South Carolina Basketball: Transfer portal target announces commitment
By Kevin Miller
Head Coach Lamont Paris is remaking his South Carolina basketball roster through the transfer portal. With six players moving on from last season’s team and just two incoming freshmen joining the program (Collin Murray-Boyles and Arden Conyers), the portal was always going to be the short term answer for the Gamecocks.
Over the past two weeks, South Carolina basketball has cemented commitments from two transfer portal players in guard Ta’Lon Cooper and forward Stephen Clark. Cooper is transferring in from Minnesota and could factor into the starting point guard battle next season, and The Citadel defection Clark will likely be one of the team’s top-4 forwards.
The Gamecocks are in on several other forward targets, including Temple transfer Jamille Reynolds. Reynolds, who began his career at UCF before transferring to Temple, is a grad transfer who has up to two years of eligibility remaining. Last week, he announced a final five of South Carolina, Cincinnati, Kansas, UCF, and Mississippi State.
On Saturday, Reynolds made his decision public. The 6’9”, 230-pound big man committed to Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats. A top-100 transfer prospect, Reynolds will likely slot into a starting role for Cincinnati.
The Gamecocks have a need for at least one more forward, so losing out on Reynolds is not ideal unless Coach Paris and company can bring in another forward like Wofford transfer BJ Mack.
In addition to needing another forward, the Gamecocks need to keep scouring the portal to add more shooting and perimeter defense. Carolina’s returning top shooters in garnet and black are all small guards, and no one on the team played consistently good defense on the perimeter. In modern college basketball, those things must change for the Gamecocks to have success next season.
South Carolina basketball fans can be sure that they will see their team in more transfer portal news over the next several weeks.