here to get a W, and that's what my plan is."
Wednesday marked Jones' eighth 30-plus-point game of his junior year, and 10th in his two seasons at Arkansas. He could have had more, too.
Jones missed three layups in the win that would have vaulted him into even more rarified air and given him three 40-point games this season. His eight 30-point games are the most by an SEC player over the last 20 seasons.
He is two such performances shy of matching the single-season program record set by Martin Terry during the 1972-73 season, according to HogStats.com.
"To be honest, I'm humbled, but it's clockwork," Jones said of his latest scoring explosion. "I work on it every day. I grind every day. I still wake up at 6-7 a.m. and I still get out of bed and I go grind. Like, I know I'm tired, but I know it's all going to pay off at the end. It's paying off.
"While people are still tired, I'm still going, and my teammates are still pushing me. They're still giving me more challenges and they just match my energy."
Graduate transfer guard Jimmy Whitt, playing in potentially his final game in Bud Walton Arena in his second stint with the Razorbacks, had an unbelievable night in his own right. Whitt finished with 26 points, tying his second most in a game this season, and a career-high 15 rebounds, leading the way in helping Arkansas hang with the physical Tigers on the glass.
He handed out five assists as well. But asked about Jones' game and if he has seemingly run out of ways to describe the junior's scoring outbursts, Whitt said Wednesday was essentially business as usual.
"I think at this point it’s just regular for everybody that comes and watches," he added. "I mean, in the middle of the season when he’s doing it you can speak about it. It’s not really a surprise to me.
"I think at this point, that’s just regular for him to go out there and do that."
On a couple of occasions as he stood at the free throw line in the second half, Jones heard MVP chants from the 15,169 in Bud Walton Arena. It was a good moment for him, he said, but his story is still being written.
"God still has so many things in store for me," Jones noted. "It's just crazy to see the fans appreciate the way I've played. For them to call me an MVP is amazing.
"Coming in this year, who would have ever thought that fans would start calling me MVP of the season, knowing that last year I was just a role player? It's just work."
In the win, Jones moved past former Arkansas guard Jaylen Barford for the 34th-most points scored by a Razorbacks player in a career. He did so in his 63rd game.
"He’s had a tremendous year," LSU coach Will Wade said. "He gets a ton from the free throw line. Coming into the game he shot 130(-plus) free throws in the SEC, so he’s able to maneuver his way to the free throw line.
"We did a poor job, we lost him in transition. We didn’t make him make some of those tough shots. We just lost him in transition and he made a bunch of layups. But he’s a tremendous player."