What to watch for: Charleston Classic
It’s been a dramatic start to the Lamont Paris era, and now South Carolina begins its MTE Thursday.
The Gamecocks kick off the Charleston Classic Thursday afternoon (5 p.m., ESPNU) against Colorado State. It’s the first of three games over a four-day span. Here’s what to watch for.
South Carolina’s defense
South Carolina has at least two games–Thursday and Friday–against incredibly good offensive teams, starting Thursday against Colorado State. The Gamecocks have been good defensively to start the year, No. 55 in adjusted defensive efficiency as of Wednesday night.
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That will be a massive test against a tournament-level Colorado State team and either Davidson or College of Charleston. Seeing how the Gamecocks’ defense responds this week with three games in four days will be an early-season litmus test.
The development of BBV
The Gamecocks didn’t have big man Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk in the opener, a do-it-all forward the staff will rely on to do a lot of non-scoring things for this team.
The Illinois transfer struggled against Clemson after limited practice time coming off an ankle injury. He battled foul trouble, playing just 16 minutes and putting up two points with a team-worst seven turnovers.
Now healthy and in the mix more in practice, how does Bosmans-Verdonk impact the roster and can he be the versatile defender and facilitator South Carolina needs him to be?
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Multi-team event grind
It’s been written ad nauseam about South Carolina breaking in an entirely new roster this year. None of the guys on the roster played a minute for Lamont Paris before this year and the Gamecocks were incorporating half newcomers to the roster.
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This is not only a chance for South Carolina to get a ton of interrupted bonding time, but play a lot of games in a condensed window. The Gamecocks will take a new roster and play three games over a 96-hour span with, potentially, limited time between games.
It’ll be a good test to see how this group handles condensed scouting report and execute some of the team’s basic sets and defense.
GG Jackson’s growth
It’s not a men’s basketball article until you mention GG Jackson, the five-star freshman and reigning SEC Freshman of the Week. Jackson’s certainly shown promise through the first 80 minutes of the season, but is coming off a tough half where he didn’t shoot the ball well or get into the score column.
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This is the biggest test of his incredibly young career. How he handles the grind of three games in four days plus going against older, more experienced players will be something to monitor. It could be a big coming out party for Jackson if he plays well, or a sign of him still adjusting to the college game.
Game details
Who: South Carolina (2-0) vs. Colorado State (3-0)
Where: TD Arena (Capacity: 5,100)
When: Thursday, Nov. 17
How to watch: ESPNU
How to listen: 107.5 FM
KenPom projection: 69-68 South Carolina (54 percent chance for South Carolina to win)
