South Carolina five-star freshman Gregory "GG" Jackson II has been as good as advertised through his first 14 games.
The 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward leads the Gamecocks with 16.9 points and 7.5 rebounds per game while also recording team highs with 13 blocks and 12 steals, but his 15th appearance takes place Saturday afternoon against No. 8 Tennessee inside Colonial Life Arena, and nobody seems to unleash a menacing defense this season like the Volunteers.
It's the biggest test yet for Jackson, and first-year Gamecocks coach Lamont Paris knows it.
"For a young guy like that to have double figures in every game we've played, that's difficult," Paris said in a recent news conference. "That's hard for a guy who's in his fourth year. As we go deeper into conference play, that's going to be more difficult. I don't doubt that he'll keep doing it, but will he do it efficiently or as a volume guy?
"It's hard to make a living as a jump shooter in this conference, so that's going to be tested. They're going to be putting their meanest, toughest guy on him, and that's going to make life miserable for him."
The Southeastern Conference showdown between Tennessee (12-2, 2-0) and South Carolina (7-7, 0-1) in Columbia has a 3:30 tip on the SEC Network.
Tennessee is not only 2-0 in conference play but 2-for-2 when it comes to holding the opposing team's leading scorer to single digits. Matthew Murrell of Ole Miss was averaging 15.6 points a game before being limited to five in Tennessee's 63-59 win in Oxford on Dec. 28, and the Vols held Mississippi State's Tolu Smith, who was averaging 14.8, to nine during Tuesday night's 87-53 thrashing in Knoxville.
The Vols entered this weekend ranked third nationally in points allowed per game (53.2), second in field-goal defense (33.7%) and first in 3-point field-goal defense (21.2%)
"I think GG is a guy who can create, and they look for him to do a lot of that," Vols coach Rick Barnes said Friday. "He gets out in the open court. I watched him for many years when he was in high school, and he's an explosive player."
Tennessee also has a five-star freshman from the Palmetto State, with 6-8, 198-pound forward Julian Phillips hailing from the Columbia suburb of Blythewood. Phillips is averaging a healthy 10.1 points and 5.7 rebounds but has experienced a little more turbulence to this point, scorching Southern California for 25 points in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinals but shooting a combined 1-for-15 in consecutive games against Maryland and Arizona.
Phillips said Friday that he and Jackson have played against each other on multiple occasions.
"This is really exciting," Phillips said. "I'm going to have a lot of family at the game, but I'm trying to treat it like any other."
Jackson, the nation's No. 1 prospect in the 2023 class who committed to North Carolina but then reclassified to the 2022 cycle and signed with the hometown Gamecocks, has already been named the CBS/USBWA national freshman of the week twice this season.
In South Carolina's most recent home game, a 64-54 topping of Eastern Michigan on Dec. 30, Jackson racked up 24 points and nine rebounds and connected on four 3-pointers.
The Gamecocks are 6-0 at home under Paris, who led the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to a 87-72 record from 2017-22 and guided the Mocs to a 27-8 mark and the NCAA tournament last March. Included in their home tally is a 60-58 triumph over rival Clemson, but they have been woeful at times on the road, losing by 32 points to Colorado State, 19 to Furman and 24 to George Washington.
South Carolina's first SEC game resulted in an 84-79 overtime loss Tuesday night at Vanderbilt. Jackson collected 13 points and seven rebounds but had some struggles as well, missing all seven of his 3-point attempts and going just 1-of-3 from the free-throw line.
"Learning how to generate stuff and learning how to handle adversity is about to be really tested for him," Paris said.
Praising Paris
Paris needed time to turn UTC around, going 22-43 in his first two seasons with the Mocs before posting an impressive 65-29 mark in his final three.
On Nov. 25, 2019, Barnes and his No. 17 Vols topped Paris and the Mocs 58-46 in Knoxville.
"It's always difficult when you go into a different job, because some situations are ahead of others," Barnes said, "but I think in a short time he's doing everything he possibly can to do a great job trying to build his culture."
Odds and ends
Tennessee leads the series with South Carolina 50-28, and the Vols are 10-2 in their past 12 trips to Columbia. ... Vols senior guard Santiago Vescovi has made 60% of his 3-point attempts (12-of-20) in the past three games. ... Former Baylor School standout Eli Sparkman is a freshman guard for the Gamecocks who has played 17 minutes in four games and averages 0.5 point.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.