Gamecocks Face Rams Thursday in Charleston Classic Quarterfinals

CHARLESTON, S.C. – South Carolina (2-0) faces Colorado State (3-0) in the quarterfinals of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic on Thursday at 5 p.m. (ET). Jay Alter (pxp) and Debbie Antonelli (analyst) will be on the call for the ESPNU broadcast.

TIPOFF NOTABLES

> A New Chapter of Gamecock Men’s Basketball is underway with first-year head coach Lamont Paris this season.

> Paris, who has been a part of nine NCAA Division I Tournaments and 17 twenty-win seasons as a college head and assistant coach, was named the University of South Carolina’s 33rd head coach by Director of Athletics Ray Tanner on Thursday, March 24, 2022.

> This new-look Gamecock squad features eight new players (four transfers and four freshman) headlined by standout freshman forward Gregory “GG” Jackson II, the highest rated recruit in program history (recruit rankings started in early 2000s). He joined former Carolina standout PJ Dozier (2015-17) as the only five-star signees in program history.

> This marks just the third matchup all-time vs. Colorado State.

> The two programs played a home-and-home series in the early 2000s, each team winning on their respective home floor.

> Thursday evening marks the first ever matchup between the Rams and Gamecocks on a neutral floor.

> This marks Carolina’s third trip all-time to the Charleston Classic and first since the 2014-15 season.

> The Gamecocks are 3-3 all-time in the event with a championship game appearance in 2009 against Miami, who defeated Carolina, 85-70.

EXTRA! EXTRA! READ ALL ABOUT HIM – JACKSON II EARNS SEC FRESHMAN OF THE WEEK

> Forward Gregory “GG” Jackson II was named SEC Freshman of the Week on Monday, Nov. 14, after leading the Gamecocks to a pair of wins the first week of the season. He averaged 15.0 points and 9.0 rebounds.

CASH MONEY CARTER CLOSES OUT TIGERS IN RIVALRY MATCHUP AT CLA

> Chico Carter Jr. went the length of the floor and made a contested jumper with 0.9 seconds left to lead South Carolina to victory over in-state rival Clemson, 60-58. The Columbia, S.C., native scored a game-high 16 points and went 4-of-6 from deep. Gregory “GG” Jackson II had 12 points and eight rebounds. Jacobi Wright added 10 points off the bench and Josh Gray contributed with a game-high 10 rebounds and three blocks. It marked the team’s first win at home vs. the Tigers since a 68-45 victory on Dec. 19, 2014.  New head coach Lamont Paris became the first Gamecock coach since Dave Odom (won 81-59 on 12/8/01 at Clemson) to defeat Clemson in his first season.

NEWCOMERS SHINE NIGHT ONE

> The team opened the season with an 80-77 victory over SC State on Tuesday night led by the oldest player on the team, graduate transfer Hayden Brown, and the youngest player on the team, freshman Gregory “GG” Jackson II ; Brown had 21 to lead all scorers and Jackson had 18 points and a game-high 10 rebounds for his first career double-double ; sophomore Jacobi Wright had a career-high 14 points after going 3-for-5 behind the arc in the first victory of the Lamont Paris era.

FIRST LOOK AT NEW CHAPTER OF GAMECOCK MEN’S HOOPS

> Carolina began the season with an 80-41 exhibition win over Mars Hill on Nov. 2 at CLA. Meechie Johnson led all scorers in the contest with 16 points. Chico Carter Jr. (13), GG Jackson (11) and Zachary Davis (10) all scored in double figures for Carolina. Benjamin-Bosmans Verdonk led the team with 12 rebounds. The Gamecock defense limited the Lions to just 27.9 percent shooting (17-for-61) and 6.3 percent (1-for-16) shooting from behind the arc. Carolina outscored Mars Hill 44-20 in the second half.

> The Lions were led by first-year head coach Larry Davis, a former Gamecock great (1995-97) and one of the stars on the 1997 SEC Championship squad. His two-year scoring mark of 1,068 points still remains the second most points scored by any two-year player in program history. Davis originally attended North Carolina before transferring to South Carolina and head coach Eddie Fogler.

PARIS WELCOMES TWO PALMETTO PRODUCTS ON SIGNING DAY

> Arden Conyers and Collin Murray-Boyles, both Palmetto State products, each signed National Letters of Intent to continue their athletic careers as Gamecocks in the fall of 2023 on Nov. 9 as a part of the early signing period. They’re the first high school signees in Garnet & Black under Paris’ watch at Carolina. Conyers, a 6-6, 180-pound guard from Blythewood, S.C., is the third ranked player in the state per 247Sports and No. 4 by On3.com. He ranks just outside the top-200 nationally. An all-region pick last season at Westwood High School, he averaged 18.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game for the Redhawks. He will hit the 1,000-career point mark in his senior season. He was recently named one of five to the South Carolina Basketball Coaches Association (SCBA) Elite Boys Preseason Team. Murray-Boyles, a 6-7, 200-pound forward from Columbia, S.C. is the third-ranked player in the state and No. 117 in his class via On3.com. He is set to finish his high school career this winter at Wasatch Academy in Mount Pleasant, Utah after prepping at AC Flora the past three seasons. He helped lead the Falcons to a 24-7 record as a junior and appearance in the state title game. Murray-Boyles averaged 18.3 points, 11.4 rebounds, 5.3 blocks and 2.5 assists per game last season at Flora. His older brother played collegiately at UNC Pembroke.

ORDER ON THE COURT

> The Honorable L. Casey Manning enters his 30th season as an analyst for men’s basketball games on the Gamecock Radio Network. He joined the broadcast team for the 1993-94 season and worked alongside legendary South Carolina play-by-play man Bob Fulton. Manning has worked alongside current play-by-play man Derek Scott since 2016-17. The Gamecocks advanced to the school’s first ever Final Four their first year working together. Manning, a Dillon, S.C. native, played for the Gamecocks from 1970-73 and made history as the first African-American scholarship player in program history. He graduated from the South Carolina School of Law in 1977 and has served as Circuit Court Judge for the Fifth Judicial Court since 1994. Manning will retire on Dec. 31 this year.

> He joins Dave Kellum (33rd season as Ole Miss pxp) as the only members of the 30-year club on radio broadcast in the SEC.  

WATCH LIST SZN

> GG Jackson was one of 20 players in the country to be named to the Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award Watch List on Oct. 27, 2022. He joined former Gamecock Chris Silva (2015-19) as the only Carolina players on the watch list in the nine-year history of the award.

BY THE NUMBERS

6 & 7 – Gregory “GG” Jackson II, a Columbia native, steps on campus ranked No. 6 in the final 247Sports and No. 7 in the final On3 player rankings for the 2022 class after reclassifying from 2023 over the summer.

18 & 10 – Jackson got his career going in emphatic fashion with 18 points and 10 rebounds in his debut as a Gamecock, an 80-77 win over SC State (Nov. 8) in the opener at CLA.

1,402 – Graduate transfer Hayden Brown scored 1,402 career points for The Citadel over five seasons, which is the seventh-most in program history.

2 – Brown is one of two players in The Citadel’s history to score 1,400 points and collect 700 rebounds in his career. A 6-5, 234-pound forward, he averaged 18.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game in 2021-22.

.691 – New head coach Lamont Paris spent the past five seasons as head coach at Chattanooga. He led the team to a 65-29 record the last three seasons and a berth in the 2022 NCAA Tournament after winning the SoCon Tournament Championship. 

12 – Paris was an assistant for 17 seasons prior to becoming a head coach in 2017-18. He was a part of 12 NCAA Tournament appearances as an assistant (NCAA Division I and II), including a pair of Final Fours at Wisconsin in 2014 and 2015.

17 – In 22 seasons as a head or assistant coach in college, Paris has been a part of 17 teams that have won 20-or-more games in a season.

8 – Carolina’s roster features eight new players, including four transfers: Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk (Illinois), Hayden Brown (The Citadel), Ebrima Dibba (Coastal Carolina) and Meechie Johnson (Ohio State).

UP NEXT

> South Carolina will play again on Friday and then again on Sunday at the Charleston Classic. Each game is contingent on a win or loss. A victory over the Rams, would see the Gamecocks play on Friday in the semifinals vs. the winner of Davidson and College of Charleston at 5 p.m. (ET). All games will be televised on either ESPNU or ESPN2.

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