Jacksonville State Basketball: In-depth look at senior guard Demaree King
By Bryan Mauro
Expectations for Demaree King in 2022-23
Jacksonville State was one of the slowest playing teams in the Atlantic Sun and nationally. They make up for the slow play with a motion offense that allows for ball movement, which in turn leads to wide-open shots. They were one of the most efficient teams in the country, especially from deep. The Gamecocks lost a ton of production from last year and they likely won’t be as good, but they are still one of the top teams in the Atlantic Sun heading into the year.
King is going to be a huge reason for any success that Jacksonville State does have this year. Any time you can have one of the best shooters in the entire country, and the runaway best shooter in the conference it bodes well for your team. The guard is not going to fill up the stat sheet outside of scoring and shooting numbers so he likely won’t find himself in the mix for the conference player of the year, but he will be in the mix for the all-conference teams.
The senior averaged 10 points per game last year and with the uptick in minutes and graduation of the team’s best players, it is reasonable to think he could average about 15 points per game this year. If he does that and continues to shoot as he has from deep the Gamecocks will be very good again.
Outside of King, the Gamecocks do not have much returning from the previous year and that is a cause for concern heading into the year. It causes concern as to who is going to be the second option for Jacksonville State. Amanzi Ngumezi, a transfer from Georgia may also be in for a big year. He didn’t play last season due to an injury that he sustained in the preseason but put-up good numbers at Georgia before transferring to Jacksonville State.
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Outside of those two, the team will be loaded with inexperienced players; however, their two stars are going to shine pretty bright most nights and I really like Penn State transfer, DJ Gordon, to step up and be a nice third option for the Gamecocks. King runs the show and if you get a chance to watch Jacksonville State pay attention to King because he is exciting from deep.