A University of Louisville police report states former Cardinals guard Chris Jones sent a woman a text last Tuesday threatening to “smack” her. Hours later, he was suspended from the team.
Jones, 23, was reinstated late last week following the one-game suspension, and then dismissed from the team Sunday. Coach Rick Pitino said Jones was initially suspended for violating team rules. Jones returned to the team after meeting unspecified conditions for reinstatement.
Pitino has not said why Jones was dismissed. But after Louisville’s 52-51 victory Monday night at Georgia Tech, the coach said, “unfortunately, we’ve got to move on. They’re like your children. You don’t like to see anybody be hurt. But there’s also accountability and doing the right things. He didn’t. He didn’t. Now, he’s got to get his life together, get on with life.”
The incident report obtained Monday states the woman went to Jones’ apartment early Tuesday, but he left. After waiting three hours for Jones to return, she left after “messing up” his room.
The report states Jones later sent the woman a text threatening to “smack” her. No charges have been filed against Jones.
The woman, who stated in the report that she and Jones have been in an intimate off-and-on relationship the past year, did not want him prosecuted. But she preferred that someone talk to him about his behavior, the report said.
The Dean of Students was to be notified of the incident, the report added.
The university said there is another pending investigation, but an incident report won’t be available until its completion.
Jones’ dismissal ended a tumultuous week for the Memphis native.
Despite basketball skills that made him valuable to a Louisville team needing his offense and defense, he also frustrated Pitino with questionable decisions on the court and occasional attitude issues.
Jones did not travel with the Cardinals for Wednesday’s 69-59 loss at Syracuse and watched the game in his dorm room. He was reinstated on Thursday after Pitino said “Chris has done what he needed to do” in meeting conditions to return.
Pitino still harshly criticized his starting guard after the game and said his selfishness hurt the Cardinals, calling him a “knucklehead” in one interview.
The 5-foot-10 guard helped the then-No. 12 Cardinals beat Miami 55-53 on Saturday with 17 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals. Jones was remorseful after the game and acknowledged that he “made a mistake that I shouldn’t have done.”
Asked why he thought he was suspended, Jones said, “it was Coach’s decision. It is what it is. I learned from it. Coach called it my selfish behavior of what happened between a situation. It’s just something I learned from — you’ve got to stay away from things like that and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Jones was the Cardinals’ assists leader (3.7 per game) and third-leading scorer (13.7 points).
Louisville (22-6, 10-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) rallied to beat Georgia Tech on Monday after dropping five spots to No. 17 in the Top 25. Freshman and Louisville native Quentin Snider had six points, four rebounds and four assists in 36 minutes against the Yellow Jackets and figures to play extensively at point guard for a Cardinals team needing offense beyond its starters.