South Carolina Basketball: Transfer portal forward names Gamecocks as finalist
By Kevin Miller
With the South Carolina basketball team recently welcoming two additions through the transfer portal, fans are starting to get a clearer picture of next season’s roster. The 2023-2024 roster will be without forwards GG Jackson, Hayden Brown, Daniel Hankins-Sanford, Tre-Vaughn Minnot, and Javon Benson and guards Chico Carter and Ford Cooper. Two incoming freshmen forwards (Collin Murray-Boyles and Arden Conyers) will be joined by two graduate transfers (guard Ta’Lon Cooper and forward Stephen Clark).
This leaves the roster with a few remaining holes to fill with their three remaining open scholarships. The team is desperate for an outside shooter with some size (every decent shooter on the roster is 6’2″ or shorter) and more perimeter defense. Another minutes-ready forward who can provide some offense is needed, as well. Head Coach Lamont Paris and his staff are looking to fill the latter need with Temple transfer Jamille Reynolds.
Reynolds is a thick-bodied forward who averaged 10 points, 5.5 rebounds, and a block last season at Temple after transferring from UCF. The graduate transfer has shown an even higher ceiling than his production to this point, and big-time programs like Kansas and Cincinnati are also in on the big man. He announced a final five via his Twitter account that included South Carolina, Kansas, Cincinnati, Mississippi State, and his former school UCF.
I appreciate all the schools that reached out and thank you all for the opportunity but I will be prioritizing these 5 schools below:
— milly (@jamillerey4) April 5, 2023
Cincinnati
Kansas
Mississippi St.
South Carolina
UCF
Decision will be made soon‼️
The 6’9, 230-pound Reynolds plans to make a visit to South Carolina later this month and has two years of eligibility remaining.
Carolina will need to do even more to put a competitive team on the court next season. Having already added a facilitating guard in Cooper, one forward in Clark, and hopefully another post player in Reynolds or Wofford transfer BJ Mack, an ideal fit for the roster would be a defensive-minded wing player who can also shoot the basketball. The trouble with that need is that players that fit that mold are among the most valuable in basketball, so any “3-and-D” wings in the portal will be highly sought-after commodities.