Gamecocks basketball: Incoming freshman James Thompson arrested

The South Carolina Gamecocks looked to have gotten themselves a pretty good player in Baton Rouge (La.) Parkview Baptist power forward James Thompson. The three-star recruit was preparing to start his career for Frank Martin in Columbia in hopes of helping the team get to the NCAA Tournament.

Now, he’s dealing with some major off the court issues before even setting foot on campus.

Thompson was arrested on Tuesday in his hometown of Baton Rouge for charges of “aggravated battery and domestic abuse by battery”, and was released this morning from jail on $10,000 bail, reports David Cloninger of The State and Jerit Rosser from NOLA.com.

Both incidents apparently stemmed from comments that Thompson’s girlfriend received from other men on her Instagram account, which led to Thompson throwing a phone at her and giving her a black eye back in August (which he admitted to) and then allegedly punching and slapping her just last week (which he denies doing).

Not a good look if you’re just about to embark on a college basketball career. By the way, aggravated battery in Louisiana carries a fine of up to $5,000 and/or up to ten years in jail. Domestic abuse battery carries a much lesser penalty: a fine of up to $300 and up to a month in prison.

The USC athletic department issued their customary “no further comment” for this sort of incident while they investigate.