The roar flooded College Park at exactly 7:49 p.m. Wednesday. And since it was a little too early for the disc jockey at R.J. Bentley’s to be playing Journey, there could have only been one thing capable of rockin’ the denizens into such a frenzy.

Mike Jones was headed to the scorer’s table at Comcast Center.

Within five minutes, Jones had a 3-pointer, a runner and a steal. Following that swipe, Chris McCray handed him the ball like it belonged nowhere else in the world and Jones sunk another three to pull the Terps back into the game.

The rousing run counteracted another slow start for the Terps, answered the sharpshooting of Minnesota’s Adam “Bleepin'” Boone and proved that Jones is not only the most popular bench player in the country, but one of the most effective.

We all know “who” Jones is, so I won’t bore you with that. But it had become a question of “why” so many people idolized a player who averaged six points per game in his first two seasons and “when” he’d become a consistent force for the Terps.

Now seems as good a time as any for the junior from Dorchester, Mass., to live up to the McDonald’s All-American selection he earned in high school.

With his 14 points Wednesday, Jones is averaging 10.5 per game, and maybe more telling, .538 points-per-minute (second on the team only to Ekene Ibekwe). Sure, it’s only the start of December, but there’s no reason to believe this type of performance won’t continue.

McCray and D.J. Strawberry combine for one of the most ferocious defensive backcourts in the country, but the offense has needed an extra punch at times this season. Sometimes it comes from pressure defense, other times it comes from a player like Jones becoming nearly unconscious. Wednesday it came from both.

As evidenced by their first half against Gonzaga, the Terps will probably continue to struggle against a well-played zone defense. But how did they force the ‘Zags back into man-to-man coverage? Someone knocked down four threes. I’ll give you one guess who.

And at Comcast – where he enjoys unconditional love like no other – “The Trigger” is seemingly even more lethal. Now the real question is, “Why?”

Jones seemed to be loved just as much before his namesake, the least creative rapper of our time, began shouting his name and phone number to thumping beats. Perhaps his popularity is driven by another Mike Jones, the St. Louis Rams linebacker who tackled Kevin Dyson at the one-yard line to secure Super Bowl XXXIV.

Either way, there’s got to be a reason 1,610 people joined the ever-expanding Mike “The Trigger” Jones Fan Club on Facebook (at least by the last time we checked).

“He’s an explosive player and he brings a lot of excitement to the floor,” said club president Tom Doran, who never imagined the group he started with a friend would have such a strong membership. “I think everybody saw it when he first got onto the floor.”

“Why” isn’t something that concerns Jones at this point.

“It’s nice. It definitely is,” Jones said of his following. “I can feed off them just as well as they feed off me. We kind of work as a team, basically, within the team.”

As he is with the cult-like status, Jones said he’s comfortable with his role as the Terps’ offensive ignition off the bench. Ultimately his goal is to continue to improve defensively in order to earn more playing time.

Jones may not be the best player on the team, but his value has been indisputable this year. And if he continues at this rate, the hype will finally be justified.

Plus, that way, when you tell your grandchildren about your favorite college basketball player of all time, they won’t have the same old response-

“Who?”

Free Throws

-So much for predictions, I guess the Big Ten still stinks after all. Time for an ACC-Big East challenge.

-Of all the high-profile coaches that have come through Comcast in the past four years, who would have thought that Dan Monson would put up the best tirade in the building’s history? I’m sure he’s always won the Giorgio Armani toss at family reunions, but I’ve never seen anyone take out so much aggression on his formal wear. I don’t know if he felt a little shown up out there, but Gary is going to have to do something pretty special to top that.

-Finally got a good nugget from a fan. Senior public relations and business major Mark Bagin says, “Osama bin Laden could walk across the court during the Shell Shuffle and nobody would notice.” I saw a few people guess the wrong shell the other night, and I’m wondering if there’s going to be a curve on the grades at the end of the season.

Contact columnist David Selig at dseligdbk@gmail.com.