Last season was one of transition for Newton. He was tasked with succeeding Angel Rodriguez at point guard. Newton had previously come off the bench as more of a combo guard in 2015-16. He should get some help from Bruce Brown and Freshman Chris Lykes at the point this season.
Newton spoke about having to make that move last year.
"“Last year I feel I was put in a tough position… I never really played the full point guard role in my entire life…I was on the high school team and there was a bunch of good guys and I was always was the scorer. I was the best scorer and the best player so I would just score, score, score… My freshman year when I came here I didn’t play that much, but my role wasn’t to come in and run the team. It was come in and score. My sophomore year when I broke out it was just come off the bench and score—that was my role—and do what you do… Last year when I was put in the position to run the team it was something I never did before. So I take last year as a down year for me. I feel like last year was a learning experience because now I know what to do, now I know what to expect, and now I know what I’ve got to do as a point guard to make my teammates better.”"