Since 1999, the SEC has honored one men’s basketball figure (players, coaches, etc.) from each school during the first rounds of the SEC tournament in March. 2020-2022 did not see players honored because of travel restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
South Carolina’s 2023 honoree is point guard Tre Kelley. Kelley started over 100 games in garnet and black and was the Gamecocks’ best performer during their NCAA Tournament matchup with John Calipari’s Memphis team in 2004 when Kelley was just a freshman.
The Washington DC native quickly became a fan favorite in Columbia as he played hard at all times and filled different roles on the team based on what was needed of him. Kelley focused on running the offense in his younger days but became a 19-point scorer per game at the end of his career when his team needed him to become a shot-maker.
For his career, Kelley’s name is all over the all-time lists on gamecockarchive.com. Kelley is 12th all-time in Gamecock history in points scored, ahead of names like JoJo English, Melvin Watson, and Tom Owens. He is 3rd in career assists behind only Watson and Jack Gilloon. Kelley is also 14th in career steals, 6th in threes made, and 3rd in total minutes played behind only Sindarius Thornwell and Alex English, a testament to his importance to the Gamecocks during his career.
Kelley joins Jerry Harper (Alabama), Nick Davis (Arkansas), Layton Johns (Auburn), Chris Richard (Florida), Rod Cole (Georgia), Vernon Hatton (Kentucky), Collis Temple III (LSU), Eric Laird (Ole Miss), Jerry Jenkins (Mississippi State), Steve Stipanovich (Missouri), Lang Wiseman (Tennessee), David Britton (Texas A&M), and Butch Feher (Vanderbilt) in the 2023 Legends class.
Kelly joins twenty-one former Gamecock greats (2020-2022 did not have inductees) including Alex English, BJ McKie, Carey Rich, Jon Roche, Carlos Powell, Devan Downey, Melvin Watson, and Brian Winters.