Jamarii Thomas injury update: Lamont Paris reveals if South Carolina guard is nearing return

The South Carolina Gamecocks have been without guard Jamarii Thomas as he battles an injury. Now, head coach Lamont Paris has shared that he is nearing a return.

Following South Carolina’s 70-69 loss to the Florida Gators on Wednesday, Paris was asked if Thomas was going to be back before this upcoming weekend. While Paris didn’t want to commit to getting him back that quickly, he did note that the guard is getting closer to his return to the court.

“He worked out,” Paris said. “He worked out and did some things at shoot around today and at practice yesterday. Yeah, there’s a chance. Some of it will depend on how he’s responding tomorrow, what tomorrow looks like. Then, he’ll probably do some more things tomorrow if there was a good response. Some higher volume stuff. Then, that’ll be the true test to see how does the knee respond. Is there inflammation? Does he have pain? Then, we’ll make a decision from there, but certainly, there’s a chance.”

It was announced on January 10th that Thomas suffered a right knee sprain in practice. That was expected to cost him between three and four weeks as he entered recovery. It’s been about two weeks since that announcement, meaning he should be on pace or even a little ahead of pace in his attempt to return.

Since the day that Thomas went down, the Gamecocks are 0-4. All of those losses have come in SEC amid what is a very challenging conference slate. Three of those losses also came in one-score games. One thing that Thomas has brought to South Carolina is a tremendous amount of experience. He has played in 108 games over four seasons of college basketball and that experience could have been the deciding factor in a few of those losses.

Prior to his injury, Thomas played in 15 games, starting all of them for the Gamecocks. In those games, he’s averaging 30.9 minutes per game. Once Thomas does return from the knee injury, it will be interesting to see if Paris immediately uses him to the same extent. For the season, Thomas is averaging 12.3 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game. He also has a 39.3 percent field goal percentage and a 36.7 percent field goal percentage.

South Carolina is the third school Thomas has played for over the last four seasons. Before he was at South Carolina, he also played for UNC-Wilmington and Norfolk State. Regardless of whether or Thomas is back for this weekend, Paris knows the Gamecocks are in for another major test when they take on Mississippi State on Saturday.