Jacobi Wright flourishing in his 'sixth-man' role at South Carolina
AJ Caldwell is a name that often gets brought up around the South Carolina men’s basketball team. He’s never played a single minute for the Gamecocks, but the players know exactly who he is.
In Lamont Paris’ second year at Chattanooga in 2018, he brought in Caldwell, a young guard from South Alabama. He didn’t play much at first, but he eventually developed an off-the-bench role and played for Paris for the next five seasons.
So what does he have to do with South Carolina? When Paris looks at junior guard Jacobi Wright, he sees a lot of Caldwell in him. A guy that stuck around when Paris came to South Carolina and has seen his role slowly grow.
“(Caldwell’s) a guy that hardly ever started but end of the games he always finished. There’s some of that in Jacobi,” Paris said. “So that’s a great trait to have. I have a lot of reliability and trust and faith in what he’s going to do when he gets on the court.”
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In Wright’s third year as a Gamecock, he hasn’t started in a game yet. But he’s usually been the first guy to come off the bench. And as the games have moved along, he’s been on the court in crunch time.
So far this year, Wright has played 23.4 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 8.3 points while shooting 45.2 percent from the floor, the best of his career.
“I’m really just accepting wherever coach puts me. If that’s the spot I’m at, I’m going to take pride in it and help the team whenever I can. I’m always ready whenever my name is called,” Wright said.
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Paris praised Wright for being a true “team us” player and not putting himself before anyone else. He believes that attitude has been vital to the success in his career so far.
“He’s improved a ton since the day that I first got here,” Paris said. “I just think he wants to win in any way that he can help do that is great. It’s fine by him. I don’t know if he cares too much about starting versus not starting. Maybe all the guys, I’m sure, probably want to start. But he’s also playing a lot of minutes off the bench.”
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When the game has been on the line, Wright has really shown up for South Carolina and played some of his best basketball.
In the Arizona Tip-Off Tournament a few weeks back, he hit a pair of free throws when the Gamecocks were struggling to make their shots at the line. In the title game, he knocked down two shots in the final two minutes to prevent Grand Canyon from making a run.
“I feel like him coming into the game, you know exactly what he’s going to give you from the defensive end and then just also hitting big shots when you need him to,” guard Meechie Johnson said. “He’s a great person, great teammate, great player to be out there with on the court. I love being on that defensive side with him because you know he’s going to get after it.”
