AUSTIN -- Andrew Jones entered a dark Gregory Gymnasium, illuminated by strobe lights and inundated with smoke and music. This was the introduction he had waited for.
Ten months after he lay in a bed at MD Anderson in Houston with a cancer diagnosis and no hope of playing basketball, Jones appeared from behind a curtain and stared out into a crowd of burnt orange-clad fans. The junior guard lifted his arms to the loudest ovation of Wednesday night's Texas Tip-Off, an annual preseason intrasquad scrimmage for Longhorn basketball.
Moments later, Texas coach Shaka Smart grabbed a microphone at midcourt.