South Carolina basketball preseason profiles: Jacobi Wright

Lamont Paris’ South Carolina basketball team begins their season in less than a month. On November 4th, the North Florida Ospreys will travel to Colonial Life Arena for the opener, and the 2024-2025 Gamecock season officially will be underway. In the weeks leading up to the first game, GamecockCentral will profile each member of the team. Today we will look at senior guard Jacobi Wright.

Jacobi Wright (Senior, Point Guard/Shooting Guard), 6’2”, 185 pounds)

Last Season: 34 games (1 start), 5.9 points, 1.9 assists, 1.8 rebounds, 0.4 steals, 0.1 blocks, 36.1%/32.2%/71.4%

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Jacobi Wright is one of five seniors on the Gamecock roster for this season, but he is the only one in his fourth year with the South Carolina basketball program. That means he also is the lone holdover from the Frank Martin era. It’s a good thing for USC, though, that Wright has stuck around Columbia.

Wright has started 25 of his 96 games as a Gamecock, and he has had good performances both as a starter and as a bench player. None of his statistics are eye-popping, but he is steady and typically avoids major mistakes on both ends. Demonstrating that fact, Wright has committed more than two turnovers in less than 10% of his college games.

Shooting-wise, Jacobi Wright is not a dead-eye, but he’s good enough that Lamont Paris wants him taking open jumpers. He can get hot, though. Last season, Wright hit four long balls in a row against Kentucky as the Gamecocks earned their big lead. He’s also made a few clutch baskets in his career, including a game-winning fadeaway over 7’5″ Missouri center Connor Vanover. As a part-time point guard, Wright is a better passer than the box score might indicate, too. He has shared the court with big-time assist threats like Ta’Lon Cooper, Meechie Johnson, and Jermaine Couisnard, limiting his numbers, but he knows how to run an offense and makes smart decisions with the ball.

Wright fights on defense, too, something that is one of the most important traits for a smaller guard in college basketball. He doesn’t get a lot of steals or lock down the opposing team’s top player, but he gives South Carolina a chance when he’s on the court.

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When No. 1 is good, the Gamecocks are usually good. USC is 15-4 in contests in which Jacobi Wright scores in double figures, including a perfect 8-0 last year. Carolina also is 11-4 when he reaches four assists and has lost just twice when he has hit three 3-pointers. In contests in which Wright has made at least five shots from the field, his team has lost only once.

No matter what his ultimate role on the 2024-2025 version of the South Carolina basketball team will be, Jacobi Wright will be an important player. The Palmetto State product is poised to be one of the team’s key rotational players at both guard spots. Jamarii Thomas and Cam Scott are the two favorites to start at guard (with either Zach Davis or Myles Stute playing on the wing), but Wright will get plenty of minutes in his final go-round in garnet and black.

Wright and the Gamecocks hope to follow up a record-tying 26-win season and 2nd-place SEC finish with another strong year. Another trip to the NCAA Tournament would mark South Carolina’s first back-to-back berths in the Big Dance since the 1990s.

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