Jermaine Couisnard set to face off with former school when Oregon, South Carolina meet in NCAA Tournament

Jermaine Couisnard‘s college career will come full circle this week as he and the Oregon Ducks look to keep their postseason run alive.

Couisnard, the standout senior guard who has been integral to the Ducks’ improbable run to the NCAA Tournament this season, will face off with his former school — and several close friends — when No. 11-seeded Oregon meets No. 6 South Carolina in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday.

Prior to transferring to UO ahead of the 2022-23 season, he spent the first four seasons of his career with the Gamecocks. Although he is more than two full years removed from his last game at South Carolina, Couisnard remains close with former teammates Jacobi Wright and Josh Gray — and has done his best to avoid any good-natured jabs so far this week.

“I still talk to them to this day; like every day,” Couisnard said while speaking with reporters on selection Sunday. “They congratulated me yesterday for winning. I ain’t checked my phone yet, but I know they’ve probably texted me. I ain’t gonna text them back because they know how I get. It’s alright, though.”

According to Wright, the feeling is mutual.

“We talked after they won their conference tournament through text. But we haven’t talked since the selection show,” Wright told GamecockCentral’s Jack Veltri in a Garnet Trust exclusive interview. “We probably won’t talk til after the game. We’re both just locked in. I know how he is, and he knows how I am. We’re competitive and it’s all business now.”

In order for Oregon to get where it wants to go, it is going to lean heavily on Couisnard, who has been the emotional and on-floor leader for a squad that has been devastated by injuries this season.

The 6-foot-4 senior is the Ducks’ second-leading scorer at 15.4 points per game and leads UO in assists with 3.3 per game. He has started every game and provided a steady, consistent presence with four rotation players sidelined due to injury and illness.

Couisnard averages a team-high 13.0 field goals per game on the year and has taken on an even greater offensive burden throughout the postseason. During the Ducks’ Pac-12 Tournament wins over UCLA, Arizona, and Colorado, he averaged 18.3 field goals per game.

Couisnard wasn’t necessarily efficient during that stretch; he shot just 29% from the field throughout the conference tournament. But he produced several big moments down the stretch of each game and helped keep the Ducks afloat.

“Well, I told him if he’s going to take that many shots, he’s going to have to hit a few more. Otherwise, he’s going to have to give it to (N’Faly Dante) a little bit more,” Oregon coach Dana Altman joked. “But he did have eight assists, one turnover (against Arizona).”

Couisnard played through a significant shoulder injury during the Pac-12 Tournament and appeared to be in considerable pain in several instances where he was fouled driving to the basket. He said he suffered the injury on the last play of Oregon’s regular-season finale against Colorado.

His 2022-23 season was cut short by a similar injury. He said he will be good to go for Thursday’s showdown with the Gamecocks, though.

“When I hurt it last time, I could barely move it,” Couisnard said. “So I knew when I had range of motion I was gonna be good to play. That’s how it was; just pain tolerance. If I could handle that, it’s good.”