GREENVILLE, S.C. – Jacksonville State prepares for its second appearance in the NCAA men's Division I basketball tournament on Friday morning when the 15th-seeded Gamecocks battled the No. 2 seed Auburn Tigers in the First Round of the Midwest Region.
Head coach
Ray Harper, who guided JSU's first and only other March Madness appearance, takes JSU to the Big Dance for the second time in six seasons, continuing the resurgence of a program that had only one 20-win season in the two decades prior to his arrival. His team this time around won the program's first Division I regular-season conference championship, tallying a 13-3 mark in its debut run through the ASUN Conference.
Though a 15-seed, the Gamecocks (21-10) enter tournament action as a veteran team led by seniors
Darian Adams,
Brandon Huffman,
Kayne Henry and
Jalen Gibbs. Adams, a First-Team All-ASUN and NABC All-District selection, leads JSU's offensive attack that can strike in multiple ways. Along with Adams, perimeter threats Gibbs and junior
Demaree King, the nation's top three-point percentage shooter, has propelled the Gamecocks to a team record shooting from beyond the arc. Inside, the scoring comes just as efficiently with Huffman scoring at a 65 percent clip and
Maros Zeliznak at just under 60 percent. The entire offense runs through junior
Jalen Finch at the point.
Friday's matchup is an intriguing one filled with storylines from former UNC Tar Heels Huffman and Walker Kessler battling it out down low, to the renewed in-state battle between two programs that have not met in nine years. However, the talk of Greenville, S.C., has been the return of the coaching matchup between JSU's Harper and AU's Bruce Pearl. Between 1996 and 2001, the two squared off 16 times as heated rivals in the Division II GLVC conference at respective schools, Kentucky Wesleyan and Southern Indiana. Harper won 13 of the 16 contests.
The Gamecocks won't shy away from the tall task, having held their own in difficult environments at Wichita State, VCU and Auburn rival, Alabama, earlier this season. Jax State looks to become the 10th 15-seed to defeat a No. 2 in the tournament since Richmond did it first in 1991. The most notable upset also came from the ASUN in Florida Gulf Coast's Sweet 16 run in 2013 with wins over Georgetown and San Diego State. The league is no stranger to big tournament wins with Mercer's win over Duke in 2014 and Liberty's victory over Mississippi State in 2019.
Friday's First Round game tips at 12:40 ET on Tru TV from the BSW Arena in Greenville, S.C. Just like JSU's tournament debut in 2017, the Gamecock broadcast will be graced by the leading CBS crew of Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson. JSU fans can also still catch all the play-by-play action from "The Voice"
Mike Parris over the Gamecock Sports Network through WLJS 91.9 or affiliated stations. Audio web streaming will not be available as Westwood One serves exclusive carrier of the NCAA Tournament.
