Lamont Paris explains GG Jackson's season-low in minutes

Lamont Paris said earlier in the week GG Jackson was due for some freshmen struggles at some point. That wall got hit Saturday afternoon. 

Jackson was not only held scoreless and played a season-low in minutes, he was also benched to start the second half and only played 11 minutes after the break. 

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“This is a game where sometimes you have to put your head down and tell someone where you’re going. Don’t ask permission but tell them where you’re going. He wasn’t doing that. Then he didn’t respond well. His body language was not good,” Lamont Paris said. 

“I’m going to play the guys who are acting like they want to play really hard and play for you and try to win. That’s what it was. He didn’t respond well to it. I went with Zach to open up the half just cause that’s what it was.” 

Jackson, the five-star freshman, had lived up to the billing through the first part of the season. He was averaging over 17 points per game and leading South Carolina in both scoring and rebounding. 

Saturday in a 43-point drubbing by Tennessee, Jackson had easily his worst day of the year. After scoring in double figures each of the first 15 games, he was held scoreless and didn’t make any of his eight attempts. 

He had one rebound, one foul and four turnovers. At the start of the second half Paris opted to play freshman Zach Davis instead and, once he saw Jackson playing, opted to take him out. Jackson didn’t play the final 7:16 of the game. 

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“He’s handled this stuff well so far. Today he did not. He didn’t handle it well. Whether he put too much pressure on himself specifically because of a matchup with an in-state guy who’s also a high-level recruit and it’s a top-10 team. Whatever those circumstances are, you have to constantly tell him. I told him at one point, ‘OK, here’s what’s happening,’” Paris said.

“Sometimes you just need someone to tell you the truth right to your face. I told him, ‘Here’s where you are. Your body language is not good. It’s not good body language. You have to inspire your teammates, man. You have to respond to stuff. Let’s go. You’ll get another opportunity. Have a seat right now and when you come back out let’s play with some fire, some juice.’ I didn’t see juice. I still didn’t see juice.” 

Jackson was not spotted at the team’s postgame huddle or alma mater after the loss. 

“I don’t,” Paris said when asked to comment on it. “I wasn’t aware of that. We just lost and played terribly. I’m trying to figure out what I’m going to say to the team. I didn’t know that. That’s news to me. I don’t have a comment on that.” 

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South Carolina (7-8, 0-2 SEC) doesn’t get much of a reprieve, traveling to a talented Kentucky team coming off a drubbing of its own. 

The Gamecocks will need to have good Jackson on the road Tuesday. 

“A lot of people have a plan for his life and have opinions. There are a lot of voices he’s constantly hearing. For me, I don’t want to be another one that plugs in another tidbit of information,” Hayden Brown said. 

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“After tonight, I pulled him aside and told him I loved him. I mean that with my whole heart. That’s the only information I needed to communicate with him tonight. Not chan you shoot it better next time. I just told him I love him. We all do, collectively. It’s hard to feel love after bad games but he needed to know that.”

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