Thoughts on G.G. Jackson and Foster Loyer in the 2022 Charleston Classic

November 18^th, 2022

By Alan Lu

Today, I decided to tune in to watch G.G. Jackson and South Carolina play against Davidson in an early season, college basketball game.  G.G. Jackson is a very young, athletic big man that could be a lottery pick, and former Michigan State guard, Foster Loyer is a sharpshooting point guard that is currently one of the nation’s leading scorers in the country.  It was a competitive game, and G.G. Jackson made some nice plays in the game, especially in the first half, but Davidson adapted in the second half to get the win over South Carolina.  Here are my thoughts on how both of them fared in this game.

G.G. Jackson put forth a decent showing in his team’s loss to Davidson.  He showed a satisfactory ability to score off the dribble.  He is an aggressive scorer that will drive hard to the hoop, and he has a solid, strong first step that can enable him to score and draw numerous fouls on his opponents.  On the downside, when he would drive to the hoop, he would almost exclusively look to score, so he became predictable late in the game, and was susceptible to making bad plays when defenders would collapse on him.

He also generally excelled at scoring in the post.  Jackson is a stronger player than his listed size, and he would get leverage and position to make the tough catch to finish plays around the basket.  However, while his jump shot was falling in previous games, Jackson had trouble knocking down outside shots in this game, so he wasn’t able to force his opponents to respect his jump shot late in this match. It’s a good sign and it’s encouraging that he’s shown the willingness to take outside shots, but in this specific game, he struggled to make them consistently.

Jackson looked to be fairly average as a playmaker.  He is a willing passer that will look to make the extra pass, and he also was able to throw a bounce pass to find a cutter in the first half.  On the other hand, he tended to have tunnel vision when he would drive to the hoop, which would make them too predictable late in this game, and defenders were able to gear up on his drives to force misses down the stretch.  He is a willing passer, but doesn’t seem to have natural court vision, and he would tend to stare down his targets and telegraph his passes, which led him to commit a costly turnover later on.  He also seemed to get frustrated when he wouldn’t get touches, so his teammates will have to work on getting him the ball more when he would use off-ball motion to get open.

He is a good rebounder that will haul in numerous boards to get plenty of rebounds for his team.  Jackson also played satisfactory defense, and he is a very long and athletic forward that showed the potential to be a shutdown defender.  His length, timing, and athleticism enabled him to jump passing lanes to get steals, and also to block shots to prevent opponents from getting easy shots off.  Jackson is also light on his feet and showed solid footwork when defending out on the perimeter.  His team played some zone defense and also some man-to-man, and Jackson was largely used as a roamed, so sometimes he would go for the ball a bit too much and leave shooters open.  On one play when he decided to guard Foster Loyer, Jackson stayed in front of him, contested the shot, and locked him down in an impressive fashion by forcing the miss.  He wasn’t challenged enough on the defensive end, but he showed great potential as a defender for the future.

In general, G.G. Jackson was able to make some solid plays in this game, but he also seemed to falter down the stretch as he wasn’t able to establish an outside shot and started to get too predictable in looking and wanting to create his own shot to score down the stretch.  Jackson also seemed to visibly show his frustration a little too much when he would have moments where he wouldn’t touch the ball, as he would look to wave his arms and clap for the ball a bit too much, which would also alert defenders that he wants to score the basketball.  Overall though, he is an athletic, versatile player that may have a great deal of upside, and if he can be a more consistent shooter and improve his court vision that could help him a great deal a long the way.  Right now, Jackson is a talented prospect that could end up going in the latter half of the lottery in the 2023 draft.

Davidson’s senior point guard, Foster Loyer that had a strong showing to lead his team to a decisive, comeback win over South Carolina.  He shot the ball very well, especially from deep.  South Carolina would go to weird zones, which would leave him open, and Loyer showed a knack for moving off the ball to make open threes.  He’s not super athletic or explosive, so he had trouble getting all the way to the hoop or scoring when taking shots inside the arc.

Loyer also showed solid playmaking skills.  He distributed the ball well and showed that he can run a team.  He also rebounded and defended well.  He is a very competitive player that competes relentlessly, as he would come away with rebounds, and he would play passing lanes to get steals.  He was able to take advantage of his opponents’ sloppiness to force turnovers.  He gives good effort defensively, but he lacks ideal physical tools and isn’t particularly fast or explosive, so he isn’t likely to be a plus-level defender at the NBA level.

In summary, Foster Loyer played very well and helped lead his team to.a win over South Carolina.  His lack of size or athleticism could lower his ceiling for the NBA level, but his shooting ability and ability to run a team could at least enable him to make a Summer League roster. In a favorable scenario, he could end up being a serviceable, game managing backup point guard similar to current New York Knicks’ point guard, Ryan Arcidiacono in the NBA.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on how Jackson and Loyer fared in the Davidson-South Carolina game that was played today in the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic.  Thanks for reading.