South Carolina Basketball: Ranking the top-12 point guards in Gamecock history
By Kevin Miller
South Carolina Basketball’s No. 5 Greatest Point Guard of All-Time:
Jackie Gilloon
Jackie Gilloon (1974-1978) went by both Jack and Jackie during his college career, but most Gamecock fans simply remember him as the finest passer to ever play in Columbia. Gilloon ranks second on the all-time Carolina assist leaderboard and is first in assists per game despite sharing point guard duties with Mike Dunleavy.
For most of his career, Gilloon was a tertiary and quaternary scorer behind Dunleavy, English, and big-man Nate Davis. However, as a senior, when his team needed him to put the ball in the basket, the All-South Independent guard logged career highs in scoring while also shooting the most efficient percentages of his career.
Gilloon followed in the footsteps of other point guards that headed south by way of the New York to Columbia pipeline when he was drafted by the NBA’s Denver Nuggets in the 1978 NBA Draft. Gillon joined Jack Thompson, Skip Harlicka, John Roche, Kevin Joyce, and Mike Dunleavy as drafted point guards from New York under Frank McGuire.