On Monday, South Carolina basketball had its fourth scholarship player (and fifth player overall) enter the transfer portal. Columbia native Chico Carter put his name into the portal and is expected to spend his final year of eligibility elsewhere. The sharpshooting guard battled through some knee tendonitis before ultimately shutting things down the final month of the season.
Carter averaged just under 10 points per game this year but was the conference’s leading 3-point shooter by percentage for most of the season. He shot 47.6% from distance on the season and would have finished the year as the top marksman in the SEC had he not gotten hurt. The most memorable moment of his Gamecock career was the game-winner over the rival Clemson Tigers this past November.
As of this writing, the Gamecocks have had no additions to their roster through the transfer portal. The four losses, plus the graduation of Hayden Brown, the likely NBA defection of GG Jackson, and an unused scholarship from last season, means the roster will look drastically different again next year. With just two incoming freshmen in Arden Conyers and Collin Murray-Boyles, the Gamecocks will have five roster spots available for transfer portal talent.
BJ Mack, a thick-bodied post player transferring from Wofford, is set to announce some news on Tuesday. Speculation is that he will announce his future plans. If Mack were to commit to the Gamecocks, he would fill two of the most significant needs on the roster. Mack adds some size to go with Josh Gray, and he can shoot the basketball. A 15 points-per-game scorer, Mack shot 44.8% and 33.5% from behind the arc the last two seasons on 2.7 and 4.8 shots per game, respectively.
With Lamont Paris and his staff losing Carter and three reserve forwards to the portal and two starting combo forwards, the Gamecocks will need more help even if Mack joins the team. Another wing to take up some of the role left behind by GG Jackson and Hayden Brown, another guard who can score and handle the basketball, and another forward are all still “needs” for this roster. More perimeter defense would go a long way for this team moving forward, as well.
The list of “needs” is long, but that is the nature of things coming off of a season of struggles, especially when two of the team’s top three scorers and the team’s most efficient shooter all leave. The transfer portal gives teams the opportunity to flip a roster in one offseason, and that’s exactly what the Gamecocks will have to do if they hope to have a better 2023-2024 season.